Beginner’s Guide: A Community Manager’s Handbook

9 min readJan 12, 2022

Almost everyone who has ever come to me to learn about Community Management has in one way or way or another read through this article. However, some days ago, I came to re-read this resource I’ve shared with intending community managers and found it wanting. I realized that a lot of key details are missing, and this may not have given the soft landing I always hoped to give to newbie community managers, so I’m editing it to make it more comprehensive, and I promise to keep updating it as I get more knowledge or resources. It is my hope that this article will take you from “novice in community management”, to “knowledgable and equipped” on the next steps to take.

Enjoy the revised and updated edition of the community managers handbook ❤

The startup buzzword for the last few years is Community. And it’s not going away anytime soon. Many companies are realizing how important it is to build with the community at early stages and this has opened up a stream of Community Management job opportunities.

I’ve been in the community niche for the past three years and working as a Community Manager professionally for the past two years. I’ve built communities in various niches ranging from B2B, B2C, non-profit, and open source communities. I am also a very vibrant member of various tech and startup communities such as Hashnode, Dev.to, FreeCodeCamp, etc., so you can say I’ve been managed as well.

In this article, I’ll be sharing with you some of the things I think every community manager/ advocate should get armed with, some communities to join, and resources to leverage if you want to venture into this path.

I do understand that community management cuts across various industries including fashion, entertainment, food, culture, music, technology, education and so on. The scope of this article focuses more on technical and developer focused communities. Some tips herein may slightly apply to other niches, but I just want to be clear on that.

With that being said, let’s start from the beginning…

What is Community Management?

According to HubSpot, Community management is the process of building an authentic community among a business’s customers, employees, and partners through various types of interaction. It’s how a brand uses opportunities (in-person and online) to interact with its audience to create a network in which it can connect, share, and grow.

We’ve gradually moved away from the time of advertisement to the time of adoption. I’ve discovered that developers don’t like to be marketed to, they basically use products that help them achieve a task or solve a problem and would stick to it, so long as it works. And this is not just about developers, humans are social beings. We crave more authentic relationships with each other, we want to feel a sense of belonging, and we take this deep sense of connection even down to the products we use. This is why we can easily spot thousands of communities springing up daily, around shared interests — movies, music, location, product, career, sports, language, etc.

Every company knows this. They know that they need a community of loyal advocates to thrive. Companies want to build vibrant and strategic communities and build advocates who will do the talking (via User Generated Content), provide feedback to their product team, and basically keep the conversation going, while they focus on improving their experience.

…and that is where you come in.

An image from the very popular movie — Money Heist

Allow me to be a soothsayer this once, and predict that you reading this article, belong to one of these categories of people

You are someone in a tech or non-tech-related field looking to switch into community management, and looking for how to get started;
You’ve bit the bullet already and already got started with community management but you feel stuck. You need more clarity and resources to leverage on to 10x your newly found career;

You’re in the right place, as this article will show you both the skills required to become a badass community manager, including resources that can get you there. Let’s dive in:

Skills a Community Manager Should Possess

Knowledge of the product: I hear a lot of people say that you don’t need to know how to code to be a community manager, and they’re right, but not entirely. If you’re a community manager in a Python learning community, will you not know how to code in Python even on a beginner level? How will you be able to interact with your community, and understand their pain points, if you don’t at least have some knowledge of what brings them together?
Attention to detail: As a community manager, you’re going to be on top of various initiatives and programs at a time. You may have more than 2 programs running concurrently, approving requests, scheduling meetings, pushing out contracts, and sending over proposals. In all these, you have to be able to stay attuned to every single detail. “No one is above mistake” is what we often say, but your mistakes as a community manager should be as minimal as possible, as some mistakes can cost you the trust of your members, collaboration opportunities, and ultimately, your job.
Communication Skills: Excellent communication skills, is required from a community manager, in both written and verbal form. As a community manager, you’ll find yourself sending and replying tons of emails, anchoring and hosting events, publishing blog posts on topics relevant to your community, engaging with your community and speaking at events. If you don’t currently know how to express yourself in clear written and verbal forms, it’s not too late to do so, as you’ll definitely need it.
Social Media Prowess: While some organizations don’t expect you to manage their social media platforms as a community manager, a community manager transcends Slack/Discord and flows towards any platform where your (potential) community members gather, which is usually on social media. You need to know how to use the most popular social media platforms, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and sometimes, BlueSky, Mastodon, and ClubHouse.
Ability to learn fast: I already mentioned that it is important to know a little bit about the organization, and its product(s) in order to manage its community. However, you don’t necessarily have to start learning a skill in advance before you join an organization, as you may find yourself in more than one technical niche during your time as a community manager. Some orgs have a very robust onboarding process, which provides learning resources for you during your first few weeks. You should be able to go through the training programs they’ve put in place and pick up new terms and skills as fast as possible. This is a great learning opportunity to learn vastly across different tech fields.
Basic Digital Savviness: Every digital skill you can think of — Use of online collaboration tools such as Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Spreadsheets, Google Slides, Canva, Google Calendar, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, project management tools (Asana, Trello), Calendly etc, use of social messaging, use of smartphones and digital devices, online safety, Google search query.

