This article was originally published in last week’s TheCR News:
When we think of the day to day and the year to year of what community management is, we think of Groundhog Day. Not the actual event, where a furry creature tells us if winter will last or not…no we mean the movie starring Bill Murray.
Same Task Different Day. Many community manager’s days looks remarkably similar. It may vary by industry or by the department they work in, but day in and day out they are managing SM, engagement, helping new members navigate, helping older members continue to stay interested, and keeping everyone dancing and feeling special.
Didn’t I Just Have This Conversation? In many occupations your conversations evolve as your role evolves. And while on the strategy side for community managers this is certainly true, on the day-to-day side it can be rather repetitive. Just when you move a member to a different stage of engagement and your conversation is evolving, in comes a new member and it seems you’ve had this conversation once, twice or hundreds of times before. The good news is, like Bill Murray, you learn which questions to ask and how to make connections easier.
Learning From Each Day. In the movie Bill Murray is first upset about re-living the same day over and over again, but then he sees the humor in it and begins to use it to his advantage. He uses what he learns each day to make the next day better and accomplish his goal – to get the girl (it’s a hollywood movie after all). Most community managers skip the first step, as this is what they signed on for. And they excel at the next two.
Taking a Licking and Still Ticking (and smiling) Bill Murray considers himself a god for what he survives during Groundhog Day. And we think there are days in community management that just feel like you are getting it from every side. And then just when you think you’ve had it, someone else comes in to the community to say thank you or what a great job you’ve done or why they love your community. And it’s all very worthwhile. So you do it again…and again. Day in and day out.
What do you think? Do you ever feel like you’re reliving the same day over and over?
Here are a selection of blog posts focused on the community manager as a role:
