In our world dominated by digital media, businesses now use social media to raise awareness of their brand, build connections with customers, and grow their businesses. Therefore, celebrity careers such as Social Media Manager and Community Manager have become a bit of a must-have in the marketing team. Unfortunately, these careers are misinterpreted or, worse still, used interchangeably. Although they operate in the same online space-they do differ in the following-born responsibilities, goals, and approach. In this blog, let's discuss what is the difference between a Social Media Manager and a Community Manager, along with their skill sets and how and when to decide whether or not your company needs one of those.
The Social Media Manager is responsible for strategizing and executing the brand's content on the social media platform. Their purpose is to keep the brand visible, consistent, and engaging across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
It involves everything, from caption writing, graphic design, and post-scheduling to launching paid campaigns. Social media managers analyze data against likes and dislikes. Engagement, reach, impressions, and click-through rates are the primary keystones of their success.
In other words, social media managers build awareness, bring traffic, and satisfy the visual and information needs of content that is aligned with the brand. They are the strategists who help your voice get loud, clear, and consistent all over the internet.
Whereas social management focuses primarily on the brand's content, the community manager concentrates on nurturing relationships with the audience. Their job is not just posting but rather meaningful engagement. They are concerned with commenting, reacting to customer complaints, managing online groups and forums, and creating a feeling of belonging among users.
Community managers are the frontline of customer engagement. They initiate discussion, answer questions, prompt user-generated content, and keep a close pulse on brand sentiments. They form a bridge with the brand and its followers, ensuring the community is heard and appreciated.
This is a more personal approach. The social media manager writes the official version, while the community manager animates it through direct engagement and community-building activities.
The main distinction is the difference in focus and intention. The focus of the social media manager is content and brand marketing, while that of the community manager is relationship and engagement.
Social media managers engage in one-to-many communication; they send messages out to a broad audience. Community managers engage in one-to-one or one-to-few communication; they speak with individuals and smaller groups to build trust and loyalty.
Basically, if the brand is throwing a birthday bash, the social media manager will send invites, set the right ambience, and make sure everything feels on-brand. Community management, however, is the one who hosts, entertains, engages in intimate conversation, encourages fun and good energy, and settles disputes.
Commonly employed social media management tools include Hootsuite, Buffer, Later, or Sprout Social for scheduling and analytics. Paid campaigns may be organized via Meta Ads Manager or Campaign Manager in LinkedIn.
Meanwhile, a community manager may use such platforms as Facebook Groups, Discord, Reddit, or Slack communities to interact with users. They might also use tools like Sprinklr or Khoros for social listening and managing feedback.
These tool sets reflect their differing goals: Social Media Managers are optimizing content and measuring performance; Community Managers are primarily concerned with the interaction and sentiment.
There might be some overlapping skill sets, yet the two of them would require special ones that would make them uniquely qualified for the job. Among the many skills a Social Media Manager should possess are good copywriting ability, content planning, basic graphic design, trend analysis, SEO, and advertising. The requirement is to understand how algorithms work and craft messages that perform well across platforms.
Contrarily, a Community Manager is supposed to have excellent interpersonal communication skills. Empathy, patience, resolution of conflict, and actively listening are the trees that should mark their character. Then, they also need to know how to initiate and start controlling conversations and deal with words of criticism in a graceful manner to nurture good behavior in the community. They will need to be creative and have the brand value to undergo an intensive understanding and then use those concepts.
This is usually due to the fact that these two roles are worked in social spaces and contact with the audience. In startups, sometimes it's not very unusual for one person to do both things - content creation and community management. But as the need becomes more apparent with growth, the lines between these roles can be drawn or mentioned.
Increasingly complex, social media has become many things-increasingly, it is not about posting updates anymore. Rather, it involves a dialogue, relationship building, and trust establishment. It also enables the distinguishing of these positions to come up with the right people for the right tasks, thus surfacing better results in both brand visibility and customer loyalty.
One should think about hiring a social media manager when a company needs to:
Introduce a new product or service and create 'buzz' for it
Plan and execute a content calendar
Management of various social platforms effectively
Work on paid campaigns and then measure their ROI
Analyzing data to identify areas for improvement in performance and increased reach
A social media manager organizes, creates, and strategizes when it comes to your assigned social media activities, if your content strategy seems haphazard or you're having an arduous time maintaining a coherent brand voice.
Community Managers need assistance when their brand must:
Create relationships with the audience for decades to come
Oversee online groups or online forums
Respond to customer queries and feedback
Support brand advocacy and user-generated content
Requests from customers are met with interest
If the business is growing fast or has an audience that needs to be cared for, a Community Manager helps in assisting those followers from being casual to loyal fans.
Yes, it is possible, especially for smaller companies or startups. An adept professional can create the content and interact with the audience. As you grow your brand, however, it is best to separate these roles. Each role requires dedicated attention, distinct mindsets, and specialized skills. Giving them to their people allows your brand to scale content and community without compromising on either.
Whether your goal is to build a greater voice with a social media manager or deepen relationships with a community manager, having the right people do transformational work for your digital strategy. Don't leave your brand's growth to chance; take the next step today!
