It’s a year — Cheers to being Facebook Certified Community Managers!
Exactly a year ago, on this day, the Facebook Certified Community Manager Programme was officially launched at Communities Summit 2020, the global event from Facebook celebrating the work of over 70 million group admins and moderators building communities using Facebook Groups, and I was virtually attending the Summit from home, proud and cheering for all of us who made it to the first 100 batch of Certified Community Managers from across the globe.
Today, over 1.2K Community Builders have joined our Certified Community Managers Family, but the memories of rising over time differences, waking up at odd hours to prep together, rooting for one another to clear the certification, the anxiety and uncertainty of what lies in those two hours of the examination still remain fresh.
So, what was the impact of the Certification in my life?
First Formal Training in Community Management
If you know me, I have probably narrated this story a dozen times that how five years ago, on one afternoon in August, while I was attending the Applied CS with Android Bootcamp programme at the Google office in Bangalore, during one of the talks around developer communities, I fell in love Community Management. From there on, I have never wanted to do anything else. I was adamant and desperate to break into this field where I could build communities for brands and be called a “Community Manager”. But I didn’t know how I could do so. For three years of my life, I was voluntarily building developer communities and learning Community Building through trial and error.
You see, this certification means so much to me because The Facebook Community Manager Online Course was my first educational resource and training in Community Management. It helped me learn the terminologies that were used in the industry and realise some of the tips and tricks that I found in my trial and error journey were indeed industry accepted practices and Community Management Strategies.
First International Talk around Communities and Innovation
The Certification added to my credibility in Community Management and this year, on Women’s Day, I was invited to deliver a talk around how brands achieve innovation through communities at Innov8Her Summit 2021 which was attended by a personnel from Guyana’s Prime Minister Office.
First Job in Community Management
During the certification study preps of the first cohort, I befriended my mentor, manager and one of my closest friends, Paras Pundir, Founder at Community Folks and Head of Community at LikeMinds, who trained me further and helped me land my first Community Management job on his team here at LikeMinds where I was building a community of community entrepreneurs. Together, we have dived into many endeavours such as creating various Community Management Resources for our members, documenting stories of over Indian Community Builders who are nailing it in the ecosystem, experiencing and witnessing our community getting involved in the product development process of the LikeMinds app etc.
First Learning Mentor from India
Being a certified Community Manager, along with Mahwish Afridi and Logan Akio Johnston , I had the opportunity to support and mentor new candidates who were looking to take up this certification and was among the first Learning Mentors from Asia Pacific Region for the Facebook Community Manager Certification Learning Group (your must check out group if you are looking to give the certification).
First Community Management Report for India
The learnings I gathered not just from the certification content but also from the conversations which I had with fellow Certified Community Managers who were building communities in different parts of the world came super handy while we were defining the scope and framing survey questions for the State of Indian Community Management Report 2021 which happens to be the first documentation around the growth of online communities in India.
But, you know what’s most valuable about being a Certified Community Manager?
You will be a part of the Facebook Certified Community Managers Group, a community of some of the best community builders in the world. Trust me, this place has been one of my go-to communities wherein I have received some of the best feedbacks and critics around my articles and other work in Community Management.
Now that I have narrated my story, what would be my tips for your upcoming certification exam?
My friend, Vineet Nandan Gupta, Community Consultant and a fellow Facebook Certified Community Manager, has already curated his notes and made life easier for you. Go check out his article at —
That’s it for the day, folks! I hope you enjoyed reading this article and that we will soon meet in the Facebook Certified Community Managers Community! Be sure to follow me for more articles on ALL THINGS COMMUNITY and comment for any feedback you might have about this article.
