Why Assumptions Kill Community Careers
One of the biggest mistakes I see community managers make, especially those early in their careers, is rushing to do.
One of the biggest mistakes I see community managers make, especially those early in their careers, is rushing to do.
They launch events.
They open new channels.
They write content calendars.
They try to drive engagement with activities that should work.
But here’s the hard truth:
If you’re acting before you understand your members and your business, you’re shooting in the dark.
Why Assumptions Hold You Back
Many of us fall into community management accidentally. You start the job and suddenly you’re expected to know what to do. You scramble for strategies, copy what you’ve seen in other communities, or rely on what feels like “best practice.”
But here’s the catch: what works in one community often fails in another.
Why? Because communities are built on people, and people come with unique fears, frustrations, and desires.
If you don’t take time to uncover those, you’ll never connect deeply enough to spark real engagement.
And when engagement doesn’t come, your work looks invisible to leadership. You feel overlooked, frustrated, and unsure how to move forward. Sound familiar?
The Career Shift You Need to Make
The real power move, the thing that separates respected community managers from the overlooked ones—is this:
Never implement before you investigate.
Strong community managers start with research. They don’t guess what members want. They ask. They don’t assume what the business values. They clarify.
And when you do this, you stop being the person who’s “managing a Discord” and start being the professional who can confidently say:
- “Here’s what our members are struggling with.”
- “Here’s what they want most.”
- “And here’s how the community can deliver strategic value to the business.”
That shift is what makes you indispensable.
How to Start: The Research Habit
You don’t need a PhD to do this. You just need to start talking to people.
- Interview members. Aim for at least 20 conversations. Ask about their current struggles, their goals, and what success would feel like for them. Avoid leading questions. Let them tell you what matters.
- Talk to stakeholders. Your manager, marketing, product, customer success, executives, whoever’s relevant. Ask what outcomes they care about most.
- Study adjacent communities. Don’t copy their tactics blindly. Instead, observe what’s working and adapt ideas for your own context.
By the end of this process, you should know your community so well that you could speak as them. Imagine the power of that in your next strategy meeting.
The Payoff
When you ground your work in research, three things happen:
- Your strategies finally land. Because they’re tied to real frustrations and desires, members actually respond.
- You impress leadership. Instead of vague engagement numbers, you bring insights that align directly with business goals.
- Your career accelerates. You’re no longer just “keeping the lights on.” You’re driving impact, and people notice.
This is how you move from overlooked and overworked to respected and in demand.
Community managers often feel pressure to be everywhere, doing everything. But if you want to build a career that grows quickly and earns recognition, don’t start with tactics.
Start with understanding.
Because when you stop shooting in the dark and start seeing clearly, that’s when you become the community manager everyone looks up to.
Get the 30-Day To Your Community Management Role, a free step-by-step guide to help you grow your career starting this month.
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💬 And if you want personalized support, feedback, or help applying these steps to your situation, book a free personal guidence chat