By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.
Two weeks ago we released our latest infographic “Community Management Career Profiles” sponsored by Jive Software. This is the first research released from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014. Subtitled “The Career Path Of The Community Professional – Insights From The Community Roundtable’s Community Manager Salary Survey 2014” the infographic provides some great stats for community professionals, hiring managers and the community industry as a whole.
Without further ado, here are the initial findings from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014. You can view the full infographic here.
THE ROLE, COMPENSATION AND CAREER PATH OF THE COMMUNITY PROFESSIONAL.
For the purposes of the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 infographic we focused on three of the most common community titles:
- Community Manager
- Community Strategist
- Director of Community
View the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 infographic here.
AVERAGE SALARY
Key finding: Research from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 showed that community professionals who work with internal employee facing communities earn more than their externally facing peers.
- Community Manager
- Internal Community Manager Average Salary:$69,887
- External Community Manager Average Salary: $74,939
- Community Strategist
- Internal Community Strategist Average Salary: $85,075
- External Community Strategist Average Salary: $90,400
- Director of Community
- Internal Director of Community Average Salary: $106,356
- External Director of Community Average Salary: $113,263
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
Key Finding: In the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 we found that directors of community who work with external market facing communities have the most community management experience and the average level of work experience was over 10 years, countering the assumption that community managers are typically younger employees.
Percent of total work experience in community management:
- Community Manager –
- Internal Community Manager: 39%
- External Community Manager: 30%
- Community Strategist
- Internal Community Strategist: 48%
- External Community Strategist: 29%
- Director of Community
- Internal Director of Community: 45%
- External Director of Community: 44%
Average years of community management experience:
- Community Manager –
- Internal Community Manager: 4.2 years
- External Community Manager: 4.7 years
- Community Strategist
- Internal Community Strategist: 6.9 years
- External Community Strategist:5 years
- Director of Community
- Internal Director of Community: 7.4 years
- External Director of Community: 7.1 years
Average years of work experience:
- Community Manager –
- Internal Community Manager: 10.8 years
- External Community Manager: 10.6 years
- Community Strategist
- Internal Community Strategist: 14.3 years
- External Community Strategist: 14.3 years
- Director of Community
- Internal Director of Community: 16.4 years
- External Director of Community: 16.2 years
TOP THREE PRIORITIES FOR COMMUNITY PROFESSIONALS
Key finding: Data in the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 clearly showed that business and strategic skills become more important in senior community roles.
Top Three Priorities For Community Managers
- Monitoring activity and listening
- Communication and editorial
- Curating and sharing content
Top Three Priorities For Community Strategists
- Monitoring activity and listening
- Developing the community strategy
- Measuring and reporting community performance
Top Three Priorities For Directors of Community
- Developing the community strategy
- Developing community policies and guidelines
- Advocating for the community
COMMUNITY PROFESSIONALS WORKING REMOTELY
Key finding: working remotely does not hinder career progression for community professionals
- 24% of community managers reported working remotely most of the time
- 24% of community strategists reported working remotely most of the time
- 41% of directors of community reported working remotely most of the time
Key finding: directors of community are 71% more likely to work remotely than managers and strategists, suggesting individuals with those skills are scarce and can negotiate for more flexibility.
WORK ENVIRONMENTS FOR COMMUNITY PROFESSIONALS
Key finding: through the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 we found that community strategists are three times more likely to work for agencies than community managers.
- 80% of community managers work in corporate environments.
- 6% of community managers are freelancers.
- 8% of community managers work at agencies.
- 6% of community managers work in a different environment.
- 62% of community strategists work in corporate environments.
- 24% of community strategists work at agencies.
- 11% of community strategists are freelancers.
- 3% of community strategists work in a different environment.
- 79% of directors of community work in corporate environments.
- 5% of directors of community work at agencies.
- 7% of directors of community are freelancers.
- 9% of directors of community work in a different environment.
COMMUNITY PROFESSIONAL: AN EMERGENT CAREER PATH
Although Community Manager is the most common job title among professionals surveyed, other roles are emerging.
Among the survey sample of the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014:
- 55% had the title “Community Manager”
- 13% had the title “Community Strategist”
- 17% had the title “Director of Community”
- 13% had the title “Community Specialist”
- 7% reported they had another title
Key finding: 36% of professionals surveyed in the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 reported being promoted within community management.
LOOKING FOR A PROMOTION? WORK ON YOUR SKILLS.
In the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 we found that advanced community professionals, including community strategists and directors of community are more likely to have these key skills:
- Program management
- Building a community roadmap
- Developing executive support and coaching executives
- Creating, purchasing or delivering training
- Hiring and managing community team members, contractors, agencies
- Internal consulting
LOOKING FOR A COMMUNITY JOB? GET CREATIVE ABOUT FINDING YOUR NEXT ROLE!
Through the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 we found that the majority of community roles are not sourced through formal HR processes. In fact:
- 39% of community professionals were approached by or introduced to the hiring manager/team
- Only 27% of community professionals found their role through an external job posting
- 20% of community professionals defined their own new role
View the infographic and find more community career resources at communityroundtable.com/cmss14
Brought to you by Jive Software.
