The Community Roundtable

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

What’s the Big Idea About Community? A Look Back at The State of Community Management 2014

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

We can hardly believe that 2014 is coming to a close. It’s been a big year here at TheCR – we released our fifth annual State of Community Management report, we launched a brand new research initiative in the Community Manager Salary Survey, and we introduced new services like the Community Performance Benchmark to help mature communities measure their value and plan for the future.

We also started sharing community content in new (and hopefully fun and engaging) ways.We launched the Community Manager Spotlight series, brought you weekly news and job roundups and shared nine fun facts from the State of Community Management via the SOCM Fact poster series. This last piece grew out of a member telling us she often prints out our research and blog posts and brings them to meetings with her to communicate the value of community with her executive team. We wanted to make it just a little bit easier for everyone to digest the big ideas in the SOCM 2014, and make it even easier to share community management data points with your colleagues.

We hope you found this poster series fun and informative. Below are all nine posters in case you’re doing a little end of the year cubicle redecorating, or wanted a nice framed gift for your community-loving boss!

SOCM FACT #01 SOCM Fact #2 SOCM FACT #03
Strategy & Your Community coaching Lurkers
SOCM 2014 Fact #7 - Community Playbook SOCM FACT #08 - Content Management System SOCM FACT #09 - Measuring Community Value

Want even more community facts? Check out the full SOCM 2014 here:

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Looking to take your career in community management to the next level? 92% of members agree that TheCR Network supports and advances their personal and professional goals. Learn how our research, access to peers and experts, targeted content and exclusive concierge service can help you achieve your goals.

Do I Need a Community Strategy?

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By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

You’ve heard that practice makes perfect, but what about planning? In our State of Community Management 2014 research we found that the foundation of a successful community really is the presence of a well-defined strategy- one that integrates social tools and methods with business goals and processes. A good community strategy also aligns an organization’s goals with member needs setting you up to succeed in both keep engagement high and provide ROI.

​72% of communities surveyed indicated that they have an approved community strategy, a sure sign that organizations understand how to justify a community approach. However, of that 72%, only 40% of those strategies are operational and measurable. In best-in-class communities, 100% have an approved strategy and 79% have strategies that are operational and measurable – an indicator of why best-in-class communities are twice as likely to be able to measure value.

strategy

You can review more findings related to community maturity in the State of Community Management 2014. This post is the fourth in a 10-part 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.

You can view Fact #01, Fact #02 and Fact #03 or download the whole report today. If you are particularly interested in community strategy insights jump to page 26 of the Report.

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Looking to take your career in community management to the next level? 92% of members agree that TheCR Network supports and advances their personal and professional goals. Learn how our research, access to peers and experts, targeted content and exclusive concierge service can help you achieve your goals.

Is Having a Community Strategy Important?

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By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

This year’s State of Community Management research showed what we’re suspected for along time: ​the foundation of a successful community is a well-defined strategy that integrates social tools and methods with business goals and processes. It follows that a community’s strategy also aligns an organization’s goals with their member’s needs.

​Another prevalent idea that was confirmed by our research is that overall community strategies are maturing. Of course this makes sense – as more companies define and grow their practice of community management the industry becomes increasingly developed. This brings us to our community management fact of the week. We found that 72% of communities have an approved community strategy, signaling that organizations increasingly understand how to justify a community approach. That’s the good news! We also found that of that 72%, only 40% of those strategies are operational and measurable.

Fewer than 50% of communities with an approved strategy have an approved and resourced roadmap, suggesting a significant gap between community ambition and the ability to execute on it. This gap in understanding what is required to fully realize a community strategy is a barrier to community success. Best-in-class communities have a smaller gap between those with an approved strategy and those with a fully resourced roadmap – only about 25% of those with an approved strategy lack a roadmap.

SOCM Fact #4

 

Looking for more insights into community strategy? Download the State of Community Management 2014 report and check out the section on strategy – starting on page 26.

Does your community have an approved strategy? We’d love to hear more  in the comments!

This post is the fourth in a 10-part 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. You can see the first three posts here: Fact #01, Fact #02 and Fact #03 or downloadthe whole report today.

 

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Did you know that 95% of TheCR Network members agree that the content and peer input improves the quality of their work? It’s true! Membership in TheCR Network saves community and social business leaders time and improves the quality of their work by connecting them quickly with peers, experts and curated information. Learn how joining TheCR Network can improve the work you do.

Executive Engagement Matters

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By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

We’ve heard a lot of talk in the last few weeks about the link between executive support and community success  It seems like executive adoption is on the mind of many community practitioners, and with good reason. In our State of Community Management 2014 research we saw that communities with CXO participation are more likely to have a fully-funded community roadmap.  We also found (and were a little surprised) by how much executive participation increased general engagement, particularly when the CIO participated.

In best-in-class communities, 58% include CEO participation vs. average CEO participation rates of 36% – those are the same communities that are most likely to be able to measure value, have a fully-funded roadmap and have advanced community leadership programs. This brings us to Community Fact #03 – executive engagement matters.

SOCM Fact #03

 

You can review more findings related to community maturity in the State of Community Management 2014. This post is the third in a 10-part 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.

You can view Fact #01 and Fact #02 or download the whole report today.

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Looking to take your career in community management to the next level? 92% of members agree that TheCR Network supports and advances their personal and professional goals. Learn how our research, access to peers and experts, targeted content and exclusive concierge service can help you achieve your goals.