Despite these tough economic times, some website and blogs are succeeding and growing.  How do they do it?  By a laser like focus, not on themselves, their service or product, but on community.  Successful blogs recognize what information or tools their community wants and their goal is to keep up a continuous stream of helpful, information in a simple, step by step manner.  Good community managers are able to weave in their company‘s story while supporting their community’s needs.  It’s a challenge. Stuart Foster , marketing consultant in the Boston area and author of a blog at Thelostjacket.com addresses this in 5 Essential Traits for Community Managers:

“Community manager is the new it position in social media. To establish hardcore communities of evangelists around your brand, you need to have one. However, what makes up a successful community manager? Every community manager must have their own style and idea about how to run things for their company, right?

Some basic tenets and rules apply regardless of the company. I spoke to some of the best in the business to get their thoughts on what makes a great community manager. I’ve narrowed it down to 5 essential traits.

1. Loving your job

Muhammad Saleem, community manager for Tip’d, recommends that you “Be incredibly patient and approachable and never lose your cool, ever. Always start with the assumption that you’re wrong and the community member (or whoever else you’re in an exchange with) is right, and work from there onwards. Always have lines of communication open with your community as well as those outside your community (even competitors) and be available to chat/discuss/troubleshoot/resolve. Remember that the community always comes first, no matter what decision you’re trying to make. All decisions should be made with the community in mind. Ask yourself, how does this improve the community experience?”

Muhammad is able to put the community’s needs ahead of his own and maintain a calm and cool visage.

2. Ability to promote others as well as yourself

Daniel Honigman of Tribune Interactive made this commitment from an MSM news organization: “Linking to the Sun-Times and other sources right off the bat showed our readers and followers that we were doing things differently, that we’re willing to be good netizens. For a mainstream media organization to aggregate outside content in a non-bastardized way, that’s a huge step.”

This goes a long way in promoting more than just your corporate interests and fostering a trusting community in support of your company. It’s just common netiquette.

3. Ability to empower & support your community

“When instilling an attitude that isn’t one of control or management. One that people can relate to and feel comfortable with past the right culture built within the comm, you’ve got to create VALUE and make people WANT to be a part of the community and make them feel that they’re a part of something big and have that rapport spill over throughout all community members,” said Sonny Gill, a social media marketer.

This requires a time commitment. Amber Naslund of Radian6 elaborates, “Flexibility: this isn’t a 9-5 job, nor is it always a neat and tidy job description. That means being what your company and community need you to be, when they need you. Sometimes it’s communicating, sometimes it’s listening, sometimes it’s strategy and sometimes it’s execution.”

4. Transparent, fun, and engaging personality

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Amber came at this from a background that may not have looked exactly like that of a typical community manager, but the same traits were there. Amber’s “background is a blend of nonprofit fundraising, business development, client services, and marketing (B2B). I took a bit of a non-traditional path, but the undercurrent to all of those positions was relationship building in order to drive business. The social tools are just the mechanisms; the most important part is being passionate about stripping out all the broken ideas about impersonal communications and getting back to the idea of humans as the basis for good business. Social communications feel like the ‘home’ to me that I’ve always wanted in my job – the part of customer service and communication that always felt good and not so contrived.”

It doesn’t really matter where you come from, as long as the same morals, attitudes and desires remain the same.

5. Extensive knowledge about the company

Daniel Honigman ran into this problem when trying to gain access to the Tribune’s management: “I was extraordinarily lucky when I started out at the Chicago Tribune by having access to folks at all levels of the newsroom.  However, you still need to make inroads with different departments and levels – groups that may traditionally be siloed – in order to get your job done quickly. You’ll find that as a result, internal communication will improve dramatically. And you can serve customer needs a hell of a lot quicker.”

Often you will need to break down cultures ingrained within your corporation’s DNA and this can’t happen without a buy-in from management.

Amber Naslund added, “Sometimes, you just have to shut up and realize you’re not the one with the answers. You need to have first-hand knowledge of what’s happening in your company to communicate that to customers and you need to shepherd information and insights back from your customers to your company. Sometimes the best person to provide an answer isn’t you, but you can help connect and put the right people in touch to make sure their experience with your company is always a good one. You’re more often the means than the end.”

Community management is a delicate balance; you need to be able to serve both your company’s needs and those of your company’s community. A lot of trust, respect and responsibility comes with being the voice for your brand. It’s a lot of power, but if you use it wisely it could be a boon for your company and your community.

So, what do you think are essential traits for a community manager?”