Community Manager Live is a story-driven podcast delivering authentic, reflective conversations with community professionals. Each episode reveals insightful lessons, wins, and turning points that inspire and empower community builders.
Too many job postings call roles community management, but in reality, they’re listing tasks better suited for marketing, customer support, or admin. This common confusion leads to burnout and frustration for both companies and candidates. Here’s how to spot and correct it.
Picking a community platform isn’t a final destination, it’s a checkpoint. What worked perfectly for your first 50 members won’t necessarily hold up at 5,000. The best communities don’t cling to tools out of nostalgia… they evolve their spaces as needs grow, technology shifts, and member expectations change. A platform isn’t the community itself. It’s the scaffolding, and sometimes scaffolding needs rebuilding.
Vanity metrics will pat you on the back, but they won’t keep your community alive. The real question isn’t how big your numbers look, but how deeply your people engage and how much value they bring back to the business
David DeWald is a pioneering online community professional with over 25 years of experience building, managing, and evolving digital communities of all sizes—some reaching millions of members. Since the late 1990s, he has partnered with diverse organizations and businesses to establish impactful online presences that foster engagement and growth. David is widely respected among his peers for his deep expertise in community strategy, engagement, moderation, and advocacy development. Beyond managing communities, he actively contributes to the industry through thought leadership, including public speaking, and blogging, sharing actionable insights to elevate the practice of community management globally.
