The Community Roundtable

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

Network Highlights: June and July in The Network

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Marketing Coordinator Claire O’Brien and The Network’s Community Manager Mary Emma Gary discuss the highlights from The Network in June and what members can expect to see in July.

Mentioned in the video: Five Reasons You Should Try Cohort-Based Job Searching, Connect 2024

What’s The Network?

The Network is the the world’s most trusted private, confidential membership organization for people leading the online community, collaboration, and change management efforts at global organizations.

Since 2009, we’ve connected global online community professionals with the peers, ideas, programming, and research they need to excel in their roles building innovative and effective online programs. You can access the same ideas, resources, and programming as community leaders at organizations including International Red Cross, Analog Devices, Inc, UKG, Doctors Without Borders, Esri, the American Association of Medical Colleges, Autodesk, SAP, BASF, Grundfos, and more. 

Learn more about membership.

More Community Resources

Three Tips for Effective Community Management

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The Community Maturity Model’s™ Community Management competency is an all-encompassing discipline that plays a vital role in ensuring the productivity and success of communities. Regardless of their unique backgrounds and individual approaches, community managers share a fundamental goal: to establish thriving and engaged communities in which members can effectively learn from each other and collaborate on ideas, issues, and challenges.

As experts in their field, community managers possess the necessary skills and knowledge to build and maintain these communities, while leveraging their expertise to promote a culture of growth and innovation. Often we see community managers struggle with imposter syndrome, and we’re here to remind you YOU KNOW YOUR COMMUNITY BEST.

It can be a struggle to keep up with everything your community needs to thrive – especially when you can easily get bogged down in the day-to-day rush of content/programs/reporting, etc.

Our 2023 State of Community Management research shared three tips for effective community management – making sure you are maintaining the overall health of your community program.

Three Tips for Effective Community Management

Define community roles. Focus on the “who-what-why” on your community team to better justify the team you need. WHO do you need? WHAT are they going to do? WHY is this role essential? The closer the roles on your team are aligned to your community strategy and roadmap, the more likely that they’ll become a funded resource. The Community Careers and Compensation Report is a good companion/resource to help you build this out.

Never stop evangelizing. Look for (and take) any opportunity to get out from behind your computer and talk with people inside your organization about the community program. This can be hard with the rise of remote work, but be creative and tell your story far and wide. You can never have enough allies who can speak your language and share how the community helps them do their job more efficiently and effectively.

Expand community training. Leverage third parties to scale community training and offer it to anyone that needs it. We recommend a baseline community training program as part of an effective community request process, ensuring you build and launch communities for constituents who have a plan and are fully resourced to launch and successfully grow the community.

We hope you can use these tips for effective community management to help ensure the health of your community and secure the resources you need to succeed.

The Community Everywhere Era

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How we need to adapt to changing member preferences.

Audience preferences have changed. Platform-centric community strategies are becoming a thing of the past. Today your audience seamlessly engages with each other across platforms you do and don’t control. And you have a choice to make about whether you want to be a part of this future or not.

We are thrilled that FeverBee’s Richard Millington will join us on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at our Community Technology Summit explain the key drivers of the new era, what you need to change to thrive in this new era and why it is a tremendous opportunity to emerge from the shadows, deliver better support to our members, and demonstrate amazing value to our organisations.

This session will cover:

  • What makes the ‘Community Everywhere’ era unique from what came before
  • Four strategic approaches you can take to thrive in this era.
  • Framework to select the right approach for your organization.
  • The best examples of the ‘Community Everywhere’ today.
  • How to measure success in the Community Everywhere era.
  • How to manage internal change in the Community Everywhere Era.

Richard is also hosting a workshop on Data Driven Community Management in the afternoon of October 4th in Boston, MA.

About Richard Millington

Richard Millington has spent the past decade helping 250+ companies develop some of the world’s largest online communities. Richard is the founder of FeverBee, an international community consultancy, and the author of Buzzing Communities. Richard’s clients have included Google, Facebook, Oracle, Wikipedia, EMC, Greenpeace, and many more. Prior to FeverBee, Richard interned with Seth Godin in New York.

