An organization’s ability to establish and maintain strong business relations with its customers is very important for its success. When a company connects with its target audience deeply, it is much more likely to resolve their issues, understand their needs, and eventually boost sales.
Companies hire engagement managers to help them connect with their audience in different ways. Some use social media channels, while others rely on traditional marketing techniques to engage with their customers.
In this article, we have talked about the roles, responsibilities, salary, and much more about the engagement managers, so you can learn whether this career path is the right choice for you or not.
Who is an engagement manager?
An engagement manager works in the customer services department. He establishes working relationships with customers or clients to secure revenue streams for the business, create new business opportunities with the existing customers, resolve issues of the current customers, and win new clients with the help of different marketing techniques.
His main duty is to establish and maintain relations with customers to provide profit to the organization he is working for. He determines the needs of customers and then makes sure those needs and wants are delivered correctly. He follows the company’s policies and makes sure his team members follow them, too.
What are the basic types of engagement managers?
Engagement managers play diverse roles in an organization. Due to their tasks, they can be categorized into the following types.
Marketing engagement manager
Typically, a marketing engagement manager uses different marketing tactics and channels, including digital media and social media platforms, to connect with customers and promote a brand or company.
He communicates with customers to find out their problems and resolve them in the best possible way. The same responsibilities may also be played by a marketing manager in an organization.
Social media engagement manager
As the name indicates, a social media engagement manager uses social media platforms, i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc., to engage with his target audience and establish a strong relationship with clients.
He may respond to DMs and comments, run social media campaigns, and share engaging posts on social media profiles. He creates engagement strategies to improve the company’s relationship with the target audience.
Customer engagement manager
He guarantees that the problems of all customers are understood by the sympathetic people who understand their condition well and try to find out the right solution.
He works with other team members to ensure they know which necessary abilities they need to build a strong relationship with customers and how to keep them happy for a long duration.
Community engagement manager
A community engagement manager is responsible for planning, forming, and executing strategies that help a business engage a community to gain its trust and deepen the relationship. He ensures that the organization participates in the betterment and prosperity of a community.
Skills that an engagement manager must have
Project management
You need this skill to effectively coordinate a customer engagement project from beginning to end. You should know how to lead a team and assign each member a particular task related to the project to ensure it is completed on time according to the set rules.
Communication skills
It is probably one of the most important skills that an engagement manager must have.
As an engagement manager, you will have to share your ideas, expectations, opinions, and needs with others. You will have to send the right message to your team members and superiors and ensure they understand it well. You can do this only if your written and spoken communication skills are good.
Planning and organization skills
You should be able to understand your customers’ needs and then create, organize, and execute an engagement plan accordingly. You should always be ready to make amendments to your plan according to the changing needs of the project or suggestions of superiors.
Customer service
One of the main duties of an engagement manager is to keep the company’s customers satisfied and happy. Since you will have direct contact with customers, you can create a strong relationship with them if you have good customer service skills.
You should demonstrate understanding and listen to customer complaints patiently. You should timely resolve customer problems and ensure they are satisfied with your products and services.
Problem-solving skills
Engagement managers often communicate with their clients or customers when a problem related to the product or service arises. You should be able to handle all kinds of problems on time without getting panicked.
Social media handling
Today, many companies rely on social media to execute their marketing efforts and engage with customers. Since more than 4.62 billion people are now actively using social media, you should know how to bring your organization in front of them using different social media channels and help your company increase its reach and, eventually, revenue.
Roles & responsibilities of an engagement manager
The roles and responsibilities of an engagement manager fluctuate greatly based on the needs of the company he is working for. Here are the commonly expected roles an engagement manager has to play within an organization.
Understand the needs of customers
One of the key roles of an engagement manager is to comprehend what troubles the target audience and what role the company can play in removing that problem. He conducts thorough research on his target audience to understand its needs and problems. He creates the project work plan according to these needs.
Meet customer’s expectations continuously
An engagement manager knows how important it is to retain old customers. He keeps providing the company’s existing customers with the same quality services, so he can maintain a strong relationship with them and make it even stronger in the future.
Attract more and more customers
An engagement manager focuses not only on retaining existing customers but also on increasing the number of new customers.
He keeps the revenue-related goals of the organization in mind and then targets more potential customers to help the company achieve those goals. He uses different strategies to entice more customers and retain them.
