By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.
In this year’s State of Community Management research we found that in 58% of communities surveyed, community managers are responsible for coaching executives on how to engage in the community. In best-in-class communities, 85% of community managers coach executives. Getting executives comfortable participating in community is a critical success factor in best-in-class communities.
Understand the connection between executive participation and community success.
Communities with C-level participation have higher member engagement rates, suggesting the importance of establishing credibility and modeling behavior in the community. Executives also are more likely to participate when other executives participate. Don’t limit coaching to just one executive– develop a roadmap to coach them all over time.
Interview executives.
Spend time understanding the executives you are targeting for participation. Knowing what and who they care about will help you understand the best opportunities to demonstrate why they should participate in the community themselves.
Pique executive interest!
Use community content and programming that generates artifacts that may pique executive curiosity. Communities with C-level participation are more likely to use the following types of content and programming: newsletters, regular surveys, online events and offline events.
The bottom line? Executive participation leads to better performing communities, and in the majority of communities surveyed it’s up the community manager to provide the coaching needed to make that happen!
You can review more findings related to community maturity in the State of Community Management 2014. This post is part of a series highlighting some of the most thought-provoking data from the SOCM 2014 – brought to you via a fun poster – perfect for sharing on Twitter, hanging at your desk, or printing out and waving around your next community strategy meeting.
Want even more community facts? Check out the full SOCM 2014 here:
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