Frequently Asked Questions
For your convenience, the CMG has assembled and posted our answers to the following questions. If you have any additional questions, please let us know and we will make every effort to answer them as soon as possible.

What is a Community Manager?
They have many names: Community Manager, Community Relations, Internet Relations Manager, Community Coordinator, etc. But they all stand for the same thing; an individual within an organization that wears many hats all rolled into one, from customer service to marketing to public relations. A community manager isn’t just one of those roles, they are all of them and usually a little more.

In essence, the community manager is the linchpin between the customers, development team, and marketing. They are the individuals who are coordinating between these (and other) sections to make sure that the customer’s voice is being heard while, at the same time, relaying information from the development and marketing teams to the community.

Isn’t Community Management a form of Marketing?
No, while marketing and community share many of the same goals and community can, at times, overlap with marketing, they are quite different. The main focus of marketing is the recruitment of new customers (acquisition) while the focal point for community is in the retention of those customers. In the end, both are working towards the betterment of the product but through means that are normally quite different.

Is Community Management a part of Customer Service?
As it does with marketing, the community management field does share some of the same goals as the customer service field but it is not the same. A customer service specialist is there to individually assist and guide a customer when they are running into difficulties with the specified product. This could be due to a software bug or even a misunderstanding by the end user on how something should function.

While the management of communities does sometimes involve assisting customers, it is usually by informing large segments of the community at a time instead of treating each customer individually.

What is the goal of the Community Managers Group?
The CMG was created with two goals in mind. Community management is a fairly new position in the online gaming field and it is continually evolving and maturing. The CMG is, first and foremost, a place where professionals within the community management field have an opportunity to relate their knowledge and experiences to one another. The CMG fosters collaboration through conversations, connections and shared knowledge and, in turn, we create a better-informed society by collaborating with each other.

Secondly, the CMG is committed to enhancing the global state of professionals in the community management field. It supports, aggregates, and promotes community management in their local and global communities.