This past Monday was Community Manager Appreciation Day, which is celebrated on the fourth Monday of every January. Founded in 2010 by Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang, Partner at the Altimeter Group), #CMAD is a time to appreciate and celebrate the hard work of community managers not only nation-wide but also around the world.
Let’s take a step back. This job didn’t exist ten years ago, and barely existed 5 years ago. In case you don’t know what a Community Manager is or what they do, I’ll tell you.
Community Managers are the people who spend their day managing online communities. They’re the bridge between the brand and everyone else in social media. They create and schedule content, monitor social networks and generally serve as the voice of the brand. Community Manager’s often wear many hats, at times being the PR, sales, customer service, marketing and voice – sometimes all at the same time.
Have you ever tweeted or wrote on a brand’s Facebook wall? The Community Manager was the Oz-like being who saw your post and replied to it. They see it all.
Working in social media isn’t like a normal 9-5 job. People will send tweets and Facebook messages at all hours of the day. A Community Manager would never say, “Oh, it’s 8:30pm on a Saturday? That can wait until Monday.” They will start working on a solution as soon as they see a problem.
So hopefully you gave thanks to someone who’s a Community Manager. Maybe it’s a favorite brand you follow. Or maybe it’s a colleague or friend who works in the industry. Send them a tweet or Facebook post.
It doesn’t matter what time you send it. They’ll still see it.