I recently read an interesting blog post about how Community managers’ salaries are all over the place and it made me think: what is the value of a community manager?
There are 2 important points that I would like to discuss here:
1) Community management is undervalued. As stated in the post, community managers are often not considered and rewarded as much as they should be. A good community manager can make a huge difference in a corporation, whether it is to build a stronger relationship with its clients or to spread awareness. Your brand can only truly affect people’s lives if the community behind it is strong and thriving. And that’s a full time job. And that’s why you need a community manager.
2) The term “community manager” has been abused by so many people wrongly declaring themselves just that. Anyone can say: “I’m a community manager“, from the guy who has 200 friends on Facebook to the one who single handedly grew a brand’s community from a few Twitter followers to thousands of engaged members. To my knowledge, there is no official training to become A Community Manager. And for a good reason: the best way to learn is still to learn on the job. That’s why the real role of a community manager, as well as her salary, is so fuzzy.
In conclusion, being a good community manager is a tough job because your clients need to recognize your value. First in terms of what difference you can make, and second for what you’ll do better than the other so-called community managers. And then they have to pay you accordingly.