From Good to Great: What Traits Sets Exceptional Community Managers Apart
Transitioning into managing an existing community is hard. However, there are some tricks of the trade that can help you become a rock star community manager in your transition—minus the mohawk.
Greet your new community with enthusiasm
Get friendly fast! Introduce yourself to everyone and let them know that you’re joining the team. It’s okay to introduce yourself and address any concerns with delightful enthusiasm. For example, you might say:
“Hey, I’m Alex! I’m excited to join this community and look forward to working with [mention the other community manager and/or building off of their work]. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to be part of such an active and engaged community.
You’re all doing selfless and inspiring work, and I look forward to waking wake up every day knowing we’re making an impact. We’ll help each other do what we do even better.
You’re all incredibly important members of this community, and we’re so glad you’re here! We’ve got some exciting things planned, and I can’t wait to work with you all and hear your awesome ideas.”
<<*Insert funny GIF>>
(*this is required) 😉
Be enthusiastic while also mentioning that you are open to their feedback and ideas. Keep it general enough that you aren’t committing to anything specific while you are still new.
Always leave a paper trail
One of the hardest parts of going into an established community as a new manager is not knowing: current processes, tools, how things work, strategy, and—perhaps the hardest—existing relationships and dynamics. Get organized internally before going external by learning these things and creating an easy system to file your “paper” trail.
You probably won’t be at your job forever, and when you leave a new community manager will likely take your place. By keeping a paper trail, you make it easier for the next community manager to slide into your shoes. Hopefully, the community manager before you left a paper trail that helped you get started. It’s also really important for your own organizational purposes.
Another way to think about it is to leave the park better than you found it. If you see trash on the ground, pick it up to help keep it beautiful. Go the extra mile to document and write out what you’re working on and where you are in your projects. The number of times I’ve started a new job without knowing the relationship dynamics, scope of work, or even the basic logins and technology used is more than I can count. It’s frustrating, to say the least, and adds stress to a new position that can make you feel overwhelmed.
In short, it’ll save you time in the long run, and it’s just good manners for those who follow in your footsteps. Plus, you’ll have something tangible to look back on and appreciate all you’ve accomplished.
Understand the type of community you’re managing
Do research into what you’re getting into—hopefully you did this before the interview! Try to understand the type of community and the tone of voice. Answer the following questions before you start actively managing the community:
- What type of community is it?
- What’s the community objective?
- Who’s the target audience and key members of the community?
- What’s the tone? Is it instructional, collaborative, or even a place for debating?
- What’s the value of the community for its users? for the company?
- Does the community play a big part in sales and advocacy, or does it fill a support role?
- What are the most important features? Do these aid in filling the value needs of the users and the company?
Take time to get organized, understand initiatives and features, and prioritize your time to create value. You want to be able to show the value you bring to both the company and community members—this can be challenging as a new community manager. Listen to feedback from users and understand the community goals. It’s also good to jot down your ideas and prioritize them.
Know the voice and tone of the community.
It’s better to be slightly safer than sorry, especially when you’re new. You may be eager to pull the trigger and post as much as you can as fast as you can because you want to get your face out there. But, you need to take it slow—remember, you crawl before you walk, and walk before you run.
You don’t want to under- or over-promise, as this will make you appear ill-prepared and inexperienced, or worse, make your team appear disorganized and like you’re not working together. Ensure that anything, and everything you post has been reviewed and fact-checked.
You don’t want to post inaccurate information, as doing so will erode any credibility you may have gained. It’s much easier to lose the users’ trust than it is to gain in the first place. So, if you’re unsure of something, don’t post it.
Have an open and caring approach.
Starting out, you won’t know the current relationship dynamics. It’s good to have an open and caring approach so that you can learn these. Listen to user feedback, and you’ll get up to speed with all the known issues, both big and small.
Ideally, your team can give you a crash course in the typical issues and concerns, but this is something you’ll discover from working with the users anyway. Just tread lightly and be smart about it.
Respond to any criticisms and questions openly.
Don’t commit to anything, but also be direct in saying that their concerns are top of mind, and you will look into possible resolutions and get back to them. If you say you’ll get back to them, make sure you do! It may help to give them a timeline, but even if you can’t, check in and let them know that you’re still working on it. This ensures they know you’re on it and haven’t forgotten.
It’s easy as a new community manager to want to take on the world and fix all the problems. Remember that these problems are hard because there are dependencies, constraints, and priorities that have to be considered. Keep this in mind before promising the world with rose-tinted glasses.
Bring your own style to your posts and interactions.
It’s important to stay true to yourself and bring your own style. Bring your unique voice to the way you interact with your members and write.
Even if you are representing a brand and a company, add a little of your personality and flare. Maybe it’s as simple as using “ya’ll” instead of “you all” with an emoji. Be authentic, though, and be consistent.
This is also important when addressing users when negative things occur. If you build trust first, they will see you more as a real person, and it will make for easier conversations.
I’m a big fan of an “Introduce Yourself” thread. This gets the community talking and building relationships. It also helps them learn more about the person you are behind the user icon.
Please, please, please, don’t have an avatar for your profile image—use a real picture of your face and write a real bio. Include something quirky about yourself, and make sure you include information that shows what makes you fit to be a community manager.
Be the community manager that you wish to see in the community.
Here’s the twist! Be the community manager you’d want if you were joining a community as an user. In other words, (to kinda steal from Gandhi) be the community manager you wish to see.
Make things as simple and easy for your users, and other internal staff members, as possible. This will build your credibility while also increasing user activity and contributions! Make sure that new and existing users in the community know exactly what is expected of them, where to do what, and how to behave.
Be visible! Be helpful! Be responsive! Be curious!
You won’t know all the answers, so don’t pretend to. Use it as an opportunity to meet new people and learn new things. Relish gaining this new knowledge and have those conversations early and often.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandra Bowen is a Community and Developer Relations Manager for OutSystemsDev. She has mostly worked as a community manager for tech companies and startups. She has created community and social media strategies from the ground up and has been a one-person community team who wears tons of hats.