Here’s 13 warning signs that you may NOT be cut out to be a community manager.
1. You think ROI stands for, “Really Overrated Idea.”
2. You are #winning at social media, but you only have 5 “likes” on your Facebook page. Four of which are your mom, Aunt Sally, Cousin Billy and your BFF. The last one is that creepy guy from junior high that stalks you obsessively online and just can’t shake that crush he’s had on you for the past 15 years.
3. You missed the memo that all tweets need to be 140 characters or less.
4. Your entire Twitter strategy consists of writing three shameless self-promotional tweets, such as “Check out my awesome new product. It’s $199.99. Buy it now.” And, then alternating them every hour on the hour for an entire month. Then, repeat this every month.
5. You go on a defensive tirade blocking and deleting any Facebook comment or tweet that calls into question your “spectacular social media skills.”
6. You think your day starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m. All comments that occur during your “off-hours” can wait until after you get to work and have your cup of joe.
7. You think social media crises only happen to airlines that deny a seat to a semi-famous, obese actor/director. And, it’s just too much work to come up with a crisis plan just in case.
8. You have no idea what the difference between @ and DM are. You constantly confuse the two, which often leads to some comical and slightly horrifying TMI tweets.
9. You laugh at your supervisor when he asks for a quarterly evaluation of your social media work. You proceed to print out the last three tweets and Facebook posts that you sent, and say, “How’s this for ROI?”
10. You bring new meaning to the “shiny object syndrome.” Empire Avenue, Quora, GetGlue, Foursquare, you joined ’em all, “Texas Hold’em Style.” It’s all in with no strategy or research whatsoever.
11. You see a website advertising “25,000 Twitter Followers for $25,” and simply can’t resist this great deal. You wonder why this site hasn’t done a Groupon yet. Then, you are absolutely elated when you see 25,000 Hungarian porn stars (all with 0-2 tweets) are now following you.
12. You think blogs are a dying medium, and insist that it’s a waste of time for you to write and moderate one. In the off chance, you read and heaven forbid, comment on someone else’s post, the comment resembles this trainwreck.
13. Lastly, your title on your business card reads, “The World’s Greatest Social Media Guru.”
Am I missing anything? Feel free to add your own community manager no-nos in the comment section below.
(*Sidenote: This post is a very loosely inspired response to Blogger Lauren Fernandez’s spectacular and witty post, “11 Signs You’re A PR Professional” If you haven’t read her post yet, read it now! You won’t be sorry. )