Don’t Let Your Community Get Stale

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The Tools competency of the Community Maturity Model™ considers the technical architecture of an organization, and how social technologies and community tools fit into it. Tools can be anything that provides efficiencies or leverage and require investment (both for the tool itself and for the training) behavior change, and changes to the environment needed to use the tool effectively. You can learn more about how we think about community tools in our Community Technology Framework™.

Communities are not a “set it and forget it” proposition. Increasingly, community teams are making design and user interface/experience changes on a quarterly or annual basis. Even if it’s simply adding a new module or updating the icons on your home page, making changes helps drive interest and engagement. You don’t need a background in UX to make meaningful improvements to the design of your community.

While we saw a jump in the number of respondents in our 2022 State of Community Management research making monthly changes to their community, and frankly, this seems like overkill. While you should definitely be adding, updating, and removing stale content from your community (especially on your home page or landing page where people typically begin their journey) changing the core design elements too frequently can be confusing and disorienting to users.

However, if you’re one of the people who is never making changes (17% in 2022 vs 31% in 2021), you should consider making modest improvements on an annual basis at a minimum. The internet moves fast, and you don’t want users to feel like your site is outdated. Keep reading for expert UX advice for your community program.

Expert UX Advice for You Community

Expert UX Advice for Your Community

Stephanie Field is a Community Manager at Carbon Black. She shared her best practices for designing a thoughtful community ux to increase engagement and user satisfaction.

Being able to easily navigate a community is key for customers, partners, stakeholders, and employees. Giving them easy access to the information they are looking for, and intuitive ways to participate is critical to community adoption, and long-term community health.

Do leverage internal experts.

Mine your organization for internal resources that are experts in user experience for feedback and ideas. This might include your UX team, designers and QA folks.

Do your research.

Conducting research beforehand ensures that you have the interests of your audience in mind. Analytics, stakeholder interviews and end-user interviews all contribute to a well-rounded view of needs.

Don’t procrastinate.

When you have to rely on other teams to be successful be proactive with the project deliverables. Getting the necessary resources in place so everything is ready for go-live will make sure you launch smoothly.

Don’t over-promise.

Set clear expectations in the beginning of the project of what internal stakeholders and end users can expect. When you crush expectations, then everyone will be even more bought into the UX.

Get more community ideas and advice in the 13th annual 2022 State of Community Management report:

Help Community Programs Scale

3 Community Trends We Noticed in 2022

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We won’t give you another version of Spotify wrapped, but this is the time of year where one can’t help but reflect on what occurred in yet another historic year. What we’d like to share with you today are three community trends that we most look forward to exploring more of next year.

Community trend 1: Critical characteristics for community management

Teams are shifting, as are Community professionals. This year felt like the year of the year of extremes. In some cases the pandemic has highlighted the importance of Community in an organization. With that we’ve seen more C-Suite support and growing budgets. However, we can’t ignore the large layoffs in tech earlier this year and how that has real downstream effects on Community folks. We’ve seen a lot of folks make some big pivots this year. In some cases they are suddenly becoming team builders and people managers. In others, they are having to scramble and switch to an entirely new organization. That said, Community continues to trend towards becoming its own vertical. We’ve anecdotally seen more members looking for support on building teams. Contrasted to the last decade of Community Managers working as primarily solo practitioners, we count that as progress. We noticed many of these trends in 2021. They’ve only continued in 2022. Check out the State of Community Management 2022 for more.

Looking to brush up any of your community skills? Visit TheCR Academy to see our entire course catalog. Remember, complete access to all the courses is now available to all members of TheCR Network.

Trend 2: Say goodbye to the “90-9-1” rule

Gone are the days of the 90-9-1 ruling community management and social media (a.k.a. Participation inequality: 90% of participants are unengaged/inactive, 9% engage a little, 1% make up the majority of the content creation and engagement), and we have the research to back it up: the State of Community Management 2022. Instead, we would like to introduce you to the 20-25-55 rule.

