Hi team! I’m new to Jatra - joined after a friend recommended this space. I’ve spent the last 7 years as a social media manager, focused on content creation, follower engagement, and running paid campaigns.
Lately, I’ve been exploring community building, and it feels quite different from social media work. Is it a skill on its own? Or just an extension of what I already know? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Founder • 1d
Yes, community building is a skill. It is a combination of about 21 different skills blended together to create spaces for humans to interact.
While community building as a skill overlaps with social media in areas like engagement and communication, it goes much deeper. A good community builder creates space for others to connect, not just with the brand; but with each other. It requires a different mindset, toolset and a set of goals.
In social media, the focus is usually on broadcasting information. It requires creating content that reaches wider audience and drives likes, shares or conversations. It's more top-down.
Community building, on the other hand, is about nurturing bottom-up conversations. You are helping members build relationships, share knowledge and feeel a sense of belonging.
Community building requires long-term thinking. You are not just optimising for the next post, you are investing in trust, culture and shared puprose. That means understanding member behavior, designing onboarding paths, managing conflict and sometimes stepping back so that others can lead.
A background in social media management will definitely give you a head start. But building a strong community will stretch you in new ways.
Community building is an essential and evolving skill in the world of digital marketing and customer success.
We have some excellent discussions on this topic:
I hope you will find these discussions and articles useful. If you have quesitons, feel free to post below.
Member • 1d
Wow! That was fast and definitely very useful. Are there any courses that you'd recommend for someone starting fresh as a community manager?
Member • 1d
Community building is an important skill for every entrepreneur and marketer.