The Community Roundtable

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

Friday Roundup – Connecting Through Community

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

That blasted groundhog.

The first work week of February is almost over and that groundhog has doomed us to another six weeks of winter! In Boston that meant another foot or so of snow, with more on the way! Snow or not, we’re forging ahead with our focus on connecting through community and looking forward to an exciting guest post next week, a sneak peek at the State of Community Management survey and a little holiday love for all those community managers out there.

A quick reminder: if you haven’t yet taken the (very quick!) State of Community Management survey we would love your input. We are looking for communities of all sizes and types. You can take the survey here and it should only take 15-20 minutes. As a thank you, you till get a pretty nice discount on any new TheCR Network membership too.

This week some of our favorite links were centered around the idea of connecting through community – whether at a live event, through a job your passionate about or through inspiring leadership. Read on:

Have a great weekend – we’ll see you on Monday when we’ll kick off a discussion focused on connecting with peers.

 

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Friday Roundup: January is in the Books

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

Another January in the books! The first month of 2014 flew by (personal note: I did get married and honeymoon this month, which probably helped the time move fast for me!) and our first experiment with themed content was a great learning exeperience. I really enjoyed sharing ideas and content around the theme of “Building Community” – next month we’re tackling the idea of “Connect” and I can’t wait to see what the month will bring!

This week there were two pretty big events on our radar #CMAD (Community Management Advancement Day) and the IBM Connect event in Orlando, FL. Both provided a wealth of really great content we want to share so the link list is extra long today.

  1. A fun list of the top 100 Community Managers on Twitter
  2. The first in our new Faces of Community Management profile series
  3. A growing list of community manager books.
  4. Should you give thanks (or a bonus?) to your community manager?
  5. Community Manager: Key to the Future of Business
  6. How to Truly Show Your Online Community Manager Appreciation
  7. Redefining management in the Digital Age
  8. Social Technologies: A Catalyst to the Practice of Knowledge Management
  9. Social Media Salary Guide – Infographic
  10. Social Business Myth Busters from Sandy Carter!
  11. Really great advice on approaching people who are smarter, busier, and more important than you
  12. 24 Community Management Tips from the Experts
  13. Why All Community Managers are Improv Artists
  14. Online Community ROI, Redefined (In Pictures)

Wow that’s a lot of links! We also launched the survey for our 2014 State of Community Management Report this month. If you haven’t taken it yet we’d love your input – we’re looking for community folks from every size company in every stage of the community journey. You can take the survey here. Thank you in advance for your help.

Have a great Superbowl weekend – I’ve got big plans that involve some homemade kettle corn and watching the game (and the commercials!) with friends. I’ll see you in February!

Friday Roundup: Building Connections

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building connectionsBy Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Build month at The Community Roundtable is past its halfway point – I’ve had a great time thinking about all the ways we build our communities. This week we looked specifically at building connections – not just connections with partners and employees like Rachel suggested on Monday, but also connecting ideas in our work and with our co-workers and members through collaborative working.

This week’s links highlight that last idea – how do we work smarter? How do we push ourselves and those around us to be our best every day? We’d love to hear your ideas on how to build connections in your communities, or through your communities. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you here next week when we’ll close out Build month with a look into building programs.

Friday Roundup – Building Value for 2014

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Image via SmilingTreeToys at Etsy.com

Image via SmilingTreeToys at Etsy.com

As we head into the new year we’re paying special attention to building  value in our communities in 2014. Over the last week week we looked at resources you can use when you’re building a social or community program, the value of social business and how to articulate the power of community management.  We’re already looking forward to next week when we’ll tackle the idea of building reputation in community management.

Our favorite links this week include two exciting social jobs, a lively discussion on community participation and some great advice from an industry expert. We’re also excited for some upcoming events and would love to hear where you plan on learning and networking in 2014.

As always have a safe and happy weekend. We’ll see you on Monday with some fun blog content from expert guests!

Friday Roundup – So This is the New Year

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By Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

2014 balloons My title shamelessly references the second best New Year’s song of all time (Auld Land Syne wins top spot for timelessness alone) – The New Year by Death Cab for Cutie. The changing of the year can always be a little bittersweet whether your old year was amazing or could use improvement. When Ben Gibbard sings “So this is the new year, and I don’t feel any different…” I can empathize. Transitions can be tough so I hope you are easing into 2014 in whatever way makes you the happiest.

It was a slow news week around these parts, but we rounded up a few of our favorite links to enjoy with your afternoon tea. Have a happy first weekend of the New Year, we’ll see you on Monday! (PS – If you are in the Northeast of the US please stay warm today – there are dangerously low temps here.)

