The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Institutionalizing Inclusion

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Inclusion is a critical focus for most organizations and has been particularly prominent over the past few months. Online communities are uniquely suited to promote wide-scale inclusion because of their collaborative rather than directive structure—they reward members for their unique contributions … [Read more...]

Four Ways Online Engagement Impacts Members

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All engagement is not the same...and different engagement behaviors generate different outcomes. Engagement is challenging to measure because engagement is not a single action, but a range of behaviors. Without getting more specific about what kind of engagement is meaningful – and what … [Read more...]

Burn-Out Risk is High for Online Community Managers

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Or 10th annual State of Community Management survey revealed that online community professionals are both incredibly optimistic and incredibly burnt out. A full 50% of community professionals experienced a high degree of burnout over the past 12 months. At the same time, 69% see a future for … [Read more...]

Online Communities Generate Huge ROI

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Communities are complex and ever- changing. In the real world, they are challenging to see in aggregate and, therefore, almost impossible to measure. Online, however, we can see how communities form, change, fragment, divide, and dissipate. That allows us to communicate community dynamics, … [Read more...]

Trends in Community Management Staffing

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34% of community professionals surveyed in the State of Community Management 2019 are still on teams of one, with the average community team now at six individuals, four of whom are full-time. Surprisingly, the size of a team currently does not show consistent correlation to use case, the number … [Read more...]

Positive Community Impact Powers a Circle of Success

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The famous Alexandre Dumas quote “Nothing succeeds like success” illustrates a critical aspect of successful communities. In particular, because individuals do not always know what to expect from communities, success shows people what is possible and, in turn, tends to change their expectations and … [Read more...]

Inconsistency in Community Roles Creates Uncertainty

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Community roles are more differentiated than they were just a few years ago, but they still lack consistency and rationalized salaries. Our sample includes individual contributors all the way up to vice presidents and over a third of community teams include more specific roles, including community … [Read more...]

Communities Enable Thriving and Adaptive Ecosystems

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Communities are often mistaken as approaches for a single use case – and they can be successful that way. For decades, online communities used in a business context were often focused on customer support case deflection and 74% of external community programs still identify this as a functional … [Read more...]

Advanced Online Community Strategies Enable Success

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Successful communities are generative, with success and impact leading to more success and impact. Community returns, by their nature, benefit more than one participant, thanks in part to the trust and transparency that they enable. This typically results in consolidated and transparent information, … [Read more...]