All digital professionals must constantly update themselves. Continuous training is something that is incorporated into our work system, but what should you start learning if you want to be a community manager? Discover in this article the essential knowledge you need as a Community Manager.

One of the professions that requires the most updating is that of the Community Manager. Even updating constantly is important to grow in other branches of digital marketing.

In previous articles we have talked about what the Community Manager is and what his main functions are in the company. Unfortunately, today, and after this professional profile appeared many years ago, there are still companies that believe that a community manager is a person who posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, who answers comments and who he spends the day and night connected to social networks.

But, nothing is further from reality, currently this profile is much more than that. Being a Community Manager allows you to learn to plan strategies and manage social networks through the application of actions with which the company’s objectives are met, as well as taking care of the integration of the 4.0 culture within the company.

If you want to expand your knowledge, do not miss the post on Community manager or digital journalism: professional opportunities for journalists

This profession makes it possible to have strategic functions to integrate transversally in the organization. In short, he is the person in charge of implementing new tools and applications in the different areas. Without a doubt, it is an essential profile and with a lot of responsibility within the company.

Why is Community Manager training so important?

The world of social media changes daily. Not only these platforms themselves, but also new ones appear and you have to know how to use them to get the most out of them. Not satisfied with this, at a strategic level everything changes and the success of actions depends on “trial and error” in the implementation of each of the strategies that we apply in companies.

If we talk about the modifications that Facebook has suffered, I would need to write a book about everything that has changed its fanpages, its ad manager, the power editor, its publication format, the statistics and an endless number of structures that exist within this platform. . Instagram has also changed. Even now we can find specific profiles for companies, which also happened on Pinterest.

In short, the truth is that platforms change and to get the most out of them you must know at all times how you can use them, what strategies you can apply and how you should measure your actions. Below we explain what you need to know to be a Community Manager and how much this professional profile charges. Keep reading!

What knowledge should a Community Manager have?

The digital transformation has made the profile of the Community Manager one of the most important in companies. Seeing the needs of organizations and taking into account technological and strategic advances, we have updated the article Community Management and Social Networks including 7 essential updates today:

1# Company 4.0

Being a Community Manager is not only about disseminating company information on social networks, it also requires knowledge of how to implement a Social Media digital transformation strategy in the company, how to integrate the organization into it, how to take advantage of employees to disseminate information and how to energize the organization, from the community point of view, to take advantage of collaborative knowledge and knowledge management.

2# Analytics

Analytics is one of the key points in community management. Tracking actions will help you measure what’s working and what’s not, allowing you to spend more effort on those actions where you have a higher ROI. In addition, you must learn to follow up on each of the social networks or in the different management tools, to present a report for a client and to keep dashboards that allow you to analyze the information of the metrics that you obtain.

But we are not just talking about analytics on social networks, since you must also have knowledge of Google Analytics, know how to generate tracked URLs, monitor the competition, etc.

3# Social CRM & Inbound Marketing

The way to generate sales is changing and social networks can be a means to get potential customers and sell. For this you must have Social CRM tools. This term is associated with the relationship between Social Media and the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) concept. Knowing and using this type of tools helps you to convert more and better.

The Community Manager profile must also Learn about sales hacking, lead capture, inbound marketing, buyer persona, etc. In addition to identifying a fan or follower in the sales funnel, knowing how to apply attraction marketing actions or implement automation tools.

4# Social Media Hacking

Have you heard about Growth Hacking? In social media, these techniques are also used to grow a community, generate traffic and, in alignment with the marketing department, directly influence the growth of the company.

One of the companies that has successfully used these techniques is Hawers. Implementing them requires knowledge and skills that can make you a highly valued professional.

5 # Social SEO

An SEO strategy is very important to position a website, but have you ever wondered how social media affects search engines? As a professional you should know how to implement techniques that influence web positioning. Procedures such as making comments in other communities or forums, generating social links, encouraging sharing on social networks, heating links… All this influences.

6# Content Curation

Content is king. No matter how many techniques and tools you use, if you don’t generate good content, you won’t be able to generate engagement with your fans. To create good content you have to follow trends and create a content bookmark in tools such as Feedly, Evernote or Flipboard. You can also use the same social networks like Facebook and Twitter to capture content and generate ideas.

Doing good content curation can make your strategies successful and can save you many hours of work.

7# Quality tools

To implement strategies effectively you must know the tools and, for this, you have to put your hands in the dough. The only way to become an expert in the use of these platforms is to practice.

But, as I’ve already told you, today’s tools will change tomorrow, so you should always update yourself and, very importantly, don’t worry if a new platform comes out and you’ve never used it. With practice you will realize that acquiring knowledge of new tools is not difficult and takes time.

How much can a Community Manager earn?

We have the impression that it is the lowest paid profile in Digital Marketing, but it is not. The good Community Managers, those who update themselves, learn, are creative and daring, are the ones who earn the most. A good example is the last job offer that Mercadona launched, where they were looking for a profile that was offered a salary of between 42,000 and 64,000 euros per year. It is true that it is not usual but it depends on you to become one of the best.

Your skills, competencies, aptitudes and knowledge will set you apart in this highly competitive industry. You can choose whether to work as a freelance or as an employee. Both formats have their pros and cons, so you need to assess what you’re really looking for or where you want to go.

How to calculate how much you should charge if you are a freelance Community Manager

I will not go into details of income and expenses, I leave the task of delving into the subject to you. I will simply give you a simple guideline that a friend gave me a long time ago and that has helped me to estimate how much I should charge per hour of work.

You must first know how much you aspire to earn per year. To do this, calculate your monthly expenses including housing, vacations, clothes, gasoline, taxes… Everything you need to live. You divide that amount by 11 months, because you are supposed to have a month of vacation.

On the other hand, calculate the number of hours you want to work per day. It is usually calculated based on 8 working hours, and you multiply them by the number of days, usually 20 per month. Divide the monthly amount to be earned by the number of hours, and that’s it! You already have the amount you should charge per hour of work. Accuracy depends on many factors but the most important thing is that you are clear about your expenses.

I hope that all this information will help you to become one of the best Community Managers in the market. In order for you to achieve this with practical training, I recommend the Master in Community Manager with which you will be able to learn with a totally updated syllabus.