The 7th annual State of Community Management survey is now open for responses - and we need your voice.

This national research, running since 2015, captures important data on:

• salary bench marking for community professionals

• education levels and backgrounds of community professionals

• tenure and age of communities

• how communities are being used by businesses and organisations

• how community success is being measured

• community budgets

• platforms and technology

• key challenges

-- and much more.

Download previous SOCM Reports

Here are some of the ways the SOCM data is used each year:

• Community professionals use it to negotiate pay-rises and other benefits

• Community professionals learn about the latest platforms to aid their work

• Community professionals learn which metrics and measures are being used

• Community professionals learn what attributes are associated with a profitable and productive community

• Industry leaders use it to compare the local community space to our international counterparts

• Employers use it to set salaries for their community hires

• Managers and leaders use it to establish community budget lines

• Policy-makers at the state and federal level use it to understand the work of community managers and the issues they face

• Vendors and solution providers use it to design solutions for issues or challenges community professionals face

• Researchers use it to analyse how online communities are established, leveraged and governed in Australia