Community Manager
| Median wage (USD) | 74750 |
|---|---|
| Projected employment growth (%) | 2 |
| AI exposure (%) | 79 |
| Maximum exposure (%) | 94 |
| Source | eloundou |
| What AI changes in this occupation | Posting and updating content on the company's Web site and social media outlets (85 out of 100), writing press releases or other media communications to promote clients (85), preparing or editing organizational publications — employee newsletters, stockholders' reports — for internal or external audiences (73), planning or conducting market or public opinion research to test products or determine their potential and communicating the results to the client or management (69), developing plans or materials to communicate the organization's environmental, public safety or other social-issue activities (69) and developing marketing campaigns for environmental technologies or services (46) are the O*NET profile's six most delegable tasks. Work activities confirm it: communicating with people outside the organization (94 out of 100), getting information (93), thinking creatively (86), organizing, planning and prioritizing work (85), updating and using relevant knowledge (82), working with computers (81) and interpreting the meaning of information for others (76). The profile's heaviest knowledge areas are also its most codified — communications and media (98 out of 100) and the English language (93) —, far ahead of field knowledge (administration and management 74, customer and personal service 74, sales and marketing 73). BLS describes the gesture itself: public relations specialists "craft media releases and develop social media programs to shape public perception of their clients", "press releases often are adapted for announcements on social media", and these specialists "are usually in charge of monitoring and responding to social media questions and concerns" — exactly the community manager's core. Posts, one message declined into formats and variants, editorial calendars, standard replies to recurring messages, sentiment summaries, performance reports and campaign documents all move to the tool. BLS puts the median wage for public relations specialists at $74,750 in May 2025 — $35.94 an hour —, under $44,110 for the lowest 10% and over $135,150 for the highest 10%, against $74,250 for the "media and communication workers" group and $50,980 for all workers. The best-paying industries are government ($81,350), advertising and public relations ($77,480), grantmaking and giving services and social advocacy organizations ($71,720), educational services ($66,220) and healthcare and social assistance ($64,550); educational services alone employs 14% of the 314,500 jobholders, ahead of advertising and public relations (12%), government (11%), healthcare and social assistance (7%) and grantmaking and giving services (6%). The projection is +2% between 2025 and 2035 — 314,500 jobs in 2025, 320,200 in 2035, +5,700 —, against 0% for the media and communication workers group and +3% for all occupations; about 23,000 openings a year over the decade, mostly replacing workers who leave. BLS credits demand to social media, then tempers it explicitly: "The use of social media is expected to create new opportunities for public relations specialists, who will help clients use these platforms effectively to reach consumers and the general public in new ways. However, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly making inroads into data-rich social media, which may soften demand for these workers." A bachelor's degree is the norm — public relations, communications, social science or business —, an internship helping at entry and a personal presence on social platforms weighing in the file, and some employers prefer professional certification without requiring it. O*NET places the profile in Job Zone Four — considerable preparation, SVP range 7.0 to less than 8.0 —, where 64% of respondents report working more than 40 hours a week. Advancement leads to public relations manager, then to communications director. Responding to requests for information from the media or designating an appropriate spokesperson or information source (89 out of 100), planning or directing the development and communication of programs to maintain favorable public or stockholder perceptions of an organization's accomplishments, agenda or environmental responsibility (85), establishing and maintaining cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee or public interest groups (81), conferring with other managers to identify trends and key group interests or concerns or to advise on business decisions (80), coaching client representatives in effective communication with the public or with employees (79) and arranging public appearances, lectures, contests or exhibits to increase product or service awareness or promote goodwill (72) are the tasks the Eloundou study leaves untouched, up to 94% of the occupation at most. The working pattern confirms it: 95% of respondents use e-mail daily, 86% have telephone conversations daily, 82% hold face-to-face discussions daily, 52% are in constant contact with others, 55% rate working with or contributing to a team as extremely important, 64% face time pressure every day and 27% meet a conflict situation every week; above all, 14% deal with unpleasant, angry or discourteous people every day and 50% meet them at least once a month — the figure that describes a community's comment thread. 24% consider that a mistake not easily corrected would have very serious consequences and 29% serious ones, a brand's reputation turning on a single screenshot. The top-rated skills are active listening and speaking (78 each), reading comprehension, social perceptiveness and writing (75 each), then coordination, critical thinking and time management (72 each); the abilities that carry the occupation are oral comprehension (81), oral expression (78), speech clarity and speech recognition as well as written expression (75 each). The most distinctive work styles are social orientation (86, the profile's 5th rank), cooperation (81, 6th), dependability (77, 8th), self-confidence (75, 1st), innovation (71, 3rd), integrity (70, 7th) and optimism (70, 2nd); the dominant interests are enterprising (80) and artistic (61). |
