As someone who has worked as a community manager frequently, I will say that startups always underfund and underhire in this area. They always want to hire the best engineers, but when it comes to community managers they generally don't want to hire more than 1-2, and aren't willing to pay for the best.
In an engineering heavy culture, community management is sometimes incorrectly viewed as something 'anyone could do'.
Out of curiosity, how do you hire/find the best community managers?
I know what an accomplished developer's resume looks like and how to vet it... I have no idea how to vet a community manager effectively.
Tips/Suggestions?
NOTE: A successful community manager would have the right personality, good sense of fairness, good communication skills, etc... a handful of skills that are hard to assess quickly. That is why I ask.
Do not under any circumstance hire a social media expert. That's what top users are for! Hire someone who is already doing everything you want a community manager to do in your community. Just make them official, start paying them, and make them full time.
I'm a bit stumped actually as to how to advise. Let me think about it.
I generally feel that a great community manager has a wide base of skills, is incredibly social (has a large network), knows how to deal with trolls and also has a fairly decent tech background.
The questions should be around how big of communities they have managed, what they do to grow them, how they deal with problems (big problems, like a billing fiasco) and how well they know social media.
That being said, most "social media experts" make me want to vomit a bit and if someone professes themselves as such, maybe they aren't the right person for you.
They are harder to assess, as there aren't as solid of skills. No github acct (although if they have one, thats awesome)
David, good tips; especially the "Do they have a big network" - I hadn't thought to really dig through a twitter, facebook or G+ account to get a feel for someone.
In an engineering heavy culture, community management is sometimes incorrectly viewed as something 'anyone could do'.