  • Great piece on four trends in the future of work in 2014 from @stoweboyd.
  • Interesting matrix of what social platforms users use another platform from @pewresearch.
  • Our co-founder Rachel has chosen “Swing” as her word for 2014 – check out what that means for her here.
  • Whether you’re a startup or not this talk from @clayhebert at #Lean conference has some great ideas.
  • Do you make resolutions? This year I’m trying something new. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
  • Wonderful example of the power of community in real life – Boston Snow Crew.

Friday Roundup – Relax and Recharge

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By Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

"First Night" fireworks in Boston (AP Images).

“First Night” fireworks in Boston (AP Images).

It’s been a quiet week here at The Community Roundtable. Our team unplugged for the Christmas holiday and spent the week recharging our batteries and enjoying family and friends. 2013 certainly flew by – we are looking ahead to the new year with excitement and can’t wait to see you then!

I hope the rest of 2013 is wonderful for you. From everyone at The Community Roundtable – we’d like to wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014!

Friday Roundup – The News You Can Use Edition

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By Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable

It was a big news week here at The Community Roundtable. We announced our newest toolkit offering and discussed changes in TheCR Network for 2014. If you missed the news you’ll find those links below as well as links to some of our favorite stories from around the web this week.

Our Holiday Gift Guide: For the Community Manager in Your Life was one part silly, two parts serious – but 100% built to help you shop!

The WestJet Christmas Miracle ad went viral and brought a lot of smiles (and maybe some tears) to our team.

Our co-founder Jim Storer shared some upcoming changes in TheCR Network for 2014.

This “The Twelve Days of Community Management Christmas” series (Part One & Part Two) is funny and spot on.

2014: The Year of Earned Social Marketing is an interesting look at how social marketing might change in the new year.

We launched our newest toolkit with newly released and archived research from our State of Community Management survey.

I can’t believe there are only three weeks left this year! I hope you have a lovely, warm and cozy, restful weekend – whether you are celebrating the holidays, braving the snow on the East Coast or decking your palm trees with lights!

Friday Roundup – Let It Snow? Edition

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By Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable

snowy boston

The weather people are predicting snow in Boston this weekend, which to me is a mixed blessing. I love the holidays, and growing up in New England a white December makes things a little more jolly. My commute is also from the kitchen to the living room of my house, so nasty traffic isn’t a concern. I do however have a 16 week old puppy who likes to take her sweet time outside – I think a cold snap and a little snow might speed her up – we’ll see!

I really enjoyed seeing so many #thankitforward tweets from so many different people. I’ve included a few below as part of the roundup in addition to my favorite links from this week. Have a wonderful weekend, whether you’re covered in snow or on a sunny southern beach!

Screen shot 2013-12-06 at 9.59.32 AM

Screen shot 2013-12-06 at 9.59.17 AM

Screen shot 2013-12-06 at 9.58.43 AM

 

Credit: Snowy Boston Photo by Arthur C. Mills

Friday Roundup – Turkey Sandwich Edition

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“Turkey for me. Turkey for you…”

If you celebrated (American) Thanksgiving yesterday you might just be up to your ears with leftover turkey – and in a prime position to make my #1 sandwich of all time: the Tom Terrific. Today is the only day all year I can convince myself that putting more bread (stuffing) on my sandwich is not just acceptable, but mandatory.

The Tom Terrific Sandwich

The Tom Terrific Sandwich – a Friday-after-Thanksgiving staple.

tom-brady-240x320

Not to be confused with this Tom Terrific, who I’m happy to see any day of the year.

But, I digress. Here are this week’s links – perfect for enjoying with the delicious sandwich of your choice. Dreamy quarterback optional.

– Excited to share and spread gratitude this holiday season with #thankitforward: https://t.co/5hcFd6qDs1 Seeing all the tweets tagged this week was really fun – please keep adding more!

– Interesting stuff – 2013 Shift Index metrics. The burdens of the past: how long-term trends help to tell a story. https://dupress.com/articles/the-burdens-of-the-past/

–  Anyone attending the Gilbane Conference: Content & the Digital Experience next week? gilbane.infotoday.com/program. Our very own @rhappe will be there taking part in a discussion titled “Guidelines for Building Communities and the Role of Employees in Social Media” on Wednesday, December, 4th at 3:30pm. Please stope by and say hello!

– Fun look inside the #mini brand:  Motoring Community Member Experience ow.ly/qLkMe

Enjoy these last few days of November – December and 2014 are coming! (Also: winter!)

Credit Note: Sandwich pic via Martha Stewart, Tom Brady pic via People.com