Comments on: 10 Community Manager Responsibilities that Don’t Involve Twitter and Facebook http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/ tamar weinberg is a digital marketing specialist, social media consultant, and tech geek at heart Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:06:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Social Media Community Management: An Interview with Kathryn Peck of EA SPORTS » Techipedia | Tamar Weinberg http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-186188 Social Media Community Management: An Interview with Kathryn Peck of EA SPORTS » Techipedia | Tamar Weinberg Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:46:52 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-186188 [...] only grown and expanded over the last couple of years. It tended to quite specific in the past – community managers were meant to discuss games within the forums on different gaming sites to get a sense of the loyal [...] [...] only grown and expanded over the last couple of years. It tended to quite specific in the past – community managers were meant to discuss games within the forums on different gaming sites to get a sense of the loyal [...]

]]> By: Que peut bien faire ton père ? | mickou.com http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-159134 Que peut bien faire ton père ? | mickou.com Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:48:51 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-159134 [...] Do.. nothing ! ” ), j’imagine - tout comme Itamar Kestenbaum à qui l’on doit ce post – qu’avec l’avènement des Community Manager et autres Social Media Consultant [...] [...] Do.. nothing ! ” ), j’imagine – tout comme Itamar Kestenbaum à qui l’on doit ce post – qu’avec l’avènement des Community Manager et autres Social Media Consultant [...]

]]> By: Briana http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-143389 Briana Sat, 29 May 2010 18:20:43 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-143389 I finally got a chance to read this, and I have to say "thank you". So many people are so focused on Twitter and Facebook, so it's good to see someone mentioning other ways to engage the community. I'll keep this on hand. Thanks again! I finally got a chance to read this, and I have to say “thank you”. So many people are so focused on Twitter and Facebook, so it’s good to see someone mentioning other ways to engage the community. I’ll keep this on hand. Thanks again!

]]> By: pablo http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129718 pablo Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:47:33 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129718 OK Thanks for your response. ;-) OK Thanks for your response. ;-)

]]> By: Meghan Rodberg http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129717 Meghan Rodberg Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:45:26 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129717 Pablo, that's a tough one - my team and I are all salaried employees. Salaries are commensurate with experience, level of responsibility (each of our 3 games has a lead CM with cross-trained folks who support them), and performance. I'm not sure how you distribute that in a consultancy! Pablo, that’s a tough one – my team and I are all salaried employees. Salaries are commensurate with experience, level of responsibility (each of our 3 games has a lead CM with cross-trained folks who support them), and performance. I’m not sure how you distribute that in a consultancy!

]]> By: Meghan Rodberg http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129703 Meghan Rodberg Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:59:16 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129703 Hey Itamar! I think it would be even better if we all came together to share knowledge - I realize that my reply made it sound as if only the gaming CMs had anything to give. :) We share many of the same struggles, especially in the areas of metrics and tracking, proving ROI, and generally justifying our existence. While I have a feeling gaming (and other software development) CMs are well ahead of the curve when it comes to running owned communities, social media has expanded our toolset and we're all still integrating it into what we already do as standard practice. In gaming, community managers are tasked with everything you listed above, but also many, many other tasks which are pretty standard across the board, particularly in MMOs. Just to list a few (not including social media tasks, since this is about what we all do OTHER than tweet all day!): -Moderation and management of owned forums -Creating and managing policy for both our external and/or owned communities and the employees who interact with them -Interfacing with the development teams to bring feedback and advocate on behalf of the consumer -Reporting traffic metrics and other community-specific stats -Prepping and publishing release notes -Supporting multiple and ongoing development cycles (alpha, closed beta, open beta, launch, content updates, DLC, expansions, etc.) -Editorial content (developer diaries, tutorials, etc) -In-game live event support -Real-life event organization and support, e.g. trade shows, player gatherings, etc. -Contests and other community activities (screenshot contests are one example) -Marketing and communications support -Requesting tools and features for both our owned communities (forums, social networks, wikis) and games (chat UI and improvements, social features like friends lists, guild functions) -Regularly featuring players (here's an example: http://my.lotro.com/turbinecommunity/2010/03/19/featured-player-valaraen/) and UGC like videos, blogs, etc. -Disaster management (servers go down, critical bug found, etc.) And on, and on... :) Despite the fact that many of these are specific to software development in general, not just gaming, there are many tasks that we all share as community managers no matter who we're working for, like featuring positive contributors to the community! Hey Itamar!

I think it would be even better if we all came together to share knowledge – I realize that my reply made it sound as if only the gaming CMs had anything to give. :) We share many of the same struggles, especially in the areas of metrics and tracking, proving ROI, and generally justifying our existence. While I have a feeling gaming (and other software development) CMs are well ahead of the curve when it comes to running owned communities, social media has expanded our toolset and we’re all still integrating it into what we already do as standard practice.

