In most organizations the role of Community Manager (sometimes called Content Manager), the person who manages social media channels, is an entry level, low paid position. In some cases it’s still done off the side of people’s desk. DMOs don’t take this role seriously. This needs to change.

Research shows that the influence of social channels continues to grow. Your community manager is someone who speaks to thousands or tens of thousands of potential visitors a day. They connect with more people than most of your other activities, and in a more influential way. This person is critical to the success of your marketing. Investing in the right person and keeping their skills current is critical.

A Community Manager needs to understand the channels, the analytics and the ad-platform. S/he also needs to understand how to create and curate great content, plan this out strategically and interact with the community in a meaningful way. It’s a massive ask. You can distribute some tasks over multiple people but then you better create a strong team and collaboration.

For five years we’ve been advocating with clients to manage social channels in-house, even though we offer it as a service. I’m changing my mind. The role has become too important. You don’t design your ads in-house either. Because i