Social Media Manager vs. Community Manager

If you’re one of those people that uses the terms “Social Media Manager” and “Community Manager” interchangeably… plz stahp.

As shocking as it may be to some of you to hear, social media managers and community managers are actually two completely different things! Both are crucial roles within a brand, and both have a very strong online presence, but they each have their own unique functions, and understanding these key differences will help you ensure that your team is doing what it’s supposed to be doing and reaching all of its goals with online marketing and sales.

Community Managers

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably interacted with a brand on social media. It’s not uncommon these days for a user to post comments directly to a brand’s social media page, or to give them a shoutout on their own page. Whether it’s a comment like “#MadisonTaylorMarketing totally rocked my world” or “Hey @PizzaDeliveryCompany – my pizza was late and super cold! Fail!”, a community manager has to be listening to all information channels and take the time to field each comment accordingly. Positive remarks should be acknowledged and appreciated in order to demonstrate that the customer is valued, whereas complaints should be addressed with an actionable solution that will restore the customer’s faith in your brand and increase the likelihood that they will provide favorable reviews and recommendations for your brand in the future.

Essentially, the community media manager IS brand. They speak on behalf of your brand and they are the voice and representation of your brand as a whole. Because you want your brand image to remain positive, you community manager needs to be calm, cool, and collected. He or she has to be a true “people person”, willing to listen to the voice of the people and to respond in a way that’s timely, professional, and appropriate. If your social media manager isn’t remaining in control of the conversations about the brand, they aren’t doing their job properly.

A community manager works to support and maintain the brand image and to keep existing customers engaged. He or she strives to keep the conversation going – and to keep it going in the right direction. They make sure your brand always has an active presence online, and that your consumer audience doesn’t forget about you or feel that you’ve forgotten about them. Without a good community manager, you don’t exist in the social world.

Social Media Managers

Instead of BEING the brand on social media, a social media manager acts as an advocate FOR the brand online. According to Hootsuite, a social media manager is the true strategist for an organization, coming up with a number of different social media strategies across different departments. They may be the individuals who create buyer personas, determine the appropriate type of content to be created and shared with its audience, the frequency required for posting fresh, new content, and who analyze and track the success rate of their marketing efforts. With the right social media manager, your brand will keep growing its online presence in the RIGHT direction.

Does your brand make use of a social media manager or community manager, or are you currently lumping the two roles together? Let us help you separate out job functions and make sure that your business is fully taken care of. Give the pros at Madison Taylor Marketing a call to get started today.