Online Community Management

What is Community Management?

Community managers are the human connection between organizations and their audiences. You create spaces where people feel welcome, spark meaningful conversations, and build relationships that turn casual followers into loyal advocates.

As brands increasingly recognize communities as valuable assets, demand for skilled community managers continues growing.

Why Businesses Need Community Managers

The Value of Community

For businesses, engaged communities provide:

• Customer retention and loyalty
• Direct feedback and insights
• User-generated content and referrals
• Reduced support burden (members help each other)
• Brand advocacy and word-of-mouth

Most Can't Do It Themselves

Building community requires:

• Consistent presence
• Quick response times
• Skilled facilitation
• Conflict resolution
• Strategic thinking

Most founders and teams don't have bandwidth for this.

What Community Managers Do

Daily Operations

Task	Description
Welcoming	Onboarding new members, making them feel seen
Moderating	Enforcing guidelines, handling conflicts
Engaging	Starting discussions, responding to posts
Connecting	Introducing members, facilitating networking
Reporting	Tracking metrics, sharing insights

Strategic Work

Task	Description
Programming	Planning events, AMAs, challenges
Content	Creating community-specific content
Growth	Strategies to attract new members
Feedback	Channeling community voice to leadership
Culture	Shaping community norms and values

Platforms and Tools

Community Platforms

Platform	Best For
Discord	Gaming, tech, younger communities
Slack	Professional, B2B communities
Facebook Groups	General audiences, older demographics
Circle	Creator and course communities
Mighty Networks	Paid membership communities
Reddit	Topic-based, larger communities

Management Tools

• Notion for documentation and planning
• Google Drive for asset storage
• Scheduling tools for events
• Analytics for tracking engagement

Getting Started

Build Relevant Experience

Participate actively:

• Join communities in niches you're interested in
• Be a helpful, visible member
• Notice what makes communities work (and fail)

Volunteer:

• Offer to moderate for free
• Help organize community events
• Take on unofficial leadership roles

Create:

• Start a small community yourself
• Learn by doing, even at small scale
• Document what you learn

Position Yourself

Skills to highlight:

• Communication and empathy
• Conflict resolution
• Organization and reliability
• Platform expertise
• Understanding of community dynamics

Build a portfolio:

• Document communities you've helped
• Share metrics improvements
• Collect testimonials
• Write about community building

Finding Clients

Job Boards

Specialized:

• CMX Hub job board
• Community Club
• Remote community manager roles

General:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Remote job boards (We Work Remotely, Remote OK)

Direct Outreach

Target:

• Creators with paid communities
• SaaS companies with user communities
• Course creators needing student support
• Brands with active social followings

Building Reputation

• Write about community building
• Share insights on social media
• Network with other community managers
• Speak at events or on podcasts

Working While Nomadic

Community Management is Remote-Native

• All work happens online
• Async communication is normal
• Global communities span time zones anyway
• No location dependency

Challenges

• Some communities expect specific time zone coverage
• "Always on" feeling can be exhausting
• Difficult to fully disconnect
• Need reliable internet for live events

Tips

• Set clear boundaries on availability
• Use scheduling tools for consistent presence
• Build buffer for time zone flexibility
• Create documentation so you're not always needed

Avoiding Burnout

Community Management is Emotional Labor

You're constantly:

• Being positive and welcoming
• Handling conflicts and complaints
• Absorbing community energy (good and bad)
• Feeling responsible for community health

Protect Yourself

• Set work hours and stick to them
• Take real breaks and vacations
• Build support networks with other CMs
• Remember: you're facilitating, not responsible for everyone
• Have interests outside work

Career Growth

Paths Forward

Deeper specialization:

• Focus on specific industries
• Become platform expert
• Specialize in community strategy

Broader scope:

• Head of Community roles
• Community strategy consulting
• Building your own community-based business

Increasing Rates

• Take on strategic rather than just tactical work
• Document and communicate your impact
• Specialize in high-value niches
• Build reputation in the industry

Who Should Try This?

This works if you:

• Genuinely enjoy connecting with people
• Have patience and empathy
• Are organized and reliable
• Can handle repetitive daily tasks
• Find energy in helping others

It's not right if you:

• Need lots of alone time
• Don't enjoy digital communication
• Get frustrated with people easily
• Want purely analytical work
• Can't set work-life boundaries

The Bottom Line

Community management is a growing field that's perfectly suited to nomadic life. Every community needs someone to nurture it, and you can do that from anywhere in the world.

The work is rewarding—you're genuinely helping people connect and building spaces that matter. But it requires real emotional investment and boundary-setting to stay sustainable.

Start by being an excellent community member yourself. The best community managers understand communities from the inside out.