The role of community manager seems to be one with a never ending list of roles and responsibilities.  Barely a week goes by where a new tool or technology isn't launched that becomes the latest 'it' thing that your employer simply must be on.  I'm going to pretend for a moment however that you've fully understood the importance of your community having a strong purpose, and as such you can bat back requests for the latest technology by asking them what purpose being there will serve.  You fully understand that purpose comes first, technology second.

Ok, so you've got that nailed.  The day to day role of community manager will then fall into one of these three main responsibilities.  Just three, great huh?  Makes our job sound simple.  Here are the three things you'll need to do on your community.

1. Encourage participation – the reason you have a community is to encourage people to work together to fulfil the communities purpose.  So your #1 role is to encourage participation from those people. 
2. Retain focus on the purpose – your community has a purpose, right?  Your second job is to ensure that discussions and community activity retain that focus on the purpose of your community.  By monitoring this you build up your social ROI, which will be vital for convincing the naysayers how great your community is.
3. Maintain high performance – your community needs the right platform within your business to fulfil its purpose.  Your final role will be to ensure that both your organisation supports rather than hinders your community AND that communication between community and business remain strong.  That is the path to social business nirvana.

If you can master those three things then you will be on the way to community super stardom.