The Community Roundtable

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

Review: Online Community Management for Dummies

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I was lucky enough to read and review Deborah’s Ng’s book Online Community Management for Dummies. This book is a great go-to resource for both aspiring and practicing community managers and it’s earned a spot on my office bookshelf.

Deborah nails it and I recommend this book for a few reasons:

It’s comprehensive

Deborah covers the fundamentals and then some. I appreciate that she includes such topics as:

  • a common sense approach to reaching out and partnering with bloggers;
  • no nonsense advice on how to *not* be a spammer when you’re cruising the web building awareness for your community; and
  • encouraging collaboration with competitors as a win-win strategy for building brand awareness and accessing new audiences.

It’s easy to digest

We’ve all been primed on writing for the web: use headlines and bullets to create easy to digest content. This book is written in a similar style. The information is easy to skim and you can dig into the parts that are most relevant for you. It’s a book you can pick up and flip through to find exactly what you need.

It’s friendly

Deborah does a great job of sharing her information with a friendly and feel-good attitude. Her tone is that of a good friend who wants you to succeed;
a helpful boost of confidence as you navigate the world of community management.

It’s based in real experience

Deborah’s the community manager over at Blog World. It’s obvious that this is not a speculative piece of advice, but rather good solid information from an experienced and successful practitioner.

A One-Stop Resource

I’ve read a hundreds of articles that touch on various truths and great advice for community managers. And yes, I’ve bookmarked them, but they are still just that — fragmented information spread out across the web. There’s something about having a one-stop resource that helps me feel grounded in this work. There are a ton of great tips and best practices packed into this book.

This is a great book for people who:

  • have “found” themselves in a community role
  • are taking the Community Management Training
  • are interested in community management as a profession
  • are experienced community managers who appreciate being reminded of various strategies and techniques

On a final note, while many examples in the book focus on external facing B2C communities, the strategies and techniques easily translate to any community. For example, with a little creativity you can adapt ideas and suggestions and make them appropriate for a non-profit or an internal employee community.

I asked Deborah on Twitter who she wrote this book for and she responded: “It’s for anyone who is interested in creating positive, productive, online communities.”

I recommend this book and give my sincere thanks to Deborah for putting together such a valuable resource.

 

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The Community Roundtable  is committed to advancing the business of community and being a valued resource to community management and social media professionals through our  monthly subscription report,  membership based peer network,  community management training program and customizable advisory services for corporations and individuals.

Becky Carroll on Using Educational Content and Idea Exchanges

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our series continues with episode #26, featuring Becky Carroll, Community Program Manager at Verizon. Podcast highlights include:
  • Using educational content rather than product-focused content, to cater to customer lifestyle rather than a  hard sell in the “Room to Learn” community.
  • Using an idea exchange; workflows, processes and partnership with product team
  • Advice for getting started in community management

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Jay Batson on Open-Source Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our series continues with episode #24, featuring Jay Batson, VP and Founder at Acquia, a provider of commercial services around the Drupal open-source web platform.

Podcast highlights include:

  • Considering long-term health of an open-source community hen launching a commercial enterprise from within it
  • The kinds of companies adopting open-source community platforms
  • Can developer communities provide examples for other types of communities

Download this episode

Subscribe to this podcast series

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Shannon Paul on Protected Health Information and Privacy in Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
 
Our series continues with episode #23, featuring Shannon Paul, Social Media Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
 

Podcast highlights include:

  • Dealing with “Protected Health information” (PHI) due to regulations such as HIPAA, including the names of members, and how to balance the need for community and the privacy of members.
  • Creating resources such as www.ahealthiermichigan.org to present wellness resources.
  • Coordination and sharing among associated but separated organizations, as with the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans in different states.
  • When “I can’t answer you” is an answer.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Thomas Meyer on Online Community as an “Earned Media” Strategy

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
 
Our series continues with episode #22, featuring Thomas Meyer, Senior Manager of Global Public Relations at Sonos Inc., maker of a premium multi-room music systems (disclosure: both podcast hosts are Sonos owners).
 

Highlights include:

  • Online community as an “earned media” strategy
  • Does a premium price point affect the size and activity of the community?
  • The relationship between customer satisfaction and evangelism
  • Not to focus on tools, but the value of the iPhone and email to community

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Leigh Mutert on Merging Offline Community with Online

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
 
Our series continues with episode #21, featuring Leight Mutert, Community Manager with H&R Block* (just in time for tax season). Find H&R Block’s online community at https://getitright.hrblock.com.
 

Highlights include:

  • Merging offline community with online- in particular, harnessing the experts at brick-and-mortar H&R Block franchises for the online community, and overcoming obstacles to secure their buy-in
  • Working within a tightly regulated industry while still growing community
  • Managing seasonality, in a business focused on the three months leading up until the April 15 tax deadline
  • How H&R Block tracks and measures their efforts
 

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

*Please note: Since we recorded this interview, Leigh has moved on to become a Community Manager at Archer Technologies, if you have any questions about H&R Block’s community please follow up with Zena Weist.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

#SXSWLurkers – My Experience on a Panel at SXSW

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I had the opportunity to present at South-by-Southwest Interactive this year for the first time. I shared the stage with three friends and former colleagues for “Lurkers: Your Most Valuable Community Members.” We offered up this description:

Your lurkers are a vital and necessary part of your community and they often make up a majority of your membership but are dismissed as valueless members of the community. Treating your lurkers as if they have no value could be a fatal mistake in managing your community. Many community managers discount the value of lurkers when in fact, they are usually the cornerstone of your community. The panelists will help you understand the measurements you need to use to both understand the value of your community lurkers and how to translate that value back to the business. We will also share ideas on how to keep lurkers engaged and coming back to the community and how they can turn from lurkers into contributors. In this panel, you will learn why your community lurkers are valuable and how to measure their value by understanding how they are contributing to your community, what they are learning from your community, and how they are providing value back to the business. This will be a moderator-lead discussion with plenty of time for Q&A. Learn from a panel with a combined 32 years of community building and management experience.

