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The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Community Career Profiles: The Director of Community Role

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Director of Community

Directors of community are responsible for community programs – strategy, governance, team management and budgets. Not every community has a director – instead, a functional executive often takes on these responsibilities. The director of community role is more common in mature communities, in large organizations and in organizations where the community program is central to the business model.

Directors of Community in the Organization

Directors of Community command respect in organizations, both in terms of the number of people they oversee in the organization and the place they occupy in it. 4 out of 5 of those who identify themselves as Directors of Community have direct reports, and most of those have 3 or more of them. When we think about communities being truly integrated into the business, Directors of Community sit in a place to make that happen — our research shows that 83% report to vice-presidents or higher in the organization, including 43% who report to the C-suite.

director of community

Access to top managers and connection to the business side of things comes at a small cost for Directors of Community, who are expected to be in the office, rather than work remotely. Just 1-in-5 Directors of Community in our sample works remotely most of the time, and a majority are generally found in the office on a daily basis.

director of community

Skills and Training Needs

Directors of Community don’t forget their roots — highly valuing engagement and strategic skills just as strategists and community managers do, but it’s not surprising their biggest training needs revolve around understanding, gathering data and telling the story of the community in a business context. Skills that feed into understanding the value of the community to the organization and to members are also seen as critical.

Want to be a Director of Community?

Your best opportunities may be within your current organization. About half of Directors of Community in our research say they were promoted into their community management role, and nearly two-thirds say they either defined their own position or were approached directly by the hiring manager. Just 13% of Directors of Community say an external job posting led them to their current role.

Are you a Director of Community at your organization? We’d love to hear how your responsibilities and priorities stack up against our survey participants. What is your top community focus for the coming year?

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Want to learn more about the director of community role?

Download our Community Careers and Compensation report for free. 

 

Throwback Thursday – Getting a Community Management Job

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By Shannon Abram, The Community RoundtableCommunity Skills Framework TheCR

Job hunting can always be stressful. Add to that the stress of finding a job in an emerging field like community management and your stress can double. No fear! We’ve compiled best practices for finding and getting a community job. We’re also highlighting the Community Skills Framework. The Community Skills Framework showcases the 50 skills essential to community management. You can use the Framework to access your strengths and identify places for growth!

This week’s #throwbackthursday focuses on the best practices for getting a community management job.

  • How Do I Find a Community Manager Job? – Community management is a profession of relationships – use your network to discover your next role. Most community jobs are not currently found through traditional job listings.
  • 50 Skills of Community Management – The Community Skills Framework represents the five skill families and top 50 skills that are required to build a successful community program.
  • How To Win That Community Manager Job – As organizations begin to increasingly recognize and reward the value of good community management the market for jobs has begun to heat up. While at any given moment there are literally dozens of interesting community jobs open around the country (and truly, the world) the competition for these roles is getting stiffer. How can you set yourself apart?

  • For TheCR Network Eyes Only: Community Careers and Development Group – Are you a member of TheCR Network? Check out this group inside TheCR Network where members share job postings, hiring advice and best practices for landing the community jobs of your dreams!

Want even more #throwbackthursday action? Check out all our throwback posts!

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CMSS Stats You Can Use: What’s the Best Way to Network?

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable. 

Community professionals have no shortage of resources to help them grow in their careers.

It’s an exciting time to work in the community management world. Given the rise in community management, blogs, books and other publications are in abundance for those looking to read up on good practices and trends in the field. (You can check out our recommended reading list here.)

Conferences and other networking opportunities that connect community professionals with their industry peers help them stay current with trends in a field that is growing as technology advances. We’ve found that vendor conferences can be particularly helpful when connecting you with people that are struggling with the same challenges that you face – and provide a great way to expand your understanding of the platform you use.

Through our Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 research we found that 51% of survey participants belong to a professional development group – these groups (like TheCR Network) provide an instant network of like-minded community practitioners and a 24/7 support system for often-siloed community professionals. Many cities also host community-focused meet-ups (like OcTribe in San Francisco and the Community Manager Breakfast series in Austin)- check out what is available near you or start your own group!

network

 

Community managers may want to take a look at our newest eBook, as well. Defining Community Management Roles provides you with information on salaries, experience, skills and responsibilities for three key community management roles – community manager, community strategist and director of community. Check it out now!

Community Career Profiles: All About Community Strategists

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

CommunityStrategistIconEngagement and people skills rank as most important skill set for a successful community strategist, but strategic and business skills were most important to nearly 20 percent of those in this role. Strategists also have the highest technical skills among the three job profiles in this research.

