Community managers are the gate-keepers of your social accounts. If this sounds vague to you, you’re not the only one. In fact, the role of a community manager is the most misunderstood position in any marketing department…till now. Read on to find out 4 curated facts about community managers that might make you see them as more than just professional chatterers.

1. They’re the Face of Brands

Seen as the face of a brand, community managers are responsible for interacting with audiences and communities online and drumming up buzz for their company or brand. Their job description usually includes the following:

• Effectively communicating the brand message to online communities
• Excellent writing skills
• Content creator
• Content curator
• Audience segment analyzer
• Managing several platforms
• Data/metrics/analytics scientist (or at least data/metrics/analytics collector)
• Cheerleader (aka: getting engagement, interaction, sparking conversation, and lobbying for brand loyalty)
• The ability to find, and use, tools conducive to their strategy
• Culture creator

Source: Steamfeed
2. They’re Intelligence Analysts
A community manager’s job is about more than just finding out what’s going on with your brand. It’s their job to also know what’s going on with other brands, what trends are in place, and how people are interacting with them. This includes the following:

Sign up for events: There are plenty of social media-related conferences and events for you to choose from—no matter where you live. Search for local seminars in your area where you can learn more about community management best practices from others in the field. If you can’t personally attend, find the hashtags they’ll be using, and engage in the conversation online. You’re going to meet so many people. It takes effort, but it’s definitely worth your time. Make it a personal goal to participate in a local meet-up, happy hour, seminar, or conference at least once a month.

Keep up with trends: Keeping up with online trends will be a big part of your strategy. Even though your company isn’t about creating online memes, or posting videos of your staff doing the Harlem Shake, the more you are aware of what’s going on in the interwebz, the better you will be at your job.

Source: Ragan
3. They’re Gossip Mongers
Ok, maybe not so much gossip mongers but they do listen to everything that’s going on…which is something the rest of your marketing team doesn’t have time for. A good community manager should listen to the buzz already online — finding out what groups your target audience is joining on LinkedIn, for example, and who they’re following on Twitter. What are they talking about? What are they interested in? Who are the key influencers within your industry who you should develop a long lasting relationship with?

Source: Digital Doughnut

4. They’re Campaign Managers

With the same precision of campaign managers in politics, online community managers can see your social campaigns through from start to finish.

The community manager will have the proper time and dedication to develop campaigns from the ground up and will be able to see through the company’s social media endeavors. Additionally, having this position will make communication easier between different departments in the company in order to support various campaigns.

Another great aspect of having a community manager is that this employee will have the proper social media training to monitor campaigns and shift their focus to improving the company’s efforts. They will be able to see what is working or what is not working and strive to improve the company’s online presence.

Source: Top Ten Social Media

If you consider the overwhelming involvement any social presence takes, you can appreciate the value of having one assigned person to handle all things social from start to finish. While many companies may see it as an additional expenditure, it really is critical on several fronts to task one person with your social media campaigns. More than just a professional chatterer, community managers are the “Optimus Prime” of social networks. Would you want such an important part of your digital presence tasked to 5 smaller, lesser experienced and more distracted workers – or would you want a juggernaut?