To say it was an excellent experience is an understatement. From the moment we were accepted, Mike, Mark, Heather ** and I took our obligation to the audience seriously. We met every other week for an hour, starting in early January. We also utilized a private Facebook group to share links, debate ideas and follow up with one another on action items. I think we were all a bit terrified of falling short of the audience’s expectations.

We were conflicted when we found out we were speaking at the Hyatt at 5pm on Saturday. Late afternoon is typically a better slot than the morning, but being out of the flow of the “main tent” in the Austin Convention Center meant people might not make the extra effort to take in our session. Saturday afternoon is certainly better than Tuesday afternoon. As the schedule of parties started to hit, I became even more pessimistic since a lot of them were scheduled to start at 5pm. The thought of having to circle 10-20 chairs in the rooms and holding an informal q&a crossed my mind.

As I walked over to the Hyatt on Saturday afternoon I was surprised to see all the activity in and around the hotel. It was supposed to be the hub for the “Social Graph” track and it seemed to have a great group of people sticking around to take in sessions. My enthusiasm balloon was punctured when we went to the green room and found we were speaking against Drew Olanoff and another panel called “Zombies Must Eat: How Genre Communities Make Money.” Sandwiched between the guy that started the #BlameDrewsCancer meme and Zombies… damn, that’s some tough competition.

In the end we didn’t have to circle the chairs. We didn’t cancel the session because no one showed up. Instead we had fun, shared some stories and (I think) proved that lurkers are a really important part of every community. The room was close to capacity (100+) and we had a lot of interaction and questions from the audience. I had more than a couple people come up to me later in the week to tell me it was the best panel they’d attended so far. That feels pretty good.

My takeaways on my first SXSW panel experience?

  1. Your preparation doesn’t end when you submit your panel proposal. Sure the panel submission process is pretty thorough, but it’s just the beginning. The panels that fell flat for me seemed like a bunch of individuals who didn’t really know each other and what they brought to the panel. You may be brilliant, but if you’re on a panel you owe it to the audience to get to know your fellow panelists. Getting together the night before for dinner *might* work, but I *know* connecting with your panelists multiple times beforehand will help you hit it out of the park.
  2. Respect your audience and the other panelists. I was thrilled to see all the people in the seats when we got started. I must have thanked them five times for choosing us vs. a short nap or early party. Even though you’ll probably have the opportunity (SXSW parties are all day long), don’t drink alcohol ahead of your panel. Sure you can wing it, but you’re not as sharp if you do. Support your fellow panelists and don’t dominate the microphone. Following #1 will help you build a relationship with them in advance and make this a lot easier.
  3. Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. I hope this one pretty much speaks for itself.

I hope you get chosen to do a session/panel at SXSW next year. I’m sure you’ll kill it!

What have you learned in speaking at SXSW (or any other conference)? What would your top tips be for new presenters? The comments are yours.

* PHOTO CREDIT: Derek Peplau. See the entire slideshow from our session here.

** Three of the best friends and fellow panelists a guy could ask for. Thanks guys!

5 Risks of Having A Community Without Management

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Megan Smith, the community manager at Ovation TV, and I presented this week at the Online Marketing Summit on the fundamentals of community management. It gave me the chance to revisit and refresh my thinking. As part of the exercise, Megan and I identified the most common risks of having a community without a manager. We categorized the risks in the following way:

  • A Ghost Town: There is no engagement and little to see after the initial community membership drive.
  • Land of 1,000 Flowers: People have a space to do whatever they wish, so they do… but it makes it difficult for others to find valuable and relevant content.
  • Drama Central: A certain set of people have a need for attention and others flock to drama, but it is not productive.
  • A Circling Storm: A few people with entrenched issues, some legitimate and others irrational, build coalitions of the disgruntled that can simmer into a full boil
  • A Clique: A niche crowd takes over the community for their own interests which may or may not match the goal of the organization and create a barrier to participation for new members

We have seen communities shuttered for all of these reasons and blame placed on the software, the audience, the culture, or the executive support – all of which can be legitimate challenges but often the problem lies in the lack of ongoing oversight, engagement, programming, and moderation which are all responsibilities of community managers. These tasks take time and resources that are often an after thought in social marketing, social support, collaboration, or other social business initiatives.

Here is our entire presentation:

Have you run across other risks that we should be including here? Let us know!

Jeff Esposito on Shaping Social Media Efforts with Community

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our series continues with episode #20, featuring Jeff Esposito, PR Manager with Vistaprint. Highlights include:
  • Birth of a program– getting hit (literally) with a magazine and being asked to “figure this Twitter thing out”
  • Getting the community to help shape social media efforts rather than dictating the strategy to the audience
  • Backing up the “No Customer Left Behind” philosophy through personal interaction over mass messaging
  • Weighing short term fixes (marketing gimmicks) vs a long-term strategy
  • Creating customer service expectations; when you are online, from posting duty hours to managing the lack of presence around a weather emergency

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

University of New Mexico on Content Creation and Moderation

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our series continues with episode #19, featuring Benson Hendrix, PR Specialist and Nora Heinemean-Fleck, Social Network Liaison, from the University of New Mexico. Highlights include:
  • The importance of Flickr and photos to the UNM online community
  • When both staff (Benson) and students (like Nora) manage the community
  • Content creation: making subject matter experts comfortable in an interview setting
  • Dealing with negative content and low morale among students
  • Preventing chaos and panic through misunderstanding (listen for the “duck pond” story)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Download this episode

Subscribe to this podcast series

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.