Community Manager Appreciation Day #CMAD is an annual celebration of the hard work and dedication of community managers worldwide. This year it falls on 23rd January 2023.

We think that community managers aren't always as visible or celebrated as much as they deserve to be.

With this in mind we're celebrating #CMAD 2023 by asking Community Managers, many of whom have chosen Guild as a community platform, to answer two questions:

  1. What is the best thing about being a community manager?
  2. What is the hardest thing about being a community manager?


Serena Snoad is founder of Good Community and formerly community lead at Alzheimer’s Society.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"Knowing that what we do matters. It validates our hard work when we see our communities grow, when people start to connect organically and give back the support they received to others, and when we start to gather positive outcomes and feedback. Community is the long game of relationship building and it takes time. Seeing a return on the investment is incredibly rewarding, especially if our communities change lives."


What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"As community managers, we want to do the best possible job for our communities and our organisations, but it can be difficult to make time for ourselves. It can be even more difficult in a profession that brings people together to push ourselves forward or to make space for our own rest and reflection. I’d love to see community managers give themselves permission to take time for self care, personal development and to take breaks. We deserve these things!"



Max Pete is Community Lead at SuperHi

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"Being able to connect and help others. I find so much joy that this is something that I get to do in my career."


What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"Learning how to turn off outside of working hours and taking the work too personally."



Stacey Telford is Community Manager, The Marketing Society and host of The Marketing Society Coffeehouse on Guild.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"The best thing is seeing the new connections that come about in the community thanks to the group and hearing positive feedback from members who tell me they find it easier to connect with each other simply because they are in the same group."

What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?
"Finding the resilience to keep pushing and not expecting things to happen overnight!"



Faith Nacional-Rahi is Success Manager for The Health Sciences Academy and manages a number of communities including Nutrition Professionals Worldwide on Guild.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"I'm able to be part of each professional's growth in connecting and expanding their network. I value my position as a community manager as a catalyst for creating connections between professionals and supporting them in making an impact in their own way and helping them expand their business and learning through different collaborative efforts or opportunities that Guild opened up for them."

What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?
"The hardest thing in being a community manager is to be creative in maintaining relationships and nurturing each member. As the community grows, it is very challenging to engage each and everyone and excites them to engage within the community actively. Thanks for the efforts of my THSA team and the Guild team in guiding me in every step to help our community grow and provide relevant conversations to members that they can engage in."



Blaise Grimes-Viort is a highly experienced community professional and hosts Guild Community Collective on Guild.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"Starting something and then watching the community take over is the aspect I take most satisfaction from. When people feel a sense of ownership, you've succeeded!"


What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"The overriding sense of responsibility can be a heavy burden at times. When things don't work as expected or hoped for, you have to dig deep emotionally."



Amanda Davie is a Learning & Development Consultant and Executive Coach, cofounder of Equal Talent and host of the She Has No Limits community on Guild.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"Being a community manager enables me to connect to my core values of community, friendship and compassion. I particularly love the expressions of surprise, relief and gratitude of new community members when they discover that people like them exist and commune! And as the group continues to grow and span more and more countries you realise the global potency of the community."

What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"The tumbleweed makes you wonder, often, if it's worth all the hard work, if anyone is even listening/reading/visiting!

You have to remind yourself that just because the community, cause or topic means a lot to you as the community manager doesn't mean to say it's a priority for everyone else in the group, every day.

Patience, perseverance and a sense of self-worth are required skills!"


Sarah Hughes is Executive Director of Beacon Collaborative and host of the philanthropy/social investment community Beacons Connect on Guild.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"The excitement I feel knowing there is an amazing network of people I get to be among."

What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"The balancing act of wanting to share and ask for help while knowing everyone is terribly busy!"



Robin MacKellar is Community Program Coordinator at Salesforce

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"Having a role that allows me to impact hundreds and even thousands of people globally by continuing to grow and nurture the Trailblazer Community.

I am so lucky to get to support an amazing community that truly changes people's lives, allows them to grow and develop, and make long-lasting friendships and connections.

I am proud that I also get to create a global impact by encouraging sustainability practices and focusing on inclusion and accessibility best practices within the Trailblazer Community programs."

What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"Having to balance the role of being a community advocate and enforcing rules, while also developing personal connections and friendships.

I am lucky that I have gotten to know Community Members on both a professional level and also personally. It's never fun to be the bad guy- but I have to think about the greater impact and community when making decisions and having difficult conversations."



Stephen Pobjoy  is Senior Stakeholder Lead and community manager for the CIPD's communities on Guild.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"Sharing and providing a safe space. For me it’s all about providing a place for people to share and to take ideas back. I gain satisfaction from customer queries being answered or members gaining reassurance that they are working on projects in the right way or learning other strategies."


What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"Levels and rules of engagement i.e. Getting the content and amount of contact right."



Rebecca Marshburn is Head of Community, Common Room

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"I'm constantly overjoyed and humbled by the expansiveness of the role and the access we have as community leaders to people across all stages of their journeys, both professionally and personally.

As hosts of a community, we're often the first connection a member makes. We have the opportunity to really get to know someone, what they find valuable, and how they want to grow, and to do that thoughtfully, helpfully, and with consistency. Having the opportunity to offer both warmth and assistance to others as they enter a new space is something extremely special about the community role."



What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"The expansiveness of the role is also one of the most challenging parts! As our connections with members grow, so too do differing needs and preferences from members across their journeys.

That feedback is a gift! Luckily we have tools like Common Room to help on the insights and management side—the challenge is making sure we as community leaders consistently seek that feedback, stay open to it, and remain collaborative, creative, and responsive to community member needs."



Dan Holden is a Communication Consultant for All Things IC and founder and host of The Internal Communicators' Community for internal communication professionals.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"No matter where you are in the world, the ability to help others create connections and foster conversations is a privilege. I love that the spaces I create give people an environment where they can be as active as they want and dip in and out of conversations. It's been rewarding when a community member posts a question, and I can connect them with someone who can help."


What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"Learning when is the right time to be part of the conversations and when it's best to step back. It can be tempting to jump in and acknowledge or respond to every post in case no one else does. By letting others lead the conversation, it helps create diverse thoughts and opinions."



Sophia Khan is Community & Social Media Lead for Moblox, with a love for all things community.

What's the best thing about being a community manager?

"The relationship building aspect - not only do you form connections with members, but you create a platform for them to connect with others.

Witnessing its organic growth and seeing how the community flourishes is incredibly rewarding, nothing else truly compares."


What's the hardest thing about being a community manager?

"It's difficult balancing everything, as a CMGR you wear many different hats - it comes with the territory!

Unfortunately, you have to compromise often as it is not always possible to strike the perfect balance. This can take a toll on you as you're left feeling mentally drained from 'swapping hats' and putting on a different face."


The community for community managers

Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day to all these community managers and to those reading these thoughts and nodding along.

We salute your hard work and we'd love to help you with your challenges.

We have plenty of free community strategy/community building training resources, case studies to support you throughout the year.

Most importantly of all, we host free communities for community professionals where you have the chance to exchange ideas and experiences with people who understand your role and challenges.

Come and join 1000 community managers in Guild Community Collective today.


Expand your own community expertise at our webinar on Thu Jan 26th

A few of our community strategy articles and resources:

Community Strategy Training Hub

The Periodic Table of Community Strategy

Community Strategy Training: What is an online community?

Community Strategy Training: What are the different types of online community?

Online community trends 2023

Why the term “lurker” has no place in community strategy

Why social media algorithms could ruin your community

What is Community Based Marketing?


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Contact us if you want to know more or have any questions.