In gaming, community managers are tasked with everything you listed above, but also many, many other tasks which are pretty standard across the board, particularly in MMOs. Just to list a few (not including social media tasks, since this is about what we all do OTHER than tweet all day!):

-Moderation and management of owned forums
-Creating and managing policy for both our external and/or owned communities and the employees who interact with them
-Interfacing with the development teams to bring feedback and advocate on behalf of the consumer
-Reporting traffic metrics and other community-specific stats
-Prepping and publishing release notes
-Supporting multiple and ongoing development cycles (alpha, closed beta, open beta, launch, content updates, DLC, expansions, etc.)
-Editorial content (developer diaries, tutorials, etc)
-In-game live event support
-Real-life event organization and support, e.g. trade shows, player gatherings, etc.
-Contests and other community activities (screenshot contests are one example)
-Marketing and communications support
-Requesting tools and features for both our owned communities (forums, social networks, wikis) and games (chat UI and improvements, social features like friends lists, guild functions)
-Regularly featuring players (here’s an example: http://my.lotro.com/turbinecommunity/2010/03/19/featured-player-valaraen/) and UGC like videos, blogs, etc.
-Disaster management (servers go down, critical bug found, etc.)

And on, and on… :) Despite the fact that many of these are specific to software development in general, not just gaming, there are many tasks that we all share as community managers no matter who we’re working for, like featuring positive contributors to the community!

]]> By: Itamar Kestenbaum http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129689 Itamar Kestenbaum Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:45:20 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129689 Yeah - a lot of people get stuck in that misconception and don't think about what it really means to manage the community of people who care about / don't care for at all / or are just customers of your brand. Yeah – a lot of people get stuck in that misconception and don’t think about what it really means to manage the community of people who care about / don’t care for at all / or are just customers of your brand.

]]> By: Itamar Kestenbaum http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129688 Itamar Kestenbaum Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:44:06 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129688 Meghan, That's really interesting. I had no idea that Community Managers for the gaming industry had their own community! Since gaming has always been interactive - even before over-the-web gaming existed, gamers interacted a lot - I'm not surprised that community management was an essential component in gaming companies. And in that respect, you're right, Community Management has been around for quite some times. But in the general sense, companies usually delegated customer interaction to customer service representatives (offshore or inhouse) with canned responses, and customers had no connection to corporate, or any way to get anything heard by people with decision-making power. I think that in that respect, a lot has changed in the past few years - and Community Managers didn't exist in these companies until now. I think that it would be great if Community Managers could have a community of their own as well to share ideas and tips (the way the gaming industry CM's do!) Meghan,
That’s really interesting. I had no idea that Community Managers for the gaming industry had their own community! Since gaming has always been interactive – even before over-the-web gaming existed, gamers interacted a lot – I’m not surprised that community management was an essential component in gaming companies. And in that respect, you’re right, Community Management has been around for quite some times.
But in the general sense, companies usually delegated customer interaction to customer service representatives (offshore or inhouse) with canned responses, and customers had no connection to corporate, or any way to get anything heard by people with decision-making power. I think that in that respect, a lot has changed in the past few years – and Community Managers didn’t exist in these companies until now.

I think that it would be great if Community Managers could have a community of their own as well to share ideas and tips (the way the gaming industry CM’s do!)

]]> By: pablo http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129683 pablo Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:29:40 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129683 Meghan: Thanks for your reply. I work in southamerica and the need for a community manager is even less understood here. I currently work for different customers on a parttime basis and am starting to build a bigger team. I charge customers on a suscription based monthly fee (based on a standard time allocation) One question, how do you distribute $(income) vs responsabilities amongst your team members? That is really a challenge for us to be able to grow....Thanks, Pablo Meghan: Thanks for your reply. I work in southamerica and the need for a community manager is even less understood here.
I currently work for different customers on a parttime basis and am starting to build a bigger team. I charge customers on a suscription based monthly fee (based on a standard time allocation)

One question, how do you distribute $(income) vs responsabilities amongst your team members? That is really a challenge for us to be able to grow….Thanks, Pablo

]]> By: Community Managers – What do they do? : HR india http://www.techipedia.com/2010/community-manager-responsibilities/#comment-129392 Community Managers – What do they do? : HR india Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:01:37 +0000 http://www.techipedia.com/?p=1490#comment-129392 [...] an interesting post on the Responsibilities of Community Managers by Itamar Kestenbaum (@tweetamar) on the Techipedia [...] [...] an interesting post on the Responsibilities of Community Managers by Itamar Kestenbaum (@tweetamar) on the Techipedia [...]

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