| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Marketing |
| Level | Mid level |
| Reports to | Social Media Manager |
| Direct reports | None |
| Experience | 2 to 4 years in community or social media management |
Community Manager job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Community Manager
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Social Media Manager
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Community Manager builds and looks after a brand's online community across social media, forums, groups and messaging platforms. They engage members, answer questions, spark conversation, moderate content, and act as the brand's voice in comments and DMs. The role sits in the marketing or social team and works closely with support and product. A good one grows an active, positive community, responds fast and in the brand's voice, defuses issues before they blow up, and feeds member sentiment back to the business.
Key responsibilities
- Engage the community across social media, groups, forums and messaging platforms.
- Reply to comments, questions and DMs in the brand's voice and within the agreed time.
- Spark and lead conversations, and post prompts, polls and discussion topics.
- Moderate content, remove spam and abuse, and enforce community guidelines.
- Handle complaints and negative comments calmly, and escalate serious ones.
- Run community events, contests and campaigns to grow engagement.
- Track sentiment and recurring questions, and share insights with the team.
- Coordinate with support and product to resolve member issues.
- Report community growth, engagement and sentiment to the manager.
- Spot and nurture brand advocates and superfans in the community.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in marketing, mass communication or a related field
- Experience managing social media or online communities
- Strong writing in the community's language
- 2 to 4 years in community or social media management
KRAs and KPIs for a Community Manager
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Community growth | Grow active community members towards the quarterly target |
| Engagement | Meet targets for comments, replies and interactions per period |
| Response time | Comments and DMs answered within the agreed time on most days |
| Sentiment | Keep community sentiment positive, tracked through the period |
| Moderation | Spam and abuse removed promptly, with guidelines enforced consistently |
| Escalation | Serious issues flagged to support or PR without delay |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Social media platforms, Social listening tools, Community platforms, Scheduling tools, Analytics dashboards.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Social Media Manager, Community Lead
Interview questions for a Community Manager
- How would you grow engagement in a brand community that has gone quiet?
- An angry customer posts a public complaint. How do you respond?
- How do you decide when to reply, when to ignore and when to escalate?
- How do you keep a consistent brand voice across many conversations a day?
- How do you handle a coordinated pile-on or troll attack?
- How do you turn active members into brand advocates?
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What does a community manager do?
A community manager builds and looks after a brand's online community across social media, groups, forums and messaging platforms. They engage members, answer questions, spark conversation, moderate content, and act as the brand's voice in comments and DMs. They grow an active, positive community and feed member sentiment back to the business.
What is the difference between a community manager and a social media manager?
A social media manager owns the brand's content and channels: planning, posting and campaigns. A community manager focuses on the people: engaging members, replying to comments and DMs, moderating and building relationships. Posting is one-to-many; community management is two-way conversation. In small teams one person does both.
What skills does a community manager need?
A community manager needs strong writing in the brand's voice, quick judgement on when to reply or escalate, and calm conflict handling for complaints and trolls. Social listening and basic analytics help track sentiment and growth. Empathy matters most, since the role is about building real relationships with members every day.