Community Management Is the New Frontline of Brand Strategy - So Why Are Brands Still Undervaluing It?

In a world of algorithm-chasing content and brand feeds that blend into the scroll, one role is quietly holding the keys to cultural relevance: the community manager.

Too often treated as the hygiene layer, responsible for categorising tickets, responding to queries, and not much more, community managers are actually sat on a goldmine of insight, creativity and audience understanding. Yet brands continue to overlook their potential.

Cannes Lions recently evolved its Social & Influencer Lions into the Social & Creator Lions, a nod to the growing influence of creator culture and community-powered storytelling. It’s a signal that the industry is beginning to recognise what many social teams already know: community isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s where the most original, relevant brand moments are born.

Recent data further underscores this shift. According to the 2025 Sprout Social Index, 46% of consumers say their favourite brands stand out on social media because they post original content, highlighting the value of authentic community engagement. Additionally, 61% of TikTok users discover new brands and products through the app, making it a critical platform for brand discovery and community interaction.

Community managers don’t just monitor. They live in the comments, the DMs, the duets. They’re closest to what’s actually being said about a brand every single day. Closer than the CMO. Closer than the planner. Closer than the creative team. They’re not just answering questions. They’re absorbing culture in real time and responding with sharp timing, tonal fluency, and cultural wit.

It’s not always about grandeur. Some of the sharpest, most effective content ideas start in the comments section. For instance, McDonald’s social team recently turned a single TikTok comment into a limited-time menu item: the ‘Grimace Shake’, a viral purple drink that started as a meme and ended up on menus worldwide.

Another smart play came from Duolingo. Known for its chaotic TikTok presence, the brand routinely turns user comments and stitch videos into viral moments, blending humour with razor-sharp community engagement. Its owl mascot isn’t just a content vehicle – it’s a conversation starter.

There’s no shortcut to this kind of resonance. It comes from time spent in the feed, not just looking at it from a strategy deck. The best community managers grew up in group chats and niche fandoms. They’ve spent years absorbing internet logic, humour and unspoken rules. There’s no training course for that. Just hours of scrolling, listening and knowing when to jump in.

Time is the biggest issue. Most brand managers don’t have it. And neither do most agencies under project-based, deliverable-heavy models. But when you give someone the headspace to simply sit in culture and think, without a deadline breathing down their neck, they spot the moments that others miss. That’s how you earn attention.

The industry’s undervaluing of community management points to a deeper structural flaw: we’re still organising teams around deliverables, not dialogue. In an era where relevance is earned through participation, creative and strategic power must sit closer to the scroll - not just the boardroom. If we want brands to feel more human, more present, more responsive, we need to rethink not just the role of the community manager, but the very way we scope and structure creative talent.

So how do brands set community managers up for success?

1. Create the time, budget and remit.

You can’t expect standout work if the remit is only hygiene responses. It takes time to be immersed, not just present. Our work with Brita saw a chaotic water-related video become a brand opportunity. A simple comment – “Sorry water did this to you” – sparked unexpected engagement. It landed because the community manager had space to play.

2. Empower them.

Community managers need clear tone guidelines, but also trust. In one instance, a Samsung creator we’d been tracking began skating from the UK to Africa. No campaign, no brief. We gifted him a phone to document the journey. That kind of instinctive partnership happens when the people on the ground are empowered to act.

3. Rethink where you start.

Some agency models are experimenting with micro-local community managers – people hired for just a few hours a day to act as cultural connectors between their own feeds and the brand. Think beyond content calendars and campaign launches. Sometimes, the best ideas start in the comments.

Done right, community management isn’t just a support function. It can shape creative strategy, unlock new product ideas, and make a brand feel genuinely present. So give them a seat at the table. In a world of fleeting trends and short attention spans, they might just be your most valuable voice.

Callum Ritchie is a social strategist at Iris.