External strategists have a wider range of responsibilities than internal strategists profiled and are more likely to be responsible for overall program management. Internal strategists’ top priorities include building the community strategy and roadmap, measurement, internal consulting, advocating for the community, training and consulting with IT on platform integration.

The poster below shares some of the most interesting findings from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 in regards to the Community Manager Role.

  • The average salary for a Community Strategist is $85,075
  • The average Community Strategist has 14.3 years of work experience
  • 38% of external Community Strategists have been promoted

Top three responsibilities for Community Strategists: 

  1. Monitoring activity & listening
  2. Developing the community strategy
  3. Measuring and reporting community performance

Top three priorities for Community Strategists: 

  1. Specific business outcomes
  2. Activity rates
  3. Membership growth

CMSS Blog Assets 6

 

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Have you filled out the 2015 State of Community Management survey yet? The findings help shape the dialogue about community management and this year, upon completing the survey you can see how your community sits within TheCR’s Community Maturity Model. Learn more at https://the.cr/socm2015survey.

CMSS Stats You Can Use: All About Directors of Community

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Director of CommunityDirectors of community bring a community management skillset – strong engagement skills, a knack for contentdevelopment – to the table, but spend most of their time on strategic and business objectives. While similar in skill profile to strategists, directors of community spend a great deal of their time advocating for the community, managing the program and managing team members.

Interestingly and despite the fact that it is the bulk of their work, only 33 percent rank strategic and business skills as most important to their role. This suggests that while the business skills are important, a firm grounding in day-to-day community management is critical, and the responsibilities of the role cannot be fulfilled without that grounding.

The poster below shares some of the most interesting findings from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 in regards to the Director of Community Role. Namely:

  • The average salary for a Director of Community is $106, 356
  • The average Director of Community has 16.2 years of work experience
  • 65% of Directors of Community have been promoted

Top three responsibilities for Directors of Community: 

  1. Developing the community strategy
  2. Advocating for the community
  3. Developing community policies and guidelines

Top three priorities for Directors of Community: 

  1. Activity rates
  2. Specific business outcomes
  3. Membership growth

CMSS Blog Assets 5

Are you a Director of Community at your organization? We’d love to hear how your responsibilities and priorities stack up against our survey participants. What is your top community focus for 2015?

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Directors of Community may find a lot of great ideas for their team in the new Community Manager Handbook: 20 Lessons from Community Superheroes, available starting February 4. Learn more at https://www.communityroundtable.com/CMHandbook.

 

CMSS Stats You Can Use: How Do I Find a Community Manager Job?

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable. 

As we close in on CMAD this Monday, we hope there will be a lot of focus on community managers and their careers. Our Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 found signs of an emerging career path for community professionals – but it’s not a path driven by the help wanted ads.

Community management is a profession of relationships – use your network to discover your next role. Most community jobs are not currently found through traditional job listings.

We found in our Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 research that only 27% of community managers found their current role through a job listing. Instead, build your professional community and network to identify new opportunities. Have a brand you are passionate about? Join their community as a member – showing interest and commitment to something you love is a great way to get noticed by a potential employer.

And get yourself more noticed in the places you want to succeed. In a digital industry, reputation matters. Share what you know and seek to connect with others in the industry. Whether you’re active on Twitter or LinkedIn, contribute to a professional development network or association, serve as a mentor, or speak at events, taking the time to help others learn what you know will demonstrate your expertise and commitment. Having a strong professional network increases your likelihood of having the inside scoop on new community manager jobs.

​Propose your own promotion

And sometimes, the best next step on your career path is as close as your current desk. If you’ve been in your role for a few years, evaluate your current responsibilities and goals for your community and seek out an opportunity to promote yourself. Think about what you do and need to keep up with the day-to-day tasks in the community AND stay on top of strategic planning – and write a new job description detailing how a new higher level role would better capture the work you do, benefit the community and make the case for hiring someone to help out with your previous responsibilities. Smart employers know the critical importance of retaining top talent, and your approach can help you articulate both your value and the value of your community in important ways.

 

community manager job

 

CMSS Stats You Can Use: How To Win That Community Manager Job

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable. 

As organizations begin to increasingly recognize and reward the value of good community management the market for jobs has begun to heat up. While at any given moment there are literally dozens of interesting community jobs open around the country (and truly, the world) the competition for these roles is getting stiffer. How can you set yourself apart?

