Hiring a Community Manager for B2B SaaS: A Complete Guide
Recently one of our clients asked a pertinent question: "How do we go about hiring a community manager?"
This sparked conversations with community owners and experienced managers. We noticed that when companies post community manager openings, many candidates apply thinking it's social media management. However, community management for a branded online community is completely different.
As more companies build branded communities to collect and engage their audiences in a single space, demand for community managers is increasing considerably. Community management is also considered a more exciting role than traditional positions, which fuels interest from professionals and fresh graduates alike.
From a brand's perspective, the software platform for the online community can only contribute to engagement up to a certain extent. The success of the community largely depends on the people managing it and how they execute plans. Businesses must not simply rely on the basics—organizational skills, communication, online presence—to recruit community managers.
Community managers craft strategies and execute them to ensure people are actually glued to the community and engaged.
What Does an Online Community Manager Do?
An online community manager is effectively the brand's ambassador. Since they're always engaging with potential and existing customers, they must be the consistent voice of the brand.
Day-to-day responsibilities vary depending on company size. At a smaller company, the community manager may build the community, implement strategy, and analyze engagement. At a larger company, they might only manage programming. They may also train and manage community administrators and moderators.
An online community manager should focus on engagement within the community. They should always have their finger on the pulse, aware of what's happening at all times. They strategize and implement engagement tactics, ignite and facilitate discussions, monitor feedback, and review metrics and data.
What Makes a Good Online Community Manager?
A good community manager creates long-lasting connections within the community. Ideally, they have both soft and hard skills indicating ability to manage the technical and human side of an online community.
Community managers don't have one set background. They typically have customer support or service experience, but may also have backgrounds in engineering, IT, or recruiting.
Key Qualifications
- Background in customer support
- Deep understanding or connection to the brand
- Content creation ability
- Social media savvy
- Flexibility and adaptability
Essential Soft Skills
- Good listening and communication
- Empathy
- Ability to think on their feet
- Professional conduct
- Understanding of legal ramifications of inappropriate behavior
Online community managers set the tone for their communities. They should be engaging and excited when they post and interact. A good manager doesn't just lead discussions but knows how to facilitate them and connect different members. They know when to step back and let highly engaged members take leadership roles.
Community managers should understand the organization well enough to move and communicate across different structures. If needed, they should be able to utilize internal resources to address community issues.
Since they're the liaison between community and brand, they should analyze community and customer data efficiently. They should implement new strategies based on member feedback and be flexible overall. They should also know how to provide data to the company when customers have feedback about products or services.
Crafting the Job Description
1. Set the Goal
You should already have an organizational goal for your community—how it contributes to your company. It could be peer-to-peer support, tribal knowledge, or new business development via user-generated content.
Bring that to the forefront when hiring. Clearly mention that the community manager will be primarily responsible for this goal.
2. Craft the Ideal Persona
Think of the person who would eventually work with you. Note down the persona: Will they be a high-energy promoter evangelizing your solution? A maverick in creating and optimizing operations? How much independence would they enjoy? What communication style? What personality ensures they can onboard different teams internally?
Use these pointers to narrow down the candidate profile.
3. Ensure Transparency
The job description should clearly mention company values, mission, perks, and organizational structure. For example: "The community manager reports to the VP of Marketing and Partnership, with 2 community moderators and associates reporting to them."
4. Create an Activity
Adding a task during the interview process is a great way to gauge passion. Ask applicants to highlight their approach by creating something—a 90-day action plan for a short project or a video presentation.
Do this when you're at the last leg of the interview process with a couple of final candidates. It shows how they approach problem solving and their comfort level with various tools.
Sample activity: "Because of economic uncertainty, community members are in an agitated state. Record a video to address members and explain what you're planning to help the community. Also, introduce an upcoming online event to address concerns in a more interactive manner."
