With a degree in organizational communications from the Yaoundé Higher Education Institution, Chedjou Kamdem quickly turned his attention to digital technology, specifically community management on social media, working as a freelancer, in agencies, and in-house.
In November 2013, he created the blog Histoire de CM, which covers all topics related to community management in Cameroon. Finally, in June 2016, he launched the eponymous platform to bring together a community of community managers from across the African continent.
In 2017, he began offering community management training courses. These classroom-based courses became available online in 2019. That same year, Chedjou Kamdem was named the winner of the Africa 3535 Award in the "Blog and Media Innovation" category. A true social media expert, he has now published two books on his experience in community management.
A true social media expert, he has now published two books on his experience in community management.
You are the author of two books presented in Yaoundé on August 29. What are they about? What is their content?
The first book, entitled "Storytelling du Community Management au Cameroun" (Storytelling in Community Management in Cameroon)
, is in a way the logical continuation of my blog "Histoires de CM" (CM Stories). It traces the evolution of the Community Manager profession in Cameroon through my autobiography and my perspective on the profession since 2010. I trace the emergence of the profession in the country, its development, and how it has been perceived and integrated by local companies into their social media strategy. The book also includes data and key figures related to the profession.
The second book is entitled "Culture africaine du Community Management" (African Culture of Community Management)
and deals with the animation of African communities on the most widely used social networks in Africa. The book is based on feedback from members of the African CM community and on my own experience in the profession. This allowed me to put down on paper five "African-style" recipes for creating and uniting a community on social media in Africa. This latest book provides quick techniques for developing your own community management skills.
Why did you choose to go into training?
Firstly, I quickly realized that many people had questions about the profession of community management.
Second, alongside my work, I regularly attended events to talk about my profession, which seemed to interest a lot of people. For these reasons, I decided to launch training courses.
Initially, many of the candidates who took the training courses were students. Now, we welcome many unemployed people and marketing and communication professionals who want to master the field of community management to improve their skills or integrate these functions into their companies.
What major developments has the profession of community manager undergone in Cameroon?
Initially, the internet was often associated with creating accounts on social networks, particularly Facebook. Many people thought that all you needed to do to be a Community Manager was to create a profile. Companies used social media because it was "trendy" and did not really develop a social media strategy to grow their online presence. But the development of the internet has improved the social media landscape, particularly with the creation of social networks other than Facebook. Community Managers now have many opportunities to establish a presence on social media. The objectives are also different: from the race for "likes" to stand out, we now understand that a company can build its reputation on social networks, develop its engagement and conversion rate, since users are also customers.
Do you think this profession is becoming more and more widespread, or are African companies still struggling to integrate it? How are these new digital professions perceived by managers?
The Community Manager is one of the visible faces of digital technology in a company. Behind them, we have other professions such as SEO, Traffic Manager, and Email Manager, whose functions are still often embodied by the Community Manager, who becomes a multi-tasker. Companies often only think of social media when they think of digital technology, but that is not enough.
With the health crisis, many players have realized that it is essential to have a digital presence and develop online services. But will the crisis encourage the emergence of related digital professions? I cannot answer that question. We need to deconstruct the idea that social media is the only option and further develop digital skills. Agencies can be a good lever for raising awareness among companies about digital issues, as more and more of them are specializing in this field.