I saw a tweet recently that asked what the most in demand skills were going to be in web3 (for those unfamiliar with the term web3, it broadly refers to the blockchain/crypto/nft/dao space). I immediately thought of the role of community manager. I added some thoughts (see thread here) and the more I typed, the more my thoughts began to concretize and soon, this idea of community managers as the new product managers clicked.
Community and DAOs
Out of the NFT boom, which arguably began to hit “mainstream” in mid-2021, the DAO boom began to emerge. As a quick glossary moment, DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization. Back when I first got into the space in 2017, the concept of a DAO was literally an organization that would be run by smart contracts. Today, DAO seems to represent a social club of sorts (at least in my silo of web3): groups of people who get together and share common interests, a vast majority housed in Discord servers. A trend I’ve been noticing is that these groups form, they spin up their Discord, they whip together some social media to get folks to join and then, inevitably, they launch an NFT or some other type of token. I’ll return back to this idea later, but first, let’s discuss the role of community managers.
*Disclaimer - I make some broad generalizations here from my own experience*
As was the case years ago, community managers are typically the lowest paid member of a team, are added later on (as opposed to being one of the first hires made or part of a founding team), are excluded from helping to develop a roadmap (as they’re seen as an add-on), and are assumed to be peppy (often beautiful women) who can throw fun events and make people (often men) feel comfortable. The rise of DAOs, in my opinion, presents an amazing opportunity to elevate the role of community managers to fundamental members of projects.
If the primary product of a DAO is the community, a community manager is equivalent to a product manager. Building, maintaining, and growing a community is a very particular skill set. There is a strategy involved and that strategy has to be embedded in each product decision. Having the ability to navigate human dynamics, to solicit and implement user (aka community member) feedback, to make people feel excited and comfortable to stay and engage, are not things to be taken lightly. Many of the product owners/project leads I know have lamented the task of socializing/talking to users/“dealing with people”, which is why they turn to others (aka community managers) to do that role. In a DAO, having someone (or ideally a team) who can navigate these waters is critical to product success.
Community and NFTs
After a nearly year long hiatus from the blockchain space, I emerged into a world (on twitter, of course) that was steeped in people launching NFTs (non fungible tokens aka digital images using blockchain tech). Now I’ll likely write a lengthier piece on the NFT concept at a higher level at some point (when the spirit moves me), but for now, I’ll hone in on the fact that many projects tout “access to the community” as one of the most tangible perks, especially as a hefty fiscal return can’t be guaranteed and is slowing now that the hype cycle is cooling. Using NFTs as an access key to some spectacular community implies that 1) a community exists and 2) that community is valuable. Now yes, value is subjective and in the eye of the (be)holder, however with so many projects promising “community”, I can’t help but wonder what is differentiating these communities and who is running them?
I saw a post on AngelList (the startup job site) a couple weeks ago hiring for a “Discord Community Manager” (RIP as the post has now been removed). On a separate Twitter thread I had started re: salary transparency in web3 (see here), someone had asked if they thought getting an NFT as payment for managing a Discord community several days a week was adequate pay. I properly said “fuck no” and proceeded to share that managing a community is real and exhausting work, that a project likely wouldn’t ask a dev to build for free and that this person should be treated no different.
Now I understand many projects don’t have funding to pay people (another topic for another time), however *if* people are getting compensated, and I’m operating under the assumption that compensation ultimately signals valuing a team member, a community manager deserves to be paid.
Let’s talk about why. NFTs gain value when either someone really famous buys one and talks about it, hiking up the value, OR a community gets behind it, hypes up a launch, and sells out then sells on a secondary market, showcasing demand for a particular product. For the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the second. A community drives the original value and a community maintains the value. So who is ensuring that the community is engaged beyond an initial drop and doesn’t disappear? A community manager. Now not all NFT projects want to sustain a community and that’s cool - I’m not talking about you, though. On my mind are the projects that again, use NFTs as a way to say “buy this and get access to the cool group of people we have”. A community manager ensures that the community stays interesting and relevant, that people feel engaged and have opportunities to collaborate and contribute, and is responsible (in theory), for working with those who launched and/or are running the project to make the overall experience as great as possible for the members/collectors/holders/users.
If you want your token to be exciting and valuable, ensure your community is exciting (and excited) and valuable -- and do this with a strong and well-equipped community team.
In closing, bringing on a community manager is not only about having someone manage your Discord and dealing with trolls screaming “wen” or agitating others. If someone is an expert on people, on community building, have them contribute to designing the roadmap of your project. Your product will be far better off for it, your community members will be happier and your community team, essentially frontline workers, will feel valued - a win win.