What is a community manager?

A community manager is the person who builds and looks after a brand’s online community. They’re the friendly face or voice connecting people to your brand—interacting directly, encouraging conversation, and keeping things positive. Think of them as both host and moderator, making sure your audience feels heard, welcomed, and engaged.

What does a community manager actually do?

A community manager wears many hats: they spark discussions, reply to comments, moderate conversations, and gather feedback. They manage spaces like Facebook groups, forums, Discord servers or comments sections. Their focus isn’t just posting content—it’s building genuine connections and turning followers into brand advocates.

How is a community manager different from a social media manager?

You might hear these roles mixed up, but here’s the key: a social media manager focuses on creating and scheduling brand content and campaigns, while a community manager focuses on interacting with people and nurturing relationships. The community manager often speaks in their own voice as a brand advocate, not just the official brand voice.

Why is having a community manager important?

  • Boost engagement: They encourage real conversations and participation. Active communities help content perform better under algorithms.
  • Build trust and loyalty: People feel more connected when they see consistent, authentic responses.
  • Capture feedback: Community managers listen, spot patterns, and share insights with internal teams to improve products or services.

What skills and qualities make a good community manager?

A strong community manager needs:

  • Communication & empathy: Be able to listen carefully, respond warmly, and defuse tricky situations.
  • Moderation know‑how: Enforce community guidelines, keep discussion respectful, and manage conflicts.
  • Content intuition: Know what kind of questions, polls or prompts will spark engagement.
  • Analytical mindset: Monitor interaction trends and feedback to refine community strategies.

How can you work effectively with a community manager?

  1. Set clear goals: Define what success looks like—maybe more active conversation, better sentiment, or stronger advocacy.
  2. Collaborate with marketing teams: Community managers can inform content strategy based on what the audience is talking about.
  3. Empower them with tools: Use messaging platforms or dashboards to respond quickly and track engagement.
  4. Listen and act: Let community feedback inform product or service improvements.

Tips for managing community conversations

  • Be authentic: Respond like a person, not a corporate robot—show personality.
  • Encourage participation: Use polls, Q&As or member spotlights to initiate engagement.
  • Moderate fairly and clearly: Set expectations with community guidelines, and enforce them consistently.
  • Keep learning: Monitor what topics perform best, and tweak conversation types accordingly.

Bottom line

As a community manager, you’re not just managing comments—you’re building relationships, fueling brand loyalty, and turning followers into advocates. If you want to strengthen engagement and make your audience feel genuinely connected, having someone dedicated to nurturing that community is one of the smartest moves you can make.

Want to create your own community or improve interactions? Think about what your audience wants to talk about—and then let your community manager help spark that conversation.