Community Manager Appreciation Day is celebrated annually on the fourth Monday in January.
It was launched in 2010 by Jeremiah Owyang to celebrate and improve the visibility of community managers across the world.
Read more: Community Management Appreciation Day 2023 - meet the community managers
What is Community Management?
The discipline of Community Management is often a bridge between an organisation or brand - and the community it is aiming to create and serve. For example, a community can be a loyal audience or group of users or people connected by a similar passion, role, set of challenges or interests.
Community Management is a strategic discipline that includes:
1. Community Strategy
Defining the purpose and value of the community. Alignment and integration within an organisation or business.
2. Community Design
The choice of community platform and technology. The Interaction and Information architecture.
3. Community Launch
Establishing founder members, community behaviours, guardrails and boundaries. Publicising and recruiting community members.
4. Community Engagement
Moderation, motivation, posting content and resources, establishing rituals and connections.
5. Community Governance
Risk and reputation management. Data management. Creating processes that support a safe and trusted community.
To highlight the increasingly strategic role that community plays in organisations, Community Manager Appreciation Day is also marked as 'Community Manager Advancement Day’.
Successful communities create significant value exchanges for members and those who build them - including innovation, solving problems, customer advocacy, product/service feedback, high level customer engagement and customer service.
Celebrating Community Managers
To celebrate #CMAD we’re featuring and celebrating some of the Community Managers who have chosen Guild as a community platform.
Blaise Grimes-Viort is an online community and social media consultant. He hosts Guild Community Collective, a free to join group and network for community managers and social media managers across the globe.
Mike Weston is community manager for Future of Work: Reimagining Business - a community trying to reshape the world of work through sharing experiences of hybrid working, wellbeing, profit and purpose, adapting business structures and more.
Jonathan Neill is the community manager for Business of Sport, a community for anyone in the business of sport (marketing, communications, commercial, digital, broadcast etc)
Fay Schofield hosts Charity and Non-profit Trailblazers, a free to join community for people who work in fundraising, marketing and digital in charities and non-profit organisations.
Jenny Cater is a community manager for the charity Bookmark. She shares her tips for managing a successful volunteer community.
Resources and communities for community managers
Community managers old and new. Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day. We salute you!
We have a host of free community strategy/building training resources, case studies and communities to support you throughout the year. Please come and join your peers, however experienced you are.
Experienced specialists and leaders in B2B or professional communities can apply to join Professional Community Leaders.
If you’re a community strategist, community builder, community manager or social media professional, come and join Guild Community Collective.
Here’s a sample of our community strategy articles and resources:
Community Strategy Training: What is an online community?
Community Strategy Training: What are the different types of online community?
Why the term “lurker” has no place in community strategy
Lessons learned from the first 90 days of a new community
Why social media algorithms could ruin your community
The return of community in B2B publishing / media (Part 2)
Evolution from content to workflow in B2B media
Community Manager Appreciation Day 2023 - meet the community managers
Join Guild 🤝
See for yourself how the Guild experience is different to WhatsApp, Slack, LinkedIn or Facebook Groups. Guild is a safe space to connect, communicate and collaborate with others.
Join us on a platform that is purpose-built for professionals and businesses.
- Just want to join some groups? Simply join Guild and then look through the discoverable groups and communities to find relevant ones to join
- Thinking of running your own community? With an elegant and simple to use, mobile-first UX you’ve got everything you need to start a community - custom branding, analytics, group and user management and support. Get started with your own community here with our free and enterprise options
Contact us if you want to know more or have any questions.