Use different tools and techniques to boost consumer engagement
Increasing customer engagement is important for the success of any company. According to stats, engaged customers are expected to generate 23% more revenue than customers who are not connected with a company.
Engagement managers use different tactics and platforms such as social media platforms, websites, emails, and other digital media to connect with their audiences and keep them engaged.
Direct the engagement team
Engagement managers assign different tasks to all members of the engagement team and make sure they complete those tasks within a specific time period according to the policies and rules of the company. They evaluate the work of each employee before it is published on a social or digital media channel.
Review the progress of the project
He evaluates project progress and ensures all tasks are completed in accordance with the project work plan. He makes adjustments to the plan according to the changing needs of the project. He uses automated project management tools to manage multiple tasks and determine if he is following the right plan or not.
Manage project finances
An engagement officer makes sure that the project is completed according to the specified budget. He assigns resources to each task according to its requirements.
Coordinate with sales and marketing teams
Engagement managers work with the marketing and sales teams to make sure everyone is working towards the same goals. He provides engagement ideas to these teams to help them promote products and generate more revenue.
Documents problems for future review
Sorting out problems and then creating their documents can help you avoid them in the future. An engagement manager offers the best solutions to their customer’s problems. He creates a report of common problems and their offered solutions to see how effective his engagement strategies are.
How to become an engagement manager
If you want to become an engagement manager, you should first get a bachelor’s degree in a related program such as business, marketing, project management, social media, digital media, etc. Even though companies do not require their engagement managers to have a master’s degree, many companies still prefer it.
You will also need sales-related courses to do well in this field. You should learn different skills like how to engage clients or how to develop marketing or engagement strategies through these courses. You can find many platforms on the internet that teach these courses for free.
Completing an internship can further help you excel in this industry. As an intern, you will get many opportunities to learn new skills and have hands-on experience practicing them. You will learn how companies keep their existing clients satisfied and encourage potential clients to purchase their products or services.
Once you get knowledge, experience, and skills, it is time to apply for the job you have always wanted to have. Build a portfolio and prepare for the interview to acquire the job. Learn about the company you are planning to join and determine how you can help it improve its relationship with its customers. Share your ideas with interviewers to make a good first impression and show you have come prepared.
Career progression opportunities
Engagement managers often start with other roles such as account manager, project manager, or team leader. These roles provide them with different opportunities for career progression.
If you have good customer service and communication skills, you will be able to make a mark in your field and soon gain a senior post such as the director of business development, director of project management, and senior project manager.
Engagement management provides many opportunities for career growth.
How much does an engagement manager make in the US?
According to Glassdoor, the average total salary of an engagement manager in the US is around $134,216 per year, consisting of $117,903 per year base pay and $16,313 per year additional pay.
The salary can vary from location to location. Zippia data shows that the highest paying cities for the engagement manager in the US are New York, Washington, Stamford, Philadelphia, and Cleveland.
FAQs
Why are engagement managers important for an organization?
Engagement managers are responsible for a variety of tasks in an organization. They are focused on improving customer engagement and relationships with the company. Organizations that keep their customers engaged have a high customer retention rate and earn better than companies that do not focus on establishing a good relationship with their customers.
What tools do engagement managers use?
Since engagement managers perform multiple tasks, they use a variety of tools to properly handle these tasks within designated time. Some popular examples of the tools that engagement managers use include:
- Monday.com is a team management tool that managers use to plan projects and make sure all the team members deliver results on time. It offers many useful features, including time tracking, timeline view, and automated notifications.
- Trello is used to manage personal tasks and projects. Engagement managers use Trello to organize their projects and collaborate with different teams.
- Engagement managers use ProofHub to communicate about the project with the entire team and enable team members to follow task lists and see how they can contribute to the broader goals of the organization.
What is the difference between an engagement manager and a project manager?
The responsibilities of a project manager and an engagement manager are similar in many ways, but they are different people in an organization and perform definite roles.
A project manager is mainly responsible for handling a project, while an engagement manager is responsible for managing customer engagement and relationship-related tasks of a specific project. He discusses problems and engagement strategies with the project manager and works on them only if he gives approval.
Summing it up
Engagement managers focus on establishing healthy relationships with customers by using effective strategies and techniques. They communicate with customers directly to understand their needs better and sort out their problems using company’s services or products.