| Key skills | Community management: editorial line and publishing calendar, writing posts, threads and replies, moderation and moderation policy, facilitating discussion, contests and activations, brand monitoring and public-thread crisis handling, relationships with creators and ambassadors, answering reviews and direct messages · listening and measurement: mention and sentiment monitoring, social listening, engagement and reach metrics, content A/B tests, dashboards and monthly reports, audience analysis, competitor tracking · media and public relations: press releases, press kits, journalist relations, preparing interviews and spokespeople, reputation management, event coordination · tools: community management and publishing suites (Meta Business Suite, Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, Later), monitoring and listening tools (Meltwater, Talkwalker, Brandwatch, Google Alerts), Canva and Adobe for visuals, Notion and Trello for the editorial calendar, Google Analytics 4 and native platform statistics, CRM and ticketing tools · methods: audience segmentation and personas, message testing, advertising and cookie rules, image and music rights, personal information protection, platform policies · generative AI: declining one message into formats and variants, draft replies and posts, summaries of comment threads, cultural adaptation and translation, scripts for analysing performance data, critical review of outputs and fact-checking |
| Courses to get ahead | Social Media Management · Coursera (Meta) · ≈ 19.5 hours of workload · 92 · Posting and updating content on the Web site and social media outlets (85 out of 100) and writing media communications (85 out of 100) are two of the profile's six most delegable tasks — and yet the occupation's heaviest. What AI accelerates is the production of variants and declensions; what the course works on is the editorial line, the calendar, the measurement and the decision about what deserves to be published, that is, the place where the model's output has to be arbitrated by someone who knows the audience. BLS credits the occupation's demand to social media before warning that AI "is increasingly making inroads into data-rich social media": that is exactly the dividing line this course draws. O*NET ranks social orientation 5th among the profile's work styles (86 out of 100), cooperation 6th (81) and optimism 2nd (70): three traits practised in community management and rehearsed in a workshop. Fundamentals of Social Media Advertising · Coursera (Meta) · ≈ 12.9 hours of workload · 87 · Developing plans or materials to communicate the organization's activities (69 out of 100) and developing marketing campaigns (46 out of 100) are the profile's two exposed tasks concerned with the campaign and its deliverables: brief, messages, visuals, targeting, calendar. Documentary production moves to the tool — a model writes ten headline variants before coffee —, but budget, targeting and the trade-off between awareness and conversion remain decisions, and only 14% of O*NET respondents consider that their decisions have very important results for the company while 48% consider them important, a campaign never being an isolated exercise. The course covers the platforms' advertising chain — targeting, formats, measurement —, that is, the exact vocabulary in which a community manager must be able to challenge what AI proposes. Digital Marketing: Customer Engagement Strategy · Coursera (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) · ≈ 12.6 hours of workload · 85 · Planning or conducting market or opinion research and communicating the results (69 out of 100) is the exposed task that links the community manager to management: collection and summarisation are largely automatable — a model summarises a thousand comments in ten minutes —, but the question asked, the sample and the reading of an ambiguous result are not. The course works on customer engagement measurement, metrics and their interpretation, which is precisely what the O*NET profile calls "interpreting the meaning of information for others" (76 out of 100). And that is what gives the occupation its escape route: the market research analyst, one of this card's three pivots, pays $78,760 with an identical exposure of 58 (human β) but growth of +7% against +2% here. Crisis Communications · Coursera (IESE Business School) · ≈ 7.3 hours of workload · 82 Content Strategy · Coursera (Simplilearn) · ≈ 8.1 hours of workload · 78 Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT · Coursera (Vanderbilt University) · ≈ 18.8 hours of workload · 76 |
| Occupations to pivot toward | Public Relations and Fundraising Manager · 136470 · 6 · 58 Market Research Analyst · 78760 · 7 · 58 Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Manager · 165780 · 6 · 55 |
| Skills to acquire for the pivot | Eloundou measures the community manager's exposure at 79% (human β) and up to 94% (human ζ): posting and updating content on the Web site and social media outlets (85 out of 100), writing press releases and other media communications (85), preparing or editing organizational publications (73), planning or conducting market or opinion research and communicating the results (69), developing communication plans or materials (69) and developing marketing campaigns (46) are the O*NET profile's most directly delegable tasks, while responding to media requests or designating a spokesperson (89), planning or directing public-perception programs (85), establishing and maintaining cooperative relationships with community, consumer, employee or public interest groups (81), conferring with other managers on trends and key group concerns (80), coaching client spokespeople (79) and arranging public appearances, lectures and contests (72) remain human. Within the repository, 79 puts the community manager 3rd of the one hundred and eight occupations: two occupations have a higher exposure — the translator (84) and the writer and author (81) —, none is tied with it, and the nearest below are the statistician (71), the customer service representative (70) and the mathematician (69); the repository's median is 44. Its ζ of 94 places it 12th: eleven occupations are above — seven at the maximum of 100 (the writer and author, the mathematician, the web designer, the cybersecurity analyst, the proofreader, the game designer and the UX designer) and four at 95 (the financial advisor, the mortgage broker, the data engineer and the statistician) —, two are tied (the data scientist and the data analyst), and the nearest below are the programmer (93), the market research