Is Community Management a “Fly-Over” Industry? By David Zepponi
H
ave you ever gone to a party or family function and someone invariably asks: “What do you do?” You proudly tell them: “I’m a community manager.” Only to see blank stares and comments like, “that’s nice,” or “which community” or better yet “so I love Twitter, which community do you represent – Facebook, Etsy, Instagram?” And you politely correct them and say that you work for HOAs. Have you noticed their expression change … “oh, so you’re the ones who write the parking tickets, or won’t let me paint the house or charge me too much for nothing.” Do you love it when the stories start… I’ve got a neighbor and 58
Vision Fall/Winter 2016 | www.cacm.org
their dog, yada, yada, yada? Why won’t “they” do anything about that? Can we sue them? Or, I don’t know why they let people like that in this neighborhood anyway…can’t we just say no! As irrational and distasteful as these comments or projection might be, it speaks to a very large problem for those of us in the community management business: People don’t know what we do and what they can do. Every year, we walk the floors of the Capitol in Sacramento having these same conversations with a diverse and eclectic group of the elected who frankly have the same opinion (or worse, no