​Working with communities requires a diverse skill set and is more complex than many assume.

​Through our Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 research we identified community management skills in four skill families:

  • Engagement and people skills: These skills enable relationship development, understanding motivations and the design of social environments that reward individuals.
  • Content development skills: These skills enable the creation of multi-modal content and programming designed to build engagement and drive value from multiple segments.
  • Strategic and business skills: These skills include the program management, governance, advocacy and training required for organizations to understand this new approach.
  • Technical skills: These skills include an understanding of the need for and implications of platform architecture, integration and analytics.

The best way to differentiate yourself from the competition for community roles is to strength your skillset in the above families – especially in areas that other candidates might be weak. One example? We found only 51% of community managers have graphic-based content skills. Use your downtime to brush up on traditional graphics tools like the Adobe Creative Suite and new tools like Canva and Pitkochart. Not only will you be able to add valuable skills to your resume, you’ll set yourself apart from 49% of the competition!

CMSS Blog Assets 2

 

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TheCR Network offers dozens of skill-building professional development opportunities and a network of hundreds of top community leaders to help you build and grow your skills and expertise. Make an investment in your community – join us!

CMSS Stats You Can Use: The Role and Compensation of Directors of Community

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

It’s the time of year when many community professionals are making career resolutions – whether to strengthen their current role in their organization or take that next step on the career ladder. With that in mind, it seems like a good time to surface more of the great and useful data from the Community Manager Salary Survey that illustrate the career path of community professionals. So in the coming weeks, we are going to use Wednesday as our day for sharing statistics from our research.

director of community

Director of Community Profile from the CMSS 2014

Today, we begin with some information on Directors of Community – once a rare unicorn indeed, but a role now popping up more and more in our community travels. ​Directors of Community typically own community programs at their organizations, and are responsible for community strategy, governance, team management and budgets. Not every community has a director – instead, a functional executive often takes on these responsibilities. But the Director of Community role is becoming common (as well as some VP of Community roles) in mature communities, in large organizations and in organizations where the community program is central to the business model.

Through our research in the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 we found that true to the title Directors of Community have more community and more general work experience than the average Community Manager or Community Strategist. And there are signs that they are being treated (as they should be) as members of management – with higher salaries and bonuses as part of their compensation – in fact, 65% of Directors of Community receive a bonus.

That high percentage is good news for the Directors, and it also sends a signal that organizations are developing an appreciation for the demonstrable value that community can provide.

Does your organization have a Director of Community as part of your community team? Are you a Director of Community yourself? We’d love to hear your perspective on the challenges you face in your role, the way you demonstrate value – and the information and research that would be most helpful to support you in demonstrating and getting compensated for your value.

CMSS Blog Assets 1

 

Click the link to explore the full Community Manager Salary Survey 2014, now available from The Community Roundtable.

Are you a Director of Community? Build the connections and skills that can move you forward in your own career. TheCR Network provides dozens of professional development opportunities and opens doors to connect you with one of the largest networks of experienced community managers and directors in the world. Join us!

Friday Roundup: The Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 is Here

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Community Manager Salary SurveyWe are so excited to finally be able to share the full results from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014. It’s a great time to be a community manager as companies big and small are starting to recognize that is a critical skill to help transform their organizations for a digitally connected world. Check out the full report and please let us know what you think!

Download the Report Now >>

Community News and Articles from Around the Web: 

Could IBM Watson Be an Online Community Manager? – Your typical community manager: two eyes, two ears, two hands. Between 5 and 6 feet high, 150 to 225 pounds. IBM Watson: 10 racks of IBM Power 750 servers, 2,880 processor cores, 15 terabytes of RAM, 4 terabytes of disk space and 200 million pages of stored content.

Social Media Manager or Community Manager? – I’ve led social media and community management for companies, hired, and worked with many social media managers and community managers. Let’s be honest – the two roles are often confused. The number of blog posts explaining the difference should be a tip-off. In Australia, for example, most Community Manager jobs advertised are actually Social Media Manager jobs.

New Research: The Emerging Career Path for Community Professionals – It’s a great time to be a community manager. Companies big and small are starting to recognize that is a critical skill to help transform their organizations for a digitally connected world. (Results from the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014)

So You Want to Be an Online Community Manager? – Because I write a lot about online communities and online community management, I’ve had people ask me, “I’d like to make a career change into community management. Where do I start?” The first thing I tell them is that I’m not a community manager.