  • 20% of your members are actively creating content
  • 25% are validating and consuming content (you may have heard them referred to as “lurkers,” but we find the term “learners” to be much more accurate in this context)
  • 55% are inactive

Here in the Network, we have explored a model that dives into the strengths of digital fatigue; by breaking out less formal programming, we try to get members the value that most matters to them. Many of our peers expressed similar fatigue in their Communities- members want to connect and engage but also have competing needs for their attention. Even with digital fatigue, which we associate with the pandemic, we continue to see folks adopting remote opportunities to connect with their peers.

Community trend 3: The only consistent thing is change

The headline story this year in Community was about the unpredictability in the job market, with places like Meta and Twitter having record layoffs and restructuring. We saw this same trend across tech. A very illustrative visual courtesy of TrueUp.

Community is not immune to the changing landscape nor the continued whispers of a recession. No single post can encapsulate all that we can and want to say about those changes, however, we saw a number of our members pivot from unfavorable company dynamics and into better roles.

That shift and resulting uncertainty can be a trying time in anyone’s life. We recently hosted a panel about transitioning to new roles and the insights were invaluable.

Roundtable Call – When Growing Your Career Means Leaving your Community

A few gems from the call:

  • Look beyond a title, and think holistically about what you want in a role.
  • Another was around managing burnout. The panelists expressed how important it is to be analytical. And to be critical about what you actually want next rather than being in a reactionary state of being burned out.
  • Focus on what you are running towards rather than what you’re running from. Where are your skills best applied?

As an offer to any reader who may be impacted by an unexpected job shift, we are currently offering our community fundamentals course for free. To take advantage of the program and possibly add to your community skills toolbox, send us a message and we’ll be happy to help you get started.

2022 was another year for the books and the Network. We appreciate all of you that have shown up, shared your thoughts, and hopefully learned alongside us at TheCR. We hope you have a restful, peaceful break and will see you in 2023.

Help Community Programs Scale

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The Policies & Governance competency of the Community Maturity Model™  details operational guidelines for successful online community programs. Policies refer to how a community interacts and can be divided into two areas: Terms of service – How a community is managed in legal terms and Guidelines – Articulate what behaviors are expected and why, plainly. Governance is how the community team is structured, operates within an organization, and supports community-related activities across the organization.

Most organizations could support multiple communities with myriad use cases. The most common include:

  • General employee communities for knowledge sharing and collaboration
  • Customer support communities for providing fast, inexpensive, always-on access to answers to product and service questions.
  • Membership communities for groups like students, patients, alumni, or association audiences

In 2021, we saw the emergence of the “Center of Excellence’’ (CoE) approach, where community work is decentralized, but supported with a host of resources. While responses from this year’s data suggest CoEs are falling out of favor, digging deeper shows a different perspective.

Help Community Programs Scale

Comparing the data from respondents who reported “one community” vs. “a network of communities” at their organization, we found a dramatic increase in CoEs once a network exists (i.e., once they’re past the initial use case). Also interesting, 17% of respondents (8% in networked communities) reported only ad hoc/informal governance. Question: Who’s in charge of the communities there? If this is you, please contact us. We want to feature you in a case study.

Interested in Growing Your Community? Become an Enabler!

On a related note, those with a network of communities are more likely to help communities programs scale by providing enabling resources to their organization than those with a single community. When comparing total data on community resources from 2021 to 2022 there isn’t much to report. Comparing responses from individual communities vs. a network of communities tells a different story (see pg. 45 of the 2022 SOCM or the image above).

It’s interesting to note: 30% of community managers representing a single community provide none of the resources mentioned in the survey, which likely results in a less strategic initiative. For those who want to grow beyond a single community, get out there and coach/evangelize.

Want to help community programs scale? Start a center of excellence?

