We have seen quite a change in the market for community managers over the last few years. When we started TheCR, community managers were largely isolated and working by themselves or on very small teams. Back in early 2010, we spoke with TheCR Network members about hiring social media and community pros and there was little standardization in language and skill sets and employers that were posting job openings had misaligned responsibilities and salaries.
The good news is that organizations are taking the community manager role more seriously and better aligning expectation and salary levels. However, demand for community managers is now outstripping availability. Our members who lead community teams are looking for scalable training options so they can train both new and existing employees.
We are very pleased to announce that we have partnered with WOMMA and ComBlu on a training program. This training will be delivered in three modules, corresponding with the following roles:
- Community specialist
- Community manager
- Community strategist
Once we decided to head down this path, we turned to our community for their thoughts, vetted our approach with them, and included them in the development of this course. Here are some of the reasons a certificate training program is important to our members:
- A Certificate shows the difference between those professionals with experience and those who are “faking it until they make it”
- More and more employees are taking on community responsibilities and need to understand the fundamentals but our members are stretched too thin to provide this training themselves.
- Members are struggling to make hires in this space and want a way to ensure that new hires have a core understanding of the role.
- Many hiring organizations are just beginning to understand the different community roles themselves and want to ensure they have a complete understanding of all of the various responsibilities.
We are thrilled that many of our members have contributed by authoring parts of this training course – making it truly practitioner led. We are hoping it will set an industry benchmark that we can evolve as the market matures and changes.
