Lindsay Renwick

Last week, I posted on the qualities and qualifications digital agencies look for when hiring a community moderator. Here’s Part 2 in the series, answering the burning question:

What does a typical day in the life of a community moderator look like?

I do sort of wish this had a “typical” answer. Probably the best way to give you this info is to break it out by activity. Most community managers are responsible for the following:

Content curation

Using web-based tools to search for appropriate links and information to bring to the attention of the community.

• A few free content curation tools: Google Alerts, Google Reader

Building community

Seeking out individuals who are discussing the brand or topic elsewhere and bringing them into your community, interacting with existing members in a way that deepens their engagement. 

• A few free community building tools: Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Searchtastic

Speaking in the brand voice

Developing and abiding by style guides, putting all information into the brand’s context before sharing.

Client services

Community Moderators often have responsibility for clearing content through client stakeholders, so some experience interacting with clients comes in very handy. 

Keeping up to date on platform developments

When you use social media properties like Twitter or Facebook for a living, you get into the habit of keeping up to date on all their updates and what planned changes mean for you as a moderator and for the community of users.

• A few free platform information news sites: AllFacebook, Mashable, Social Media Examiner
• A few official platform development blogs: The Facebook Blog, Twitter Blog, Flickr Blog, Broadcasting Ourselves: The Official YouTube Blog  

And the fun part:

Interacting with members of the community

Actually hosting the party: answering questions, directing people to information, laughing along with their jokes, thanking people for participating, managing trolls and misinformation and generally having a great time.

That’s it for now, stay tuned for upcoming questions that will help you better understand the role and hopefully land that community moderator job you’ve got your eye on.

Next up:

• What is the market like for community moderators?
• Where to begin and whom to speak with?
• Should I look for freelance or permanent work?
• Can I work remotely?

Send me any questions you want to see covered and if you are a community moderator, feel free to chime in with all the activities I missed (because I know there’s no stopping you ;).