Check out this short interview with Claudia Teixeira, Senior Knowledge and Learning Consultant at the World Bank Group.

Claudia and Anne Mbugua discuss what a center of excellence entails, the path to centers of excellence at the World Bank Group, and advice for implementing a center of excellence at your organization. Listen now.

Get more community ideas and advice in the 13th annual 2022 State of Community Management report:

Help Community Programs Scale

5 Reasons Using Internal Talent is Good for Community

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Community managers tend to reside at the intersection where creatives and strategics meet, and as a result, they can sometimes take on too much on their own. When that happens, burnout isn’t far behind, but it doesn’t need to be. Why? Most community managers have a huge untapped resource at their fingertips to help them avoid burning the candle at both ends, their internal talent (both in other employees and in community members)!

Why? Easy, they bring a variety of voices and expertise into your programming. 

This is powerful for a number of reasons.

A lightbulb lays on a black chalkboard. Three lines and idea bubbles lead off to the right from it.

1. Internal talent can help scale the workload

If running a program is a lot of work, then running every community program can be just plain overwhelming. Bring in your community members to help redistribute the workload from your plate. Turning to the internal talent you trust on your team — or in your community — to help with programming lets you tackle other things on your to-do list.

2. Using internal talent strengthens members’ commitment

What are your members more likely to pay greater attention to:

  • A community where someone else does all the work?
  • One where they’ve invested in the community’s success?

Spoon-feeding content and programming directly to your members and hoping for engagement might seem like the easiest path forward, but like with most things, just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s right. Your members will have more of a vested interest in the community if they contribute to its well-being. Providing opportunities for your community’s internal talent — those who feel up to the challenge — to create programming not only lets others step into the spotlight, but it also allows members to reinforce or share their knowledge with others.

3. Presenting provides valuable skills for members, and you

We’ve heard the saying that practice makes perfect, but this is an instance where it’s true! Being able to present effectively is a powerful skill. Practicing presenting in the community can help your internal talent grow not just as members, but as professionals. Added bonus? Managing the program strategy — instead of just the implementation — is a great skill for community managers interested in moving up in their own careers.

4. You don’t know everything

You may know your community better than anyone, but there’s so much your members are interested in learning and hearing about – you couldn’t possible be able to provide everything they need. Utilize the built-in experts in your community who know more about other relevant subjects to bring in new perspectives and areas of interest. This allows members to bring insights —and questions — to the table you might not think of.

5. Community skeptics be gone

Want someone to take a greater interest in the community? The easiest way to turn a naysayer into an advocate is to have them present to the community on a topic of interest. It’s a great way to get them connected with other members and see what the community is all about — from the safety of their comfort zone.

Long story short, utilizing internal community talent is a surefire way to engage your community. It’s better for you, better for your members, and better for your community at large. So, who are the untapped experts you’re going to reach out to?

Kelly Munro on Content and Programs

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Community Conversations is a long-running podcast highlighting community success stories from a wide variety of online community management professionals.

Episode #87 of Community Conversations features Kelly Munro, Community Team Lead, Xero.

On this special State of Community Management 2022 episode, Kelly Munro and host Anne Mbugua discuss the trends in community content and programs. Kelly shares tips for designing effective content and programming for your online community and discusses topics including:

  • How thinking about content and programs affects her community work.
  • The importance of onboarding for communities.
  • Advice for community professionals starting to dig into content and programs for their organization

Listen to Kelly Munro on Community Content and Programs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

About Kelly Munro

Kelly Munro is the Community lead within the Customer Success team at Xero, managing their product development & discussion forums. She has an interest in using technology to solve user and business friction with a human-centric & adaptive lens.

About Xero

Xero is a New Zealand-based technology company that provides cloud-based accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses. Their online accounting software connects small business owners with their numbers, their bank, and advisors anytime. Founded in 2006, Xero now has 3.5 million subscribers and is a leader in cloud accounting across New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Their team of over 4,500+ talented thinkers, creators, and educators helps make life better for small businesses globally.

