Community manager is a new profession that has begun to develop relatively recently in our country. At the same time, it causes genuine interest in many young people.
Who is a community manager and what does he do? What are the requirements for a specialist? What training is required and what are the career prospects? You will find answers to these, as well as some other questions in our material.
Who is that?
Community Manager Is a specialist who manages communities of people (the term itself came to Russian from English). Such specialists organize communities of people on the Internet (most often on social networks).
However, in addition to working online, it is the responsibility of many community managers to hold real meetings and organize a variety of projects.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like any other profession, the profession of community manager has its own characteristics and features. Moreover, they are both positive and negative. In this regard, before applying for a position, you must familiarize yourself with all the pros and cons.
The advantages of the work include the following characteristics:
- the opportunity to manifest their creative abilities (due to the fact that one of the functional features of the profession is the creation of content, the community manager has the opportunity to show his creativity and creativity as part of the work process);
- convenient work schedule (very often, community managers work remotely, which saves time on the road, as well as combine work responsibilities and household chores);
- lack of educational standards (if desired, almost anyone can take the position of this specialist, since there are no strictly defined educational requirements);
- developing work (professional activities of community managers are directly related to the use of new technologies).
Among the shortcomings are:
- irregular work schedule (this primarily concerns community managers who work with online communities - force majeure can occur at any time of the day);
- high stress (due to the fact that these specialists work with different people, stressful situations cannot be avoided);
- great responsibility (due to the fact that a large number of tasks are assigned to the community manager, he has a high level of responsibility);
- low salary (a large monetary reward for your work can be obtained only if you have extensive experience or you are a popular specialist who has many positive reviews);
- complexity of tasks (The functions of a community manager consist of a large number of diverse tasks, so an employee needs to have a large amount of knowledge and skills).
Thus, before applying for a vacancy, you should objectively evaluate your strengths and decide whether you are ready to bear the shortcomings of the profession.
Job responsibilities
The job responsibilities of the community manager for the most part depend on the particular place of work, as well as the employer. Usually, when applying for a job or during an initial interview, the employer will offer you to familiarize yourself with the job description, which will contain all the tasks that you will have to perform in the process of your professional activity. However, due to the fact that the specifics of different companies have their own differences, such job descriptions may change, for which you need to be prepared. In addition, before applying for a position, you must be absolutely sure that you can cope with all the responsibilities.
If you try to compile a standardized and universal list of job responsibilities of a community manager, we get something like the following:
- creation of a variety of materials for information platforms (a similar task may include writing posts, layout, etc.);
- monitoring network resources (very often, along with the functions of the community manager, a specialist working in this position performs the tasks of a moderator);
- writing reviews;
- analytical work with a lot of information (domestic and foreign sources);
- product promotion;
- content analysis;
- communication with users and customers;
- development and creation of projects;
- collection of reviews;
- discussion management;
- writing and publishing news;
- work with a team, etc.
In order to successfully carry out their professional activities, you need to be able to flawlessly perform all of the above functions, as well as constantly develop and improve skills.
Requirements
Often, employers put forward quite stringent requirements in relation to community managers. The thing is that these specialists play a key role for many projects, and therefore they must have sufficient qualifications and competence.
Skills
As for the key professional skills and abilities, the community manager is required to fully comply with his job description. In addition, he must have additional skills, for example:
- understand algorithms and be able to work with a variety of social networks (VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, etc.)d.);
- be able to analyze the audience;
- Identify the most popular content
- work with statistical and analytical data;
- formulate editorial policies;
- build partnerships with other projects, etc.
In this case, in the course of work on a specific project, it is necessary to identify its individual characteristics and features, to be able to quickly adapt and adapt to changing reality.
Qualities
Despite the fact that the professionalism and qualifications of the community manager play a significant role, the individual qualities of this specialist are no less important. So, certain character traits will help the community manager to carry out their work efficiently. It is believed that a specialist should have the following characteristics:
- sociability;
- politeness;
- friendliness;
- high intellectual level;
- stress resistance;
- ability to make decisions and bear responsibility for them;
- perseverance;
- creativity.
The combination of professional and personal qualities will allow the community manager to become a first-class specialist, widely in demand in the labor market.
Training and career
To date, there are no specific requirements for the formation of a community manager. The thing is that such specialists are not trained at universities or colleges. That is why most employers focus on the fact that the specialist possesses all the necessary skills and abilities. However, some employers still insist on having a higher education diploma with their subordinates, but do not specify a specific profile. The advantage will be the availability of a certificate of passing the relevant specialized courses - today such trainings and master classes can be taken both online and offline.
As for the direct career path of the community manager, it is worth noting the fact that the professional life of a specialist can develop in a variety of ways. So, for example, you can grow up to the project manager if you are interested in a vertical increase. In addition, there are cases when community managers open their own creative agencies and content projects, hire employees and develop their own projects or engage in consulting activities.
Where to find a job?
To date, the profession of a community manager is considered quite common and in demand. That is why you can find similar vacancies on bulletin boards. In addition, study the sites of companies of interest to you, as they can publish information about vacancies on their official platforms.
Keep in mind that The work of a community manager is most often remote. This means that you will not need to come to the office every day to do your job. This fact attracts many applicants.
Wage
As for the material remuneration for the work of the community manager, it can vary quite widely. The direct amount of wages may depend on a variety of factors: your qualifications, the region where the company operates, the scope of the company, etc. The minimum rate is 15,000 rubles.
Thus, you were able to make sure that The profession of community manager is fast-growing and quite popular. However, before completing courses in a specialty and looking for relevant vacancies, you need to carefully evaluate your strengths and understand whether you can handle this kind of work.
