5 Standout C.A.P.E.S. Community Managers Need in 2012

This post is part of a series we’re featuring in celebration of Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD).

What’s it take to be a stellar community manager? Seems like a pretty easy role where you simply manage a brand’s social properties and online chatter, right? Right??

Let’s stop there.

In today’s communications world, brand reputation is often determined based on positioning and customer interaction online. If a brand is not proactively listening, reacting and helping guide and shape community engagement, opportunities are quickly lost and a credible foundation for crisis reaction is never established.

In short, community managers are the tip of the spear for a brand’s online voice and reputation. As the role of a community manager has evolved, it’s now more critical than ever that brands plan carefully around the type of individual chosen to fill the role. Hedge on any temptations to pick a free intern or try to slate in some time on a staffer that is already too busy. Choose carefully. In many ways, an active community manager for a big brand is on call 24/7 and the skills set needs to be diverse.

You’ve found someone that is highly personal and organized. Perfect. Now, here are five other C.A.P.E.S. that we feel are imperative to properly filling the role.

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1. Current / Curatorial
Being a standout community manager means that you have your finger on the pulse – always. Your brand, your competing brands, the industry at large, overarching trends – all of it. Detailed and large-scale perspective are critical to staying current and ensuring that your knowledge level is on par with your community members.

Any strong content marketing/community engagement plan revolves around some degree of curation. Understanding how to discover, aggregate, distill, elevate and target the right content to your community, at the right time, is imperative. Curate information poorly and you’ll quickly lose interest from your community. Curate well and your community will be quick to trust you as a reliable resource.

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2. Analytical
You’ve churned up a decent volume of likes and followers and consistent chatter. Now it’s time to put that engagement to work. Community managers can no longer tie themselves to uncertain ROI. Rather, they are now responsible for deeper analytics that range from translating page views and comments to customer satisfaction and product sales. Community managers need to be thrive on numbers, implement consistent measurement across core metrics and be able to translate data into smart engagement strategy.

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3. Proactive
“Reactive” is a word any community manager knows to all but eliminate from their vocabulary. From establishing community guidelines early on to anticipating responses, scheduling editorial calendars and planning announcements, the role requires a proactive individual. Stellar community managers are constantly thinking two to three steps ahead of their client and community to a point where they have accurate gut instincts around how the community at large as well as influential members will react.

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4. Embedded
Community managers live and breathe their community. They have the ability to both moderate and act as a trusted member of the community. They know how to speak and react like their members do and do so in a way that is truly authentic and resonates well with members. Standout community managers are not hidden icons but rather human faces that members want to connect with both on and offline.

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5. Savvy
From social integration to mobile engagement, community managers need to have a thirst for technology. They stay on top of the latest Facebook development changes, assess use of new Twitter clients and generally remain nimble and quick on platform and technology shifts. Ultimately, this insight helps make a community manager and his or her respective teams more efficient in managing day-to-day activities.

What other capabilities would you add to the list for community managers in 2012?

p.s. We are always looking for enthusiastic, driven individuals with a passion for social media, brands and customers. If you’re intrigued, we’re hiring: have a look at the opportunities we have available and get in touch to be part of our exciting team.

Photo courtesy of luc legay.