Grading criteria:- Simple, confident, and concise messaging- Empathy and passion to deliver help- Salient elements showing how the community would benefit
5. Ask About Their Most Prominent Project
Find out the project the candidate considers their career highlight. Why do they consider it important? What can they teach from it? Look for enthusiasm, passion, and the way they describe their success.
6. Give a Case Study
Narrate a hypothetical situation and mention the goal. Ask how they would achieve it within a 90-day frame.
This can be intimidating, but it shows how someone works under pressure. If they can create a game plan right away, they're likely independent in decision-making—you won't have to invest time managing them.
7. Hire an Analytical Mind
It's difficult to find people who are highly analytical, data-driven, and at the same time extremely affable when connecting with people. You're looking for balance between left and right brain.
In large enterprises, community managers get help from dedicated analytics teams. But the manager must be able to define what they'll measure and what data points they need. They should be comfortable with basic analytics and data manipulation tools.
8. Look for Complementary Skill Sets
Hire someone with skills that complement your existing team. Hiring someone who thinks exactly like you won't add diversity.
Expertise in Tools
The candidate should have working knowledge of digital tools—CRM solutions (HubSpot), messaging software (Intercom, Customer.io, Mailchimp), analytics tools (Google Analytics, Amplitude), office suite, and automation tools like Zapier.
They should also be proficient with basic image and video editing software.
Interview Questions
After creating the job description and seeing applications roll in, you'll move to phone and video calls. For face-to-face interviews, consider these questions:
- How have you connected people based on a common cause or shared passion? What did you learn?
- How do you make a community successful? What are the key metrics?
- Which is your favorite community and what do you like most about it?
- What key change would you implement in your favorite community?
- How would you handle disputes in a community? Give a real-life example.
- If you come across a member who contributes quality content but also posts rude comments, how would you handle that?
- If engagement techniques don't produce desired results, what would you do?
- What are your favorite tools for community management? What would you improve in one of them?
- How would you explain brand community management to a 5-year-old?
Pay close attention to how they handle disputes and controversial issues.
Warning Signs
Questionable Social Media Activity
Look into social media profiles—they reveal a lot about how someone conducts themselves online. First ensure they're active. A dormant account suggests they might not be a good fit.
Go through content they're sharing. Do you see something that doesn't resonate with your brand? Look for cyberbullying, racist remarks, harassment, hate speech. Give bonus points if they already have genuine followers.
Apprehension to Use Video
Video is taking the digital world by storm. It allows personal connection and engaging message delivery. If the candidate doesn't reference video usage or is reluctant to use video in a remote interview, it's not a good sign.
Promoting the Job Opening
Post the opportunity on:- Community Roundtable- CMX Hub- LinkedIn- Indeed- Monster
Finding Your Rockstar
Past experiences, knowledge of tools, and skills won't have complete impact on success. Since the online community is a natural extension of the brand, it's critical to hire someone who is culturally fit.
There will be tricky situations when the community manager represents your brand while engaging with customers, prospects, and partners. You should be confident they'll represent your brand to the best of their ability while ensuring company values stay intact.
Ready to build your community team? Book a demo with Bettermode to see how the right platform supports community managers.
FAQs
What's the difference between a community manager and social media manager?
Social media managers focus on broadcasting content to followers on third-party platforms. Community managers focus on facilitating conversations, building relationships, and engagement within a dedicated community space. The roles require different skills and approaches.
What should we pay a community manager?
Salaries vary significantly by location, company size, and experience level. In the US, community manager salaries typically range from $50,000-$90,000 for mid-level roles, with senior positions exceeding $100,000. Research comparable roles in your market.
Should community management report to marketing or customer success?
Both structures work. Marketing alignment makes sense when community goals focus on acquisition and brand awareness. Customer success alignment works when goals focus on retention, support deflection, and product adoption. The key is clear ownership and cross-functional collaboration.
How do we know if our community manager is successful?
Define success metrics upfront based on community goals. Common metrics include engagement rates, member growth, support deflection percentage, member satisfaction scores, and correlation between community engagement and business outcomes like retention or expansion revenue.
