How did you celebrate Community Manager Appreciation Day today? #CMAD

After having spent a couple weeks in Europe I had planned to catch up on email and get ready to go to Chicago for this week. That was promptly disrupted by interruptions. My people needing things. Some are colleagues and others are external. But that’s what I thrive on! frequent interruptions.

Welcome to the day in the life of a Community Manager!

I’m very pleased that the Community Manager role has gotten such a good foothold in organizations. We have been working hard to evolve a role that works holistically and cross-functionally. It is customer-centric and provides a unique value.

It is not without it’s challenges and those filling the role deserve to be applauded. The following are some of the realities:

  • being a change agent isn’t always easy. Leading a culture shift sometimes can be a burden.
  • the web is 24/7 and never shuts down. It’s important that people in this role empower their community and be able to have some down time. Unplugging is essential. It’s a delicate balance that needs to be maintained.
  • measuring the ROI of brand awareness is difficult, but it’s become apparent that a lack of brand visibility and positive word of mouth can be quite damaging to a company
  • fostering communication is an ongoing task – lowering silos and encouraging teams to work together is always needed
  • driving results and working cross functionally across an organization is not for the faint of heart. Some days it takes a lot of energy
  • being a customer advocate is gratifying and absolutely necessary. Consumers expect the highest level of customer service and companies need to deliver that.

Here are some statistics of how far reaching the role of Community Manager has become.

Community Manager Appreciation Day, 2011

If you would like to peruse more in-depth, Jeremiah Owyang is curating the many posts, slide decks and photos that were created for the day.