By Chia Han-Leon, Lecturer, Enterprise Social Business
What’s the difference between “Social Media Management” and “Online Community Management”? Is it the same thing?
The term “online community management” is still relatively new in Singapore. And that’s one reason why I’m writing this.
Though perhaps the concept isn’t new – isn’t it basically social media management? Yes and no. Social media management is, simplistically, the running of social media channels, everything from setting up Pages and accounts, tweeting, curating and posting content to reporting metrics. Its activities are centred around the channel – in a sense, it is channel-centric.
It is implicit in “social media management” that managing the fans, followers and members is involved. That’s where online community management has its focus. It’s in the people in your community, people whom you want to engage, people for whom you want to get a sustained positive response. So, in a sense, online community management is a part of social media management, in as much as social media marketing is part of digital marketing.
I believe the main reason the term “online community manager” is only just beginning to take root in Singapore is that until recently, the focus of most organisations has really been exactly about social media as (marketing) channels, with community management as a secondary concern.
The Obvious vs the Un-Obvious Job
It is inevitable that as companies gain a better grasp of social media channels, they run into issues that are specifically more about online community management. Like the “webmaster” of the past, it will gain importance as the jack-of-all-trades character who is not just doing the obvious thing (“running the Facebook page”) but also the less obvious thing (“managing fans and driving engagement”)
The Online Community Manager is sometimes called a “one-man team” or “crazy madness”. Source: http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/01/community-manager-appreciation-day-pros-and-cons-of-community-management/
We might argue that not every online community is on social media. For example, the discussion community around a popular blog might not be considered social media (especially since these existed before “social media” did).
Regardless, it’s fair to say that social media management and online community management have many things in common. But here are some ways to differentiate them.
Note: These are not exclusive differences. Social Media Management has some aspects of Online Community Management, and vice versa. The points below are an attempt to differentiate their foci, not to divide the two disciplines. They really do share a lot in common.
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If you would like to learn more about my thoughts on Online Community Management (OCM), do check out my OCM course at the Institute of Systems Science, NUS.
This article was first published in the author's blog and rights has been given to be published in NUS-ISS quarterly e-newsletter, Issue 3 (Jul-Sep 2013).