Community management:

A profession or a task?

Craig ThomlerManaging Director

Delib Australia

13 September 2012

• Fun people to be around

• Highly social (at least online)

• Good at finding the middle ground

• Highly compassionate & empathetic

• They all have great community ‘stories’

• No-one appreciates what they do!!

What do we really know about community

managers in Australia?

Community managers…

• Spend most of their time hanging out in

forums/social media chatting with other people

• Spend the rest of their time at lunches/seminars

(like SWARM!) chatting with other people

• Don’t directly produce many physical outputs

(like reports, sales, cars, buildings)

• ‘Look’ like customer service representatives,

but what community managers do is less ‘real’

Is community management a REAL job?

Is it a profession or a task?

Let’s ask community managers!

• Joint effort between Delib Australia & Quiip

• Survey was in April 2012 – open for one month

• Received 75 completed responses

• 69 (92%) were Australian, 2 NZ, 4 elsewhere

• 61% female, 36% male, 3% didn’t say

Community Manager’s survey

The ‘average’ Aussie community manager…

and earn $79-99,000

Background: Comms/PR/Marketing

They live in NSW or Vic

work in their employer’s

office

manage two communities

Is a femaleaged 31-

40yrs

who works for 21-30hrs

per week

have spent 2-3 years in the industry

considered a

knowledge worker

Their key attributes…Attribute Includes Share

Empathetic Empathetic / Diplomatic / Patient / Mediator / Intuitive 20%

Organised Aware / Organised / Strategic / Manager 16%

Adaptible Flexible / Adaptable / Creative / Innovative 12%

EngagingSociable / People-skilled / Positive / Genuine / Humour /

Confident7%

Communicator Communicator / Marketer 6%

Creator Good writer / content creator 6%

Dispassionate Objective / Thick skinned /Decisive / Resilient 6%

Networker Networker / Influencer / Leader 5%

Analytical Analytical 5%

Dedicated Passionate / Enthusiastic / Dedicated 4%

Knowledgeable Knowledgeable / Fast learner 3%

Service-focused Customer service / audience focused 3%

Inclusive Collaborative / Democratic 3%

Tech savvy Technically savvy 2%

Channel savvy Social media savvy 2%

Teacher Teacher / Educator 1%

What do

community

managers

need to be?

What

attracts

people to

community

management?

Their key challenges…

Challenge Example Share

Vision / Understanding Short-term focus / purpose 23%

Organisation / structure / support Red tape / senior buy-in 15%

User management / Participation & Growth Increasing engagement 14%

Time / Workload Time! Time! Time! (lack of) 13%

Managing difficult participants Troll herding 9%

Measurement and ROI Proving ROI 6%

Budget / resourcing Lack of funding 5%

Technology / Remaining up to date Legacy systems 4%

Responsiveness / Content Right balance in responding 4%

Risk & Governance Mitigating perceived risks 4%

Crisis management Managing at risk behaviours 2%

External perceptions Perception of industry 1%

• Inadequate training (60%)

• Risk averse organisation (20%)

• Being harassed (19%) – plus 5% unsure

• Getting harassment support (11%)

Other issues they face…

But really – how much are they paid?

Unpaid4%

$1 to $29,9994%

$30,000 -$49,999

8%

$50,000 -$69,999

28%

$70,000 -$99,999

35%

$100,000 -$129,999

13%

$130,000 or greater

7%

Not Answered1%

So how much experience do they have?

Less than one year10%

1-2 years19%

2-3 years28%

4-5 years25%

5-6 years5%

7-8 years1%

9-10 years3%

More than 10 years9%

And what do they spend their time doing?

Based on a 37hr week….

Challenge Time Share

Content 5 hrs 05 minutes 13.7%

Service 3 hrs 37 minutes 9.8%

Engagement 3 hrs 36 minutes 9.7%

Reporting 3 hrs 16 minutes 8.8%

Facebook 3 hrs 15 minutes 8.8%

Issue management 3 hrs 10 minutes 8.5%

Calendar 2 hrs 56 minutes 7.9%

Twitter 2 hrs 52 minutes 7.7%

Moderation 2 hrs 37 minutes 7.0%

Blogger engagement 2 hrs 05 minutes 5.6%

Administration 2 hrs 02 minutes 5.5%

Representing community 1 hr 43 minutes 4.7%

Other 53 minutes 2.4%

50.8% of time

(18 hrs 52 mins)

31.1% of time

(11 hrs 34 mins)

18.2% of time

(6 hrs 46 mins)

Community management:

A profession or a task?

Community management:

An emerging profession

earn $79-99,000

background: Comms/PR/Marketing

live in NSW or

Vic

work in employer’s

office

Manage two communities

Femaleaged 31-

40yrs

work for 21-30hrs per

week

have spent 2-3 years in the industry

Considered a knowledge

worker

(Free) report coming soon!

(Free) report coming soon!

• Who are Australia’s community managers?

• Why do they manage communities?

• What types of communities do they manage?

• How do they measure success?

• What challenges do they face?

• What tools do they use?

• What fills their day?

• How mature are the organisations that employ them?

• What skills will help you break into the industry?

• What are the job criteria for high performing community managers?

?

Questions?

Craig Thomler

craig@delib.net

@CraigThomler

0411 780 194