Community Manager positions like most jobs in the social media space are evolving.
There is no real consensus on what the job should pay and it seemingly varies from one company to the next.
On a recent conference call for community managers, one of my peers from the Online Community Research Network who is looking for work gave interesting details about the conversations she’s had with potential employers. After gleaning a great deal of insight from her about community management during the initial interview, many have revised their job descriptions to incorporate some of what they learned from her, yet never called her back for a second interview.
It seems that they are benefiting from her experience with a highly respected leader in online video, to craft their own positions, once she has told them what they should be looking for.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds more like a consulting role rather than that of interviewee. But that’s not the reason for this post. I found it in poor taste and simply wanted to share.
This post is about online community and social media compensation, which is the topic of the latest research released by Forum One Communications. The 46 page document is filled with interesting information and insight into what is really happening in the space from more than 350 professionals and is worth a close look.
One finding that supports the story I just shared is this:
Several respondents mentioned feeling like they were being inadequately compensated because of lack of data available regarding community and social media salaries, as well as lack of understanding of community and social media ROI relative to their organization’s activities.
Here are a few other highlights I’d like to share from the overall summary:
- The highest average median salary is 89K
- The gap between the average male and female salaries widened, with male respondents averaging $86,644 (up from $85,423 in ’08) and Females averaging $75,624 (down from $77,319 in ’08).
- The majority of respondents reported a salary increase in 2009, but the percentage compared to last year was down, as was a significant increase in the number of respondents who took a salary decrease in 2009 compared to 2008.
This is not a free report, however I would encourage you to consider purchasing if it fits your organization’s budget. For more information on the report, visit forumone.com. If you’re interested in OCRN membership, you can find details here.
6 comments
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November 2, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Sweena
It’s interesting that she’s having that experience, as I have had the same in the past few months. Many companies advertise the CM role and have no idea what they want out of it. So, they start asking questions which you shouldn’t be answering as they’re not part of your role – or they’re things that should already be in the job description. You oblige as you’ll probably not get the job otherwise.
Turns out, your insight has proved invaluable and you’re left at a loose end as they’ve just poached everything you’ve said without giving you a second look in. Is this legal? Fairly sure there’s no issue with it. Is it fair? Nope.
After having been on interview after interview and exhausted myself telling companies what they should be doing rather than how I would like to develop the role, I am still left jobless and pretty unhappy. If they don’t call you back (after the second or third interview after writing extensive notes from your interviews), they remove the job and say it’s unavailable for the time being.
This is really starting to irritate.
November 2, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Angela Connor
Hi there Sweena: I am sad to hear that this is happening to you as well. I am outraged about this. The thing is, I’m sure this happens whenever positions that not many people understand, gain importance. It’s a double edged sword. How can you get a second interview if you don’t make a good impression, when the way to do that is appear knowledgeable and show your worth? Perhaps you should write a white paper on the topic at hand and just sell it, since everyone wants to take it and run.
Geez! I’d like to share this comment as a guest post.
November 2, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Sweena
Thank you for responding. I have emailed you a much more detailed response!
I look forward to more of your posts
November 19, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Kroyj
I’d remember the world of to say something or anything to with that too!
January 2, 2010 at 1:49 pm
megoizzy
This is an interesting post and one I’d like to know more about. As the Community Manager for a startup travel site, I am working on a nearly volunteer basis managing their Twitter and Facebook accounts. I send a few tweets a day (probably around 10 a week) and post a few links to the Facebook account. But, on the veritable lack of money that they are paying, it’s not a real job.
Which leads me to the question – what are these Community Managers who are getting paid 89K actually DOING all day everyday? I’d be interested to know more about the daily ins and outs of a real, paying CM/SM job. I had no idea companies were willing to shell out that kind of thing to have someone send tweets??
January 2, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Angela Connor
Hi there Megoizzy: To answer your question, these community managers are working their tails off and many still aren’t paid enough. It goes way beyond posting to Facebook pages and sending out tweets. That’s work that an existing employee can add on to their workload and not miss a beat. if you really want to know all about community management, I would encourage you to read some of my past posts, check out Martin Reed, Rich Millington; FreshNetworks and the Online Community research Network. Managing online communities, particularly branded communities is tough work. Let me know if I can tell you more about it.
-Angela