Community Management VS Social Media Management

Community Management is often mistaken as something in which a person interacts with a community on a social media platform to get leads for a business. And along the same lines, social media management is confused as managing communities. But both of these roles are very different and important in their own ways.

While community managers may do social media management sometimes but that is not their entire job description. Also, social media managers don't just promote their companies' product online, they have a vast set of responsibilities to cover. Let's take a look at the same in this article.

Major difference:

Social Media Manager- They’re the voice of the brand and are responsible for posts, replies and general content.
Community Manager- They will post as a brand ambassador under their own account, and work on developing the community.
Who do they report to?

Social Media Manager- A social media manager reports to the social media/marketing lead
Community Manager-A community manager reports to the community/DevRel lead
Skills needed:

Social Media Manager-Communication, Writing, creativity, efficiency, traditional and digital marketing, agility, analytical skills
Community Manager-Communication, Organisation, Curiosity, Passion and loyalty, Lots of patience, Empathy, Business savvy
Tasks:

Social Media Manager-All things content, Listening and engaging with the brand, Strategy and analytics
Community Manager-Developing community, finding new users, answering questions and engaging current members, getting feedback and working with cross-functional teams.
Goals of each role:

Social Media Manager– More specific and short-term and focus on sales or conversions.
Community Manager– Usually broad and long-term. They center around establishing a strong and supportive community, which can take a long time.

Therefore, these two roles are very different. For small teams, one person may be doing both jobs. However, specialization is beneficial as a team expands, and it’s important to understand how expanding these two jobs can help in development even more.