Online Community Management is being out in the trenches with the customer. Really, it is the day to day conversations with the enterprises prospects and customers.
This activity has also been referred to as a social media manager.
This activity is social platform agnostic because it doesn’t matter what platform you are on. If you are doing this for a 3rd party, it means they are trusting you with a lot of influence for their enterprise.
Strangely enough, the beginnings of the Online Community Manager start back in the computer games industry with the advent of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games) back in 1995.
The realities of the situation have expanded to include lots of different positions . Some of these include social media management in a support and marketing role also. The gist of all of this is that online community management encompasses a little bit of each of these, while making sure that there are open communications between the community and the author.
The different types of roles that an online community manager may serve depends pretty much on the nature and reason for being of the online communities purpose. Now this may or may not be motivated by whether it is a for profit enterprise or not.
Some developers and creators have said that every network has an underlying purpose or there would be no reason to have it.
There are different motivations though , such as Business or Missions or even personal.
These all have to be taken into account when deciding on an Online Community Manager.
The manager has his hand on the pulse of the company and the send button could be compared to the barrel of a weapon. This is because anything coming out of that barrel can hit the target or miss. If there is careful consideration of variables such as wind, humidity etc. , you have a good chance of hitting the target.
If the projectile misses it’s mark, it could bounce of at an angle that could do damage. The company , if there is one, should implement a strategy of approval for this process to minimize damage and maximize influence.
As always , we are soliciting feedback on this subject , so don’t be afraid to contact us.
Have a Happy Holiday Season. !