On this Community Manager Appreciation Day, I wanted to take stock of all the different kinds of community managers I interact with day to day and the things they do to serve their communities and the companies.

Everyday I check in on the Twitter handles from the major television networks that are promoting their programs. Some keep it high level and tweet out promotional information and behind the scenes photos to keep social buzz alive. Some like Syfy’s official Twitter account, which is administered by Chris Engler, one of Syfy’s chief executives, take to their account to answer questions from their community directly.

In the world of publishing there are a number of publishers that make use of community managers. Penguin Books is consistently interacting with their community to promote their books and authors and give back to their community through contests.  Of course, there are community managers for book review blogs that aren’t attached to a publisher but help direct people to their favorite titles. These community managers gain the trust of their followers and help foster online communities for book lovers out of a passion for the written word.

When it comes to media and journalism, the best community managers are often the journalists and reporters themselves although they may be unaware of this fact or even deny it. The reporters who take to Twitter help drive their stories and promote themselves but in so doing they provide their followers with information straight from the source. In New Brunswick, two of the best journalistic community managers (although they’d likely dispute this compliment and refer to themselves as participants) are the CBC’s Jacques Poitras and Dan McHardie. These two journalists consistently interact with their followers and when not reporting, take part in the general conversations related to New Brunswick news and politics.

Finally, the heavy hitters of community managers in this industry are most definitely those men and women who man the corporate accounts in the telecommunications industry. These are the people in the trenches; knee-deep in customer questions, complaints and, of course, the occasional praise. These people live and breath brand advocacy and customer service.

So with that, a very happy Community Manager Appreciation Day from myself and the Community Team here at Radian6!!

Throughout today, Radian6 is supporting Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Check this blog post and Twitter (@radian6) for more content around this day.

Tags: #cmad, communications, community manager appreciation day, engagement, media, television