Balancing your (community) hats

Those of you who are, shall we say "seasoned," may remember watching Captain Kangaroo reading a book titled, "Hats for Sale," in which a hat salesman balanced his entire inventory on his head. Today's generation might retitle that book, "Communities to Manage."

Richard Millington, online community consultant to organizations such as United Nations and The Global Fund, says that an effective community manager must wear at least five hats:

1. "The friend engages people individually.
2. The recruiter persuades people to join the online community.
3. The enforcer keeps things clean.
4. The editor implements much of the community strategy.
5. The entrepreneur looks for opportunities to add value to the community."

Detailed descriptions of each of these roles can be found on Rich's blog.

Do you have a place to hang all of these hats in your organization? Are several different people working to execute these roles, or is one person doing the balancing act? Leave a comment and share your best practices.

Posted from the Fusion Productions InfoStream. To view the original post, click here.

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