The skills above are as explanatory as they can get. If you don’t have any of them, it’ll be great for you to start working on them ASAP, as they are the key things that’ll determine your success in this field.

Articles to read

Trust me, I’ve read so many articles on community management, in a bid to learn more and get better at my career. I’ve listed some of the articles I found most useful when I started out (essential ones), split into sub-headings — The first subheading contains articles that talk about getting started in the community started, and the second subheading contains articles that share more about the community building, I recommend them for people who are already into this career path and are looking to learn how to build vibrant developer communities, the third subheading contains articles on developer engagement. Always feel free to read them one at a time, and for each phase you’re in.

Getting Started

Building Communities

Community Engagement/Strategy

Videos

Communities to Join

If you want to go fast, go alone, If you want to go far, go together.

A community of community managers? Yes… These are my favourite ones:

Community Management Courses

CSchool Self paced by Community Club (Free)
The Community MBA by CMX Academy ($499 — scholarship available)
Meta Certified Community Manager Course ($150)
Community Management Master at Digital Marketer ($495)

Getting a Community Management Job

Hehehe, this is probably the part you’ve been wanting to get to. So, you’ve acquired the necessary skills, and you can’t wait to join an amazing organization to unleash your newly acquired skills. How do you go about this?

1. Research and Identify Target Companies: Start by researching organizations that align with your interests and values. Look for companies that prioritize community engagement and have an active online presence. Make a list of these target companies to focus your job search efforts.

2. Tailor Your Resume and Cover Letter: Customize your resume and cover letter to highlight relevant skills and experiences. Emphasize your communication abilities, relationship-building skills, and any community management-related experiences or projects you’ve undertaken.

3. Showcase Your Online Presence: As a community manager, you should have an online presence — LinkedIn. Provide links to your professional social media accounts, blog posts, or articles you’ve written that demonstrate your knowledge and passion for community management. Make sure your online profiles are up-to-date and present you in a professional and engaging manner.

4. Leverage Networking: Networking plays a crucial role in finding job opportunities. Connect with professionals in the community management field through LinkedIn, industry events, or online communities. Attend relevant meetups or conferences to meet potential employers and colleagues. Be proactive and engage in conversations to expand your network.

5. Gain Practical Experience: If you’re just starting out, consider gaining practical experience through internships, volunteer work, or freelance projects. Actually, most organizations prefer to hire community managers who already have some level of experience, hence, you have to go out of your way to gather these experiences to demonstrate your expertise and dedication to the field.

6. Prepare for Interviews: Research common interview questions for community management roles and prepare thoughtful responses. Showcase your ability to handle challenging situations, resolve conflicts, and nurture online communities. Here’s a great article by Commsor that will help you prepare.

7. Follow Up and Stay Persistent: As soon as you start to apply for community management roles, you’d start to see a lot of “unfortunately” in your email. You have to stay persistent and undeterred even in the face of uncertainties. Keep applying until you get your big YES! After interviews, send personalized thank-you notes to express your gratitude and reiterate your interest in the position.

Where to find community Management Jobs

Final Words

Community management is a process and not a destination. So many times, you’d find yourself failing, or rocking it. Either way, it is important to always measure your success, define your KPIs and what success looks like for you. More importantly, always learn from them, and restrategize or repeat.

I’ve open-sourced this list in order to ensure that this list is constantly updated with relevant resources. Please find it here (It contains more resources, thanks to contributions from the community). I hope this gives you a good start as a Community Manager. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a dm via Twitter.