The new research... makes clear that community management as a discipline has matured to the point where not only are there great, well-paying jobs to be had, but there is also a clear career path for community professionals.
Boston, MA (PRWEB) October 23, 2014
The growth and professionalization of internal and external community management is providing growing opportunities and career paths for skilled managers, with those directing community efforts able to pull in six-figure salaries and enjoy more flexible work environments, new research from The Community Roundtable finds.
More than 350 internal and external community managers, strategists and directors shared information for the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014, including their salary, their expertise and responsibilities, their experience, and their career path. The infographic detailing the first research findings was released Wednesday night during JiveWorld14, the premier conference for modern communication and collaboration. Jive Software is sponsoring the infographic and upcoming publication of the survey data.
The infographic highlights the salary range for internal and external community professionals, and illustrates a demonstrable career path for those who want to use their skills and experience in more strategic roles. It can be viewed and downloaded on TheCR website.
“The new research highlights a number of what were unproven truths in the community space and adds new insights,” said Rachel Happe, Principal and Co-Founder of the Community Roundtable. “It makes clear that community management as a discipline has matured to the point where not only are there great, well-paying jobs to be had, but there is also a clear career path for community professionals.”
The Community Manager Salary survey research shows that 36 percent of current community professionals had been promoted in their time in community management.
The infographic release comes days after Jive’s launch of training programs for internal and external community managers developed by The Community Roundtable. The trainings focus on the strategic elements of starting, building and growing communities, giving Jive customers the skills to move their communities, and their careers, forward.
The new data show that community professionals focused on internal communities of employees and other stakeholders tend to outpace external community managers in average salary, but found that Directors of Community for both internal and external communities earned well over $100,000 per year for their work.
The survey also asked respondents about their experience, work conditions and responsibilities in their roles, finding:
- Director-level community professionals had more experience (on average) than managers and strategists
- Strategists and directors were more likely to list community strategy development on their list of responsibilities, while community managers listed monitoring activity and listening most often as their role. Strategists listed measuring and reporting community performance most often among their responsibilities.
- Directors were 71% more likely than managers or strategists to work remotely, with 4-in-10 working in remote locations – an indicator that in-demand Directors of Community are able to negotiate work flexibility into their contracts.
The full Community Manager Salary Survey is slated for release in November. It will look more comprehensively at the skills and responsibilities of community professionals, provide a more detailed breakdown of salaries and explore bonus structures and assessment criteria for evaluating community professionals.
To learn more about the Community Manager Salary Survey 2014 and receive a copy of the full survey when it is released, send an email to info(at)communityroundtable(dot)com with the subject line “CMSS” or visit the CMSS page of communityroundtable.com.
Jive is the leading provider of modern communications and collaboration solutions for business. Recognized as a leader by the industry’s top analyst firms in multiple categories, Jive enables employees, partners and customers to work better together. More information about Jive can be found at http://www.jivesoftware.com.
The Community Roundtable will showcase the Community Manager Salary Survey Infographic at JiveWorld14, which is attended by more than 1,600 Jive customers, developers, thought leaders and technology partners across several industries. This year’s program focuses on how people and organizations can work better together and gain competitive advantage through collaborative workstyles. JiveWorld14 offers more than 60 breakout sessions and hands-on workshops about topics such as advanced community management, customer and partner communities and internal collaboration.
The Community Roundtable was established in 2008 as a professional development network for community, social media and social business professionals, providing an extensive array of training, tools, research and advisory services to members and enterprise customers both in and outside of the U.S. TheCR Network gives members access to exclusive connections, events, training and resources, as well as immediate support from TheCR and 200 peers in community and social business roles. TheCR’s Community Maturity Model has been adopted by customers worldwide as a framework to start, build and grow communities, and the annual State of Community Management provides in-depth analysis of the growth and maturation of community management.
Our clients come from 90+ enterprises, including SAP, Aetna, CSC, H&R Block, Walgreens and CA Technologies. To learn more about TheCR Network, advisory services, tools and research, visit http://www.communityroundtable.com or follow us on Twitter at @TheCR
