Online communities have been around for 30 years, however the recognition there may be a paid role for Community Managers has been quite recent. Even today there’s great diversity in the background and expertise of people given the task of managing online communities and many organisations see it as a task rather than a role.

1. Community management:
A profession or a task?
Craig Thomler
Managing Director
Delib Australia
13 September 2012

2. • Fun people to be around
• Highly social (at least online)
• Good at finding the middle ground
• Highly compassionate & empathetic
• They all have great community ‘stories’
• No-one appreciates what they do!!
What do we really know about community
managers in Australia?

3. Community managers…
• Spend most of their time hanging out in
forums/social media chatting with other people
• Spend the rest of their time at lunches/seminars
(like SWARM!) chatting with other people
• Don’t directly produce many physical outputs
(like reports, sales, cars, buildings)
• ‘Look’ like customer service representatives,
but what community managers do is less ‘real’
Is community management a REAL job?

4. Is it a profession or a task?
Let’s ask community managers!

5. • Joint effort between Delib Australia & Quiip
• Survey was in April 2012 – open for one month
• Received 75 completed responses
• 69 (92%) were Australian, 2 NZ, 4 elsewhere
• 61% female, 36% male, 3% didn’t say
Community Manager’s survey

6. The ‘average’ Aussie community manager…
and earn
$79-99,000
Background:
Comms/PR
/Marketing
They live in
NSW or Vic
work in their
employer’s
office
manage two
communities
Is a female
aged 31-
40yrs
who works
for 21-30hrs
per week
have spent
2-3 years in
the industry
considered
a
knowledge

7. Their key attributes…
Attribute Includes Share
Empathetic Empathetic / Diplomatic / Patient / Mediator / Intuitive 20%
Organised Aware / Organised / Strategic / Manager 16%
Adaptible Flexible / Adaptable / Creative / Innovative 12%
Engaging
Sociable / People-skilled / Positive / Genuine / Humour /
Confident
7%
Communicator Communicator / Marketer 6%
Creator Good writer / content creator 6%
Dispassionate Objective / Thick skinned /Decisive / Resilient 6%
Networker Networker / Influencer / Leader 5%
Analytical Analytical 5%
Dedicated Passionate / Enthusiastic / Dedicated 4%
Knowledgeable Knowledgeable / Fast learner 3%
Service-focused Customer service / audience focused 3%
Inclusive Collaborative / Democratic 3%
Tech savvy Technically savvy 2%
Channel savvy Social media savvy 2%
Teacher Teacher / Educator 1%

8. What do
community
managers
need to be?

9. What
attracts
people to
community
management?

10. Their key challenges…
Challenge Example Share
Vision / Understanding Short-term focus / purpose 23%
Organisation / structure / support Red tape / senior buy-in 15%
User management / Participation & Growth Increasing engagement 14%
Time / Workload Time! Time! Time! (lack of) 13%
Managing difficult participants Troll herding 9%
Measurement and ROI Proving ROI 6%
Budget / resourcing Lack of funding 5%
Technology / Remaining up to date Legacy systems 4%
Responsiveness / Content Right balance in responding 4%
Risk & Governance Mitigating perceived risks 4%
Crisis management Managing at risk behaviours 2%
External perceptions Perception of industry 1%

11. • Inadequate training (60%)
• Risk averse organisation (20%)
• Being harassed (19%) – plus 5% unsure
• Getting harassment support (11%)
Other issues they face…

12. But really – how much are they paid?
Unpaid
4%
$1 to $29,999
4%
$30,000 -
$49,999
8%
$50,000 -
$69,999
28%
$70,000 -
$99,999
35%
$100,000 -
$129,999
13%
$130,000 or
greater
7%
Not Answered
1%

13. So how much experience do they have?
Less than one
year
10%
1-2 years
19%
2-3 years
28%
4-5 years
25%
5-6 years
5%
7-8 years
1%
9-10 years
3%
More than 10
years
9%

14. And what do they spend their time doing?
Based on a 37hr week….
Challenge Time Share
Content 5 hrs 05 minutes 13.7%
Service 3 hrs 37 minutes 9.8%
Engagement 3 hrs 36 minutes 9.7%
Reporting 3 hrs 16 minutes 8.8%
Facebook 3 hrs 15 minutes 8.8%
Issue management 3 hrs 10 minutes 8.5%
Calendar 2 hrs 56 minutes 7.9%
Twitter 2 hrs 52 minutes 7.7%
Moderation 2 hrs 37 minutes 7.0%
Blogger engagement 2 hrs 05 minutes 5.6%
Administration 2 hrs 02 minutes 5.5%
Representing community 1 hr 43 minutes 4.7%
Other 53 minutes 2.4%
50.8% of time
(18 hrs 52 mins)
31.1% of time
(11 hrs 34 mins)
18.2% of time
(6 hrs 46 mins)

15. Community management:
A profession or a task?

16. Community management:
An emerging profession

17. earn
$79-99,000
background:
Comms/PR
/Marketing
live in
NSW or
Vic
work in
employer’s
office
Manage two
communities
Female
aged 31-
40yrs
work for 21-
30hrs per
week
have spent
2-3 years in
the industry
Considered
a knowledge
worker
(Free) report coming soon!

18. (Free) report coming soon!
• Who are Australia’s community managers?
• Why do they manage communities?
• What types of communities do they manage?
• How do they measure success?
• What challenges do they face?
• What tools do they use?
• What fills their day?
• How mature are the organisations that employ them?
• What skills will help you break into the industry?
• What are the job criteria for high performing community managers?
?

19. Questions?
Craig Thomler
craig@delib.net
@CraigThomler
0411 780 194