2019: when the 'Community Manager' becomes a ‘hero’ role
Over the course of 2018, an increasing number of fintechs, start-ups and the savviest of corporates set about recruiting dedicated Community Managers for their organisations.
The majority of the business population continued on with their supposedly tried-and-trusted strategy of getting their social media executive / assistant or intern / work experience kid to manage their precious Facebook and LinkedIn groups, Instagram comments and Twitter DMs.
If you haven’t already come across this role and you're wondering what it is, the Community Manager’s remit is basically a blend of marketing, sales and customer service.
They typically answer queries, nurture existing and potential customers and share helpful (and relevant) content. They are generally there to be a ‘helping hand’ for community members; a friendly face of ‘X’ company - and in theory, an ‘always on’ resource.
The recent emergence of the Community Manager role has not gone unnoticed. I can comfortably anticipate that, over the course of this year, it will become a more sought-after position for companies needing to add an extra string to their CX bow. I reckon it’ll also be more widely referred to and adopted as a 'business as usual' job type in the digital world.
The incumbent of this role type won’t necessarily be doing all the social media tasks under the sun. Instead, they’ll be dedicating most of their time to building up and engaging with micro-communities living on various social platforms (the most obvious incarnation of this being a company’s associated Facebook group).
Brands need to meet ever more challenging customer expectations and meet new, more formidable standards of service. The Community Manager position could be a business’s new customer service saviour.
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