What should you keep in mind when looking for a Community Manager?

The most frequent conclusion? It’s time to look for a Community Manager. ”

This is the real scenario that many organizations face today.

The figure of the Community Manager has undoubtedly become a key and high-profile piece in the organizational chart of any company that wants to build or strengthen its brand in the dynamic and fast-paced world of social networks.

However, this sudden migration of traditional organizations to the unruly territories of Web 2.0 has left more than one CEO or Manager performing himself the following questions: Who should manage my brand on social networks? What academic training or real experience should that person have? What are the qualities that my Head of Human Resources should pay attention to when selecting the person in charge of leading the social networks of my company?

Below we share some of the aspects that you must take into account when hiring a Community Manager.

Your Training? It all depends.

There is no single universal rule that determines the “title” or “area of ​​academic education” of an effective Community Manager. Some of the best CM in the world come from diverse disciplines, from Literature and Communication to Design and Computing. In this case, it is more about the abilities, skills and interests of the candidate, and how it links these skills to the objectives of the organization, to the identity of the brand and to the development of effective strategies for its consolidation and nutrition. time.

However, according to the experience of some organizations considered digital natives, authorities in Social Media and different means of virtual communication, it is frequent and normally desirable that the Community Manager or Social Media Manager has a strong prior training in areas such as: Communication Social or Corporate, Journalism, Marketing, Advertising, Business (Business), Telecommunications, Network Engineering and other information sciences that allow it

In addition to the wide range of courses and diplomas available for Community Managers in the market, currently universities in Spain, the United States, Latin America and other parts of Europe already offer competitive post-graduate programs at specialization levels and a master’s degree in Community Management.

Skills, skills and thinking 2.0.

Is the Community Manager born or is it done? This question goes up to the debate table when it comes to identifying the skill set or competence profile of the candidate to manage the social networks of the company. Like the old rhetorical question: “What was the chicken or the egg first?”, The answer to this question is cyclical.

What is certain is that unquestionably the CM of an organization must possess a series of key strengths inherent to the valuable work it performs:

  • Excellent mass and interpersonal communication skills are essential for the successful execution of activities aimed at the growth of your community. Similarly knowledge in marketing and advertising are quite useful when designing the actions and strategies to be implemented.
  • Empathy, patience and creativity are three ingredients that will allow the CM to identify with its followers and get them to identify with the brand he / she represents, in order to generate stronger and lasting links between the organization and its communities.
  • Strong skills for writing and synthesis : In social networks the tolerance level for grammatical and syntax errors is strictly limited. Every good Community Manager can demonstrate his ability to write persuasively, creatively and synthesized, with special emphasis on writing for web and digital media.
  • Precision, analytical capacity and tools management 2.0: One of the essential requirements for all CM is the advanced knowledge of metrics and Social Media indicators, as well as the use of statistical tools that allow you to measure the impact of your work and interpret the results for the generation of strategies. Google Analytics, Hootsuite, TweetDeck, SproutSocial, and Klout are some of the most used tools by social network professionals for this purpose. He must also be able to manage projects and times, be able to guide, adapt and coordinate his team.
  • Experience in the management of digital platforms and social media: being familiar and in tune with the main social media becomes a first necessity for the good Community Manager. Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, WordPress, LinkedIn and Tumblr are some of the main social networks most addressed by companies for corporate and marketing purposes.

Interest and passion for the environment: more than a job, a lifestyle.

Beyond their skills and professional training, the Community Manager is a dynamic, multifaceted and empathetic person who feels an innate and insatiable curiosity for social networks, digital marketing, communication 2.0 and the development of new technological trends that interweave these disciplines, therefore demonstrates motivation and interest in technology and its impact on web user communities.

As a final recommendation, it is important to follow the example set by several companies on board the wave of Social Media, whose Human Resources departments have migrated assertively to social media to learn a little more about the interests and motivations of their future Community Managers It is normal, and in most cases necessary, for candidates to include their addresses and profiles in some of the social networks of which they are part.

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