Originally posted here (Spanish) in 2018.

The first new profession in the digital world is now on track to be the first one to go.

The year 2009 was filled with incredible things – “Twitterers,” jobs that made noise on Facebook, media buyers selling digital “awareness”… in short, change was on the horizon.

We adopted the term “Community Manager” at our agency in 2011, by which time it was understood worldwide. Without hesitation, I can say we were the first agency in Costa Rica to use it. We explained its functions, but no one had really thought about how long it would last. It was our promotion of this new professional position that set us apart, and over time, other agencies caught on.

In Costa Rica, this position has an astonishing range of functions. It’s “indispensable” for an agency, a marketing department, or a company to have someone fulfilling this role. It’s said to require creativity, design skills (if you want to save the time of a specialist in this area), and copywriting skills. But what we’ve overlooked is that their primary function is to engage with people, and yes, to be that customer service that’s needed most – not just posting a photo with a logo.

Now, the very evolution that brought them here could take them away. Why?… Bots!

What was once a dream for many is now a reality: we have intelligent robots that allow us to converse with people, without errors, and provide them with options for what they need. Siri has a way of knowing and understanding us through our iPhones that not even our parents could achieve. Google’s systems for controlling the home were the dreams of many animators in the 1950s, and yes, even Facebook saves us time in responding to people.

In other words, the customer service that used to require one, two, or even five people – depending on the magnitude of communication a brand needed – can now be handled by a robot. One that you just need to spend some time programming, and in doing so, facilitate responses that might appear basic today, but could gain more knowledge and control over conversations tomorrow.

Why do I feel that this is the death of the Community Manager?

Like any living being, we need to evolve if we want to remain relevant and functional. The term must change, if not disappear, to make room for a larger professional role.

What is the response to this technological advancement and what value will we give to professionals who are now going to be replaced by Artificial Intelligence? Simple, put them to think and provide them with opportunities for growth within organizations.

One thing I’ve been sure of since the beginning of this digital revolution is that there’s no one who knows a brand and its community as well as those behind social media, who engage with, defend, and promote its use every day.

So, now that we have customer service solved thanks to technology, we can start focusing on content development. Not just the 30 posts a month, but where a brand can provide entertainment, fun, or useful help through social media.

I believe that the evolution should lead to a Content Creator. A few years ago, I adopted this term for my digital team, and I still use it today. These are individuals who are creative, who seek new ways of communicating, and who might be misunderstood by many but still manage to make a difference.

I asked a content generator from my department: “Would you like to stop monitoring your accounts and just focus on creativity?” The response surprised me, and I’d like to share it: “No. Sometimes, it can be tiring to be constantly monitoring social media and responding, but it’s the only way I can truly understand what people want, what they like, what they don’t, what they’re talking about, and what they’re not talking about. I wouldn’t want to stop doing it because it feeds my creativity. It helps me generate better content that’s effective and builds around the brand.”

That’s what we are as advertisers, and we always have been: creators of content. If we take evolution as a common goal (at least in the field of advertising), we realize that we can take a different direction in our work and once again value it within the industry.