Why Community Manager Should Be Your Association’s Next Hire – It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about my favorite topic, association community management, right? I’m not currently working in the association world, but I still strongly believe in the importance of associations and can’t help but think “how does this apply to associations” when I read pretty much anything. This was especially true when I read this article about how startups are flocking to hire community managers, which quotes one of my idols, Rachel Happe.

Free Webinar Alert – Community Manager Spotlight: AMA with Becky Scott, Sr. Community Engagement Manager at iTalent – We had so much fun with out last community manager AMA we couldn’t wait to bring you another. Join us for this 30 minute webinar on Tuesday, December 2nd at 2pm ET for an AMA (ask me anything) chat with Becky Scott, Sr. Community Engagement Manager at iTalent.

Free Webinar Alert: Using Community Management to Drive Engagement in Higher Ed – Join Mike Mathews, CIO at Oral Roberts University and Rachel Happe, Founder and Principal at The Community Roundtable as they share best practices for implementing community programs in higher education and supporting research from the State of Community Management 2014.

New Community and Social Media Jobs: 

  1. Community Manager – Trusted Insight, Inc. – New York, NY
  2. Social Media Community Manager – St. John & Partners Advertising – Jacksonville, FL
  3. Community Manager, OpenIDEO – IDEO – San Francisco, CA
  4. Digital Writer/Community Manager – DrivingSales – Sandy, UT
  5. Community Manager – Smart Sparrow – San Francisco, CA
  6. Community Manager – Advanstar Communications Inc. – Iselin, NJ
  7. Community Manager – CustomMade Ventures – Boston, MA
  8. Jive Internal Community Manager – Firmenich – Princeton, New Jersey
  9. Community Manager Mobile Application – AC Lion  New York, NY
  10. Social Media Web Developer – Garmin – Olathe, KS
  11. Manager, Global Brand Management, ACUVUE® Brand, Social Media – Johnson & Johnson – Jacksonville, FL
  12. Social Media Assistant – re׃group inc. – Ann Arbor, MI
  13. Social Media Coordinator – Marsh Supermarkets – Indianapolis, IN
  14. Social Media Co-op – Keurig – Burlington, MA
  15. Social Associate – Starcom Mediavest Group – Chicago, IL

New Research: The Emerging Career Path for Community Professionals

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By Rachel Happe, Principal and Co-Founder, The Community Roundtable.

Community Management Skills Framework

It’s a great time to be a community manager. Companies big and small are starting to recognize that is a critical skill to help transform their organizations for a digitally connected world.

Our mission at The Community Roundtable is to advance the business of community and research has always played an integral part of that – helping people understand the dynamics and management approaches that build successful communities. We’ve made great strides at the macro level with our State of Community Management report and our Community Maturity Model framework – so much so that we can now benchmark the maturity of an organization’s community management approach.

It is time to take the same research approach to the role of the individual community professional and we are excited to announce the publication of our first Community Manager Salary Survey, made possible with support from Jive Software.

This research is becoming increasingly urgent due to a variety of trends we see:

  • Lack of recognition of how critical the community management discipline is to digital transformation and the future of work. We believe community management is the future of management and a critical component to enabling the future of work.
  • Community professionals are increasingly frustrated because of poorly defined roles and lack of advancement opportunities.
  • There is very little data about community management roles, making it challenging for hiring managers to define well constructed job opportunities.

So what did we find?

  • While there is still a lot of variability in skills and compensation levels in community management roles, there are distinct roles starting to emerge – specialist, manager, strategist and director. 36% of community professionals have been promoted within their role; an encouraging sign that organizations value the role and want to enable a career path.
  • At the executive level – community management is strategic – responsible for strategy, governance, program management and ensuring communities meet business objectives.
  • Performance measurements for community managers are still evolving – there is no one dominant measure being used to evaluate the performance of community professionals.
  • Organizations are still largely not supporting formal professional development resources for community managers like membership in professional development networks, training and coaching.

Along with this research, we also published the Community Management Skills Framework, designed to:

  • Provide a common framework for understanding the skills required for community management.
  • Give community managers a tool to evaluate and develop their own skills.
  • Support hiring managers and HR teams as they define formal community management roles within their organization.
  • Look at and compare the skills of community teams so gaps can be addressed and existing skills can be leveraged.

The full report contains specific data for internal (employee-facing) and external (customer and market-facing) community professionals – including average salaries, percent who get bonuses, profiles of skills and responsibilities by role, performance criteria and professional development resources.

Download the Report Now >>

We would love to hear from you about what surprised you, what you think is missing and how you will use this data to further your own development.