It can be confusing to comprehend and gauge the needs of a community and what community members want from the community. Community of Practice (CoP) and Community of Interest (CoI) are groups of people joined by a thread of common goa l- to develop some skills, a scooter-ride group, ongoing collaboration, or a movie club. And as the groups differ, how would a community manager know what the community needs to sustain or survive.
The community manager might want to have the super powers to know that but this isn't lotus land. The traditional community manager role focuses on the problems of a community. People might post bad things, conflicts might erupt, responses to the questions asked, providing directions etc.
A community manager should be pro-active than reactive - the approach needs to be a step ahead of the community member. It's like this, when you invite friends over, do you wait for them to tell you what they want to drink or eat or what music they would like to listen? No, you keep everything preplanned, pre-arranged and table it - but the biggest question is how do you pre-plan?
Simple: know your community members and understand the scope of the community - the reason why they are together. Give them what they thought they will get by being a part of the community. Give them relevant and timely content and action - to read, write and think. Most importantly the last one - the content and activities should focus on tickling the brains than brawns; that will make your community members be active members than lurkers.
Community Manager is a role which won't simply maintain the community, but further develop and grow it. This broader management role can be measured by the quantity and quality of activity happening within the community. This is the role most communities, big and small, desperately need.