analyst (92) and the QA tester (91). No card in the repository measures a community-management occupation with higher exposure than this one: it is the site's third-highest exposure, and the only one in the editorial chain above 75. BLS puts the median wage for public relations specialists at $74,750 in May 2025 — $35.94 an hour —, against $74,250 for the "media and communication workers" group and $50,980 for all workers; the lowest 10% earn less than $44,110 and the highest 10% more than $135,150. The best-paying industries are government ($81,350), advertising and public relations ($77,480), grantmaking and social advocacy organizations ($71,720), educational services ($66,220) and healthcare and social assistance ($64,550); educational services employs 14% of the 314,500 jobholders, ahead of advertising and public relations (12%), government (11%), healthcare and social assistance (7%) and grantmaking (6%). The projection is +2% between 2025 and 2035 — 314,500 jobs in 2025, 320,200 in 2035, +5,700 — against 0% for the media and communication workers group and +3% for all occupations, with about 23,000 openings a year, mostly replacing workers who leave; BLS credits demand to social media use, then warns that artificial intelligence, which is gaining ground in data-rich social media, may soften that demand. Entry requires a bachelor's degree — public relations, communications, social science or business —, an internship and a personal presence on the platforms helping candidates stand out, and professional certification is preferred by some employers without being required; O*NET places the profile in Job Zone Four (considerable preparation, SVP 7.0 to less than 8.0) and 64% of respondents report working more than 40 hours a week. The SOC code used is 27-3031.00 "Public Relations Specialists", confirmed by the O*NET profile (exact code and title) and by the BLS projections table, which publishes the line "public relations specialists" under code 27-3031. Three method reservations, explicitly accepted. First, O*NET knows no profession called "community manager": the reported-titles list of 27-3031.00 contains "Communications Specialist", "Community Relations Coordinator", "Corporate Communications Specialist", "Media Relations Specialist", "Public Affairs Specialist", "Public Information Officer" and "Public Relations Specialist", but never the words "Community Manager" or "Social Media Specialist" — SOC 2018 has no code of its own for online community management. Second, the neighbouring code 13-1161.00 "Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists" was set aside: its reported-titles list (Content Strategist, Communications Consultant, Market Research Analyst) and its OOH page describe a research and measurement stance, not the daily animation of a community, whereas profile 27-3031.00 carries precisely the task "post and update content on the company's Web site and social media outlets" (85 out of 100), relationships with community groups (81) and coordinating public responses (66), and BLS states there in so many words that these specialists "are usually in charge of monitoring and responding to social media questions and concerns". Third, the French label "Community manager" is the everyday name of that function, the one French-language job ads carry; the English label of the card stays "Community Manager" for the same reason, with the official O*NET title kept in this paragraph and in the sources. The median salary shown is $74,750 a year, or $35.94 an hour. In the repository of one hundred and eight occupations it ranks 58th: fifty-seven occupations pay more, from the market research analyst ($76,950) to the physician ($239,200), none is tied and fifty pay less, starting with the human resources manager ($72,910) then the writer and author ($72,270); the repository's median salary is $77,305, which is 3.3% above its own. The +2% growth sits 74th, for a median of 4%: seventy-three occupations grow faster, eight at the same rate (the translator, the graphic designer, the welder, the nursing assistant, the janitor, the clinical laboratory technician, the real estate agent and the industrial designer) and twenty-six more slowly, including the financial advisor and the mortgage broker (+1%). The three pivots appear in the similar-occupations table on the OOH page: the public relations and fundraising manager ($136,470, +6% between 2025 and 2035 — 129,600 jobs in 2025, +7,200, about 9,800 openings a year —, human exposure 58 for code 11-2032.00 public relations managers alone, whose own median wage is $146,910, fundraising managers weighing in at $125,470), the market research analyst ($78,760, +7% — 952,700 jobs in 2025, +66,300, about 82,000 openings a year —, human exposure 58) and the advertising, promotions, and marketing manager ($165,780, +6% — 454,800 jobs in 2025, +27,900, about 36,300 openings a year —, human exposure 55 for code 11-2011.00 advertising and promotions managers, whose own median wage is $133,660, marketing managers weighing in at $166,790). The gap with the pivots measures the exit: +82.6% in salary for moving into public relations management, only +5.4% for market research but with an identical exposure of 58, and +121.8% for marketing management with a slightly lower exposure (55) — the campaign seen from above is both better paid and a little less exposed than its daily animation. Method notes to close. O*NET lists eighteen scored tasks for the profile — fifteen core and three supplemental —; the six tasks kept on each side are the heaviest of their group, and the shares are the importance scores scaled so that the exposed block totals 79%, the β measured by Eloundou, the resistant block completing to 100. Salary and growth come from the occupation's OOH page read through the r.jina.ai reading proxy, bls.gov returning 403 from this machine, and the figures agree with the O*NET profile, which gives the same $35.94 an hour and the same $74,750 a year. The workloads of the three highlighted courses are the ones announced by the platform, read from the Coursera API together with the title and partner; the scores and workloads of the three collapsible courses are editorial estimates, documented in _ponderation. Only Eloundou's human series is displayed (79/94); the GPT-4 self-rated series is kept in the secondary field expositionGpt4 (59/94), in line with the repository's method decision. |
| GPT-4 exposure — beta / zeta (%) | 59 · 94 |