About The State of Community Management

Now in its 13th year, our annual State of Community Management report provides strategic ideas and tactical benchmarks for global community management professionals.

The State of Community Management 2022 explores the state of the community management industry through the lens of the eight competencies in the Community Maturity Model™.

Each section includes data, ideas, and expert practitioner perspectives to give you new insight into the community management industry. 

Kelly Munro on Content and Programs
Download your free copy of the State of Community Management 2022.

Communities Drive Meaningful Change Management

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From improving customer satisfaction to providing fast and easy support and empowering members, online communities drive increased revenue, boost customer satisfaction, and make connecting easier than ever before.

This eBook contains new, unreleased data from the 2022 State of Community Management report, explores trends in online communities, and showcases what success looks like in communities at the forefront of this innovation, like Spotify, Flexera, and Zoom.

Meaningful Change Management - Zoom
Power remote collaboration
Meaningful Change Management - Budgets
Drive business outcomes
Meaningful Change Management - Advocates
Turn customers into advocates

You’ll learn about how online communities add business value to the organizations and get tactical ideas on how you can implement similar community-based programs at your organization.

Communities Drive Meaningful Change Management

Download your copy of Meaningful Change Management here.

We partnered with community platform company, Khoros, to dive into what customer support communities look like today. Through unpublished data from the 2022 State of Community Management research and in-depth looks at real community programs, this ebook provides a practical guide for anyone looking to increase the impact of their online community program. Don’t have an online community yet? You’ll learn what success looks like – and get ideas for starting your own.

5 Tips for Launching an Advocacy Program

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There’s no better feeling than knowing someone has your back. Your community can get those same warm fuzzies with an advocacy or leadership program. No formal leadership or community advocacy program in place? It’s time to consider starting one.

What’s an advocacy program?

The easiest way to picture a community advocacy program is as a bridge. One side is the active and engaged community, like a block party. The other side of the bridge is dark and quiet, this is where your target audience — the less active members — lives. No block party here, more like everyone’s home. Advocacy program members are the bridge between the social butterflies and the lurkers/learners. They’re engaged and sing the community’s praises while welcoming others to the party (without scaring them away).

Beyond bridging, community advocacy and/or leadership programs can also be a good indicator of your overall community health. Communities with advocacy programs are often more mature, have more dedicated staff, can show value, have executive buy-in, engaged product team and subject matter experts, greater amounts of user-generated content, higher levels of conversation vs. content sharing, and more robust community tools. Whew!

TL/DR: Community advocacy programs are a sign of a healthy community.

Sounds good? Onward!

Starting your program

  1. When building a community advocacy or leadership program, KISS your policies. (Keep It Seriously Simple.) If you try to make the rules and guidelines around the advocacy program too complex at first, you’ll scare away potential community advocates. Instead, add policies, guidelines, and expectations as your program grows.
  2. Set expectations from the beginning. This is critical to protect your program participants from feeling used and abused. As Brené Brown says, “clear is kind,” and setting expectations from the get-go is about as clear (and therefore kind) as it can get.
  3. Ask questions and listen. You know who your super users are already, these same members will be great candidates for your first participants! Ask them for feedback on your plan, and then LISTEN to their responses. Looking for a smash-hit program, this is how you accomplish that! When your super users like the program (and can refine it) your built-in advocates will be excited about it, and share with those who could benefit.
  4. Recognize advocates’ contributions. Go back to the lessons you learned in kindergarten and remember to thank your advocates and community leaders for their help. No need for complicated or in-depth, just ensure it’s heartfelt.
  5. Have a member entrance and exit plan. Burnout’s real; even your most enthusiastic members will need a break. That’s where clearly defined onboarding and offboarding processes helps. When you have these plans documented, you can help smooth the transition between new and “retiring” advocates.

We want to know: Do you have a formal community advocacy or leadership program in place? What tips would you add for someone starting a new program from scratch? Let us know!