How to Interview a Community Manager

So you’ve come to the point where you’re considering hiring a Community Manager – someone to represent the company on social media, interact with your customer base, and strategize and implement plans with the marketing department. Since Community Management and the platforms important to the job are constantly changing, it can be difficult to know what’s relevant in an interview. Here are the questions to ask, what should you be looking for in responses, and what type of experience makes them the right fit for the job.

As with any interview, learning about the candidate through a series of questions is a good place to start. When hiring for a Community Manager articulate communication is key and being social should come naturally. Now that you’ve established that criteria, choose questions that will test knowledge, critical thinking, and strategy. These are a few that should be included in every Community Manager interview that you hold:

1. What social media platforms are you on and which do you find most important for business? A question like this not only tests their knowledge of popular (and not so popular) social networks but it will ask that they apply it to business. Since the responsibility of a Community Manager is to know how to apply social media to business this is an important discussion to have. Being a community manager goes beyond knowing how to post and onto what and why content should be shared with the community.

2. What is your experience with writing and blogging? Many Community Managers will be responsible for managing the company’s blog. Being familiar with the blogging community, various blogging platforms, and general blog writing skills will all play an important role in their day-to-day activities. 4 Quest

3. What is your outlook on community? If you were offered the position, how would you build and foster our community? Knowing that the candidate is active in online communities or has an opinion of their importance is critical information to know when hiring a Community Manager. Do they perceive them as a place to share and cultivate relationships or do they find online communities stale or strange? Understanding their comfort level with a variety online communities can be a clear indicator whether they are a top contender for the position. If the candidate gets through the first part of the question, hearing how they would put new plans into effect to foster and build a community is essential. This requires creativity, critical thinking, and strategy wrapped up in one answer.

Whether you are taking a leap to build an online community or hiring additional Community Managers due to the size of your existing community, this is an exciting time. Make sure you have a clear vision of what you hope your community can be and how the Community Manager will fit into the role. Getting to know your candidate on a more conversational level may yield better results than a straightforward Q&A interview session. So be prepared to think outside the box as this is what you hope your Community Manager can do as well.

For more information on how to interview.

Courtney Kettmann is the Community Manager at Viralheat. When she’s not thinking up blog posts or building her community you can find her chatting away on Twitter.