Hiring the right fit for the right role is the most important thing you will probably ever do as manager. Use these three basic questions to define the role, responsibilities and requirements to successfully hire your next social media or community manager.

1. 1
A Hiring Strategy
Nikoletta Vecsei Harrold
Director of Community Strategy
COMMUNITY VS.
SOCIAL MEDIA
@NIKSCHEN

2. RAISE YOUR HAND IF…

3. 3
Split your social media manager
and community manager duties
into their own roles for 100%
coverage, ownership and success.

4. 4
CREATING INDIVIDUAL ROLES
• Shortage in staffing or resources ($$)
• Lack of clear role definition and
expectations of deliverables
• Experimenting with Community
Manager (CMGR), but Social Media
(SoMe) is already established
• Small Business/ Startup mentality with
blurred lines between roles
• Community is built on SoMe Channel,
so why hire a separate person
ROADBLOCKS

5. Inequality of role/ time spent – SoMe : CMGR (80:20%)
Why: Because SoMe has been THE marketing trend for the
last 15 years. CMGR has been around for 25+ years, but
peaked in the 90s as peer managed forums and not brand
owned roles. Only in the last 5 years has CMGR been
formalized as a role
5
SOCIAL MEDIA & COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
@NIKSCHEN

6. 6
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER:
• Content research
• Copywriting/ curation
• Image/ Media curation
• Content scheduling
• Ad planning
• Campaign planning
• Social strategy
• SOV
• Reporting & metrics
• Social advocacy
• Social listening
• Covering live events
A REAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF…
COMMUNITY MANAGER:
• Posting existing Content
• Escalating Support Posts
• Moderation and Replying
@NIKSCHEN

7. 7
WHAT I DID NOT HAVE TIME FOR:
• Engagement programs
• 1:1 networking with members
• Connecting peers
• Welcoming new members
• Advocacy and super user programs
• Offline events and community
collaboration
• Product feedback loop
• Report on health metrics
• Community growth and content
strategy
A REAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF…
NURTURING

8. WHY SHARE RESOURCES
• It can save you money
• Many skills are shared
• You SoMe manager can grow into a CMGR role as your
community is maturing
• Social Media and Community have a relationship, like your
home’s doorstep do with your living room
8
@NIKSCHEN

9. BEFORE YOU HIRE
CONSIDER YOUR NEEDS

10. 10
• BY PLATFORM (Social, Collaboration, Owned, Forums)
• BY INDUSTRY (Tech, Marketing, NPO, Education)
• BY PURPOSE (SPACE model)
COMMUNITY FLAVORS @NIKSCHEN

11. 11
SOCIAL MEDIA:
A tool to share your company’s message
with customers and consumers. Some
social media platforms are well suited to
build a community natively, some are
NOT.
COMMUNITY:
A group of people with a shared interest
on a social platform that can/ but does
not have to be a social media channel.
FALSE DICHOTOMY

12. BLUR THE LINES
DEFINE THE ROLES

13. SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
A person who shares the company’s message with the public on
social media channels (push communication) and creates
connections between Brand and Fans.
13
@NIKSCHEN

14. SOCIAL CUSTOMER CARE
A person who manages customer complaints and inquiries from
online channels such as social media or communities
14
@NIKSCHEN

15. COMMUNITY MANAGER
A person who creates connections between peers and/or
experts, and engages with a larger audience via a push & pull
communication methodology
15
@NIKSCHEN

16. 16
SHARED ATTRIBUTES
• Understanding earned vs. owned social
platforms and customer expectations
• Recognizes social community patterns of
behavior
• Understands the importance of social
listening
• Applies social customer care principles
• Understands Brand Reputation and
Success/ Health metrics
CMGR vs. SoMe

17. 17
UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES
• Can adapt to the Brand Voice
• Well versed in social media platforms
(personal and professional use)
• Can channel corporate message and
vision into social presence
• Content research and copywriting skills
• Manages conversation about the brand or
content
• Stays on top of SoMe channel trends (but
can not influence the platform roadmap)
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

18. 18
UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES
• Maintains personal voice and character
while representing the brand tone
• Can facilitate (initiate) content planning
across departments (silos)
• Great networker for 1:1 and 1:mass
connections (internal and external)
• Relentless NEED to help customers/ fans
• Creates engagement programs to
facilitate bidirectional communication
• Can set vision for the platform and
community evolution
COMMUNITY MANAGER

19. 19
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER:
Responsibilities:
• Listening: monitor and respond to customer
service or reputation issues
• Influencing: Sharing valuable content
• Networking: Associating the brand with
influential individuals on social
• Funneling leads towards the sales channel
• Measuring sentiment on social
• Creating and scheduling content as needed
• Adopting your social community to platform
trends
JOB DESCRIPTION
COMMUNITY MANAGER:
Responsibilities:
• Adding and removing members
• Welcoming new members
• Establishing Community culture
• Moderating posts
• Providing customer support
• Gathering feedback and testimonials
• Introducing members and networking
• Hosting events
• Enforcing guidelines and policies
@NIKSCHEN

20. 20
EXAMPLES
COMMUNITY MANAGER-MED/ NURSING
Key Responsibilities:
• Create and implement robust social media campaigns, identifying social media outlets
best suited to meet campaign objectives for B2C digital and social media with input from
key internal stakeholders
• Manage products social media assets including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube,
etc.
• Identify and monitor influencers and build relationships with brand advocates; coordinate
blogger and influencer outreach
• Draft, edit, and publish blog posts, social media posts, and other social content to plan
and in real time
• Tag, assign, and archive conversations in social media moderation system (Sprinklr).
• Escalate posts and comments to appropriate cross-functional teams. Utilize Radian6 to
track online conversations and sentiment
• Work with content manager and product to create, update and manage the product
editorial calendar with concepts that align with business initiatives
@NIKSCHEN

21. TRANSAMERICA
I am proud to see that our leadership team understand the different
skills and needs social media and community managers need to
possess.
We have defined the roles but blurred the lines, because only
collaborative and relationships built outside of silos will result in the
BEST experience for our customers.
21
@NIKSCHEN

22. 22
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER:
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in marketing, advertising or
related field.
- Two years of social media marketing
experience.
- Thorough understanding of social media
publishing tools.
- Communication and interpersonal skills for
extensive interaction with internal departments
and social media agency.
- Project management skills to schedule and
manage multiple concurrent campaigns.
- Experience using Social media management
& listening platform
JOB DESCRIPTION
COMMUNITY MANAGER:
Qualifications:
- Understanding of the use and purpose of social
media and online communities
- Communication and interpersonal skills for
extensive interaction with internal departments
and social media agency.
- Project management skills to schedule and
manage multiple concurrent campaigns.
- Passion to help peers and customers
- Great networking skills to create a team of
volunteers and moderators for your community
@NIKSCHEN

23. DEFINE THE ROLE*
• Who will this hire be talking to?
• What is the return on investment I expect from this role?
• What does success look like for this role?
23*Thank you Suzi Nelsen @ Digital Marketer
@NIKSCHEN

24. RESOURCES
• THE COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE
• SOCIAL MEDIA TODAY
• DIGITAL MARKETER
• CMXHUB.COM
• SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
• CONTENTPOTLUCK.COM
24
@NIKSCHEN

25. THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION
@NIKSCHEN