The community manager often lives at the sharp end of business practise – which means balancing the demands of your bosses and the expectations of your community members. It can be exhilarating and exhausting as Scott Drummond has explained previously. Somewhere in this sandwich of innovation topped with a lettuce leaf of frustration is the diversity that constantly attracts curiosity seekers to these roles. But what is the business of a community manager? This report from the Community Roundtable does a good job of explaining the state of play – with contributions from respected practitioners working in agencies, in small business and in the enterprise.
The report a little too US-focused for my liking – and could do with a healthy dose of input from Europe, Asia and Australia. But one of the challenges of community management is – as the authors point out – that the complexity of the discipline is often at odds with an organisational view of it. (Maybe we need to have some of those smart marketers give community management a makeover!)
Jokes aside, this report provides business innovators with plenty of ideas for improvement. And no matter whether your business embraces these opportunities on a large or small scale, it’s clear that there are competitive advantages on the offing. Take a read, and then get to work.
Hi Gavin –
Thank you so much for taking the time to review our recent report, provide your perspective, and blog about it.
Our network is at this point, very North American-centric which is a current limitation. Because we have a limited number of members from Europe (it is challenging to participate because of programming schedules), we do not have great insight as to how community management is different around the globe but we would love to be able to offer that comparison at some point – or have someone else provide it.
Cheers –
Rachel
What I understand about the community management is the relationship of the members and the bosses of the company. There should have unity in the group and a sort of understanding. In the revenue of some issues, all must cooperate and have the ideas and thoughts to share so that everything will go on smoothly.