The Community Roundtable

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

Friday Roundup – Are You at SXSWi?

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

Spot Jim Storer at SXSWi

Did you board a NerdBird and head for Austin this week? Maybe you’re reading this while refueling with huevos rancheros, or perhaps you’re at a desk with a giant cup of coffee, manning the office back home.

No matter where you are we’ve got a great set of links for you this week, including a recap of our Community Manager Spotlight webinar and tips and session suggestions if you are at SXSWi. If you are one of the lucky SXSWi attendees our very own Jim Storer is there – if you see him say hello and snap a pic – we’ll be looking out to see who can #spotjimstorer!

Have a great weekend whether you are in Austin at SXSW or at home shoveling snow! We’ll see you on Monday!

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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.

Friday Roundup – The One Lucky Winner Edition

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

winner

The 2014 State of Community Management survey closes today and we’re going out with a bang. If we reach our goal of 150 completed surveys one lucky participant will receive a free one-year membership to TheCR Network (that’s a $1495 value!) So if you’ve always wanted to be a member now is your chance to win your way in! The survey is open until midnight today – Friday, February 28th and one participant will be selected at random. Good luck!

Now with all that excitement out of the way, on to the links!

  • Want to introduce new behavior? Find the the people that don’t mind being weird.
  • What if “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t really work?
  • The guide to building and growing a community for your business
  • Insight into the Bosch social business story
  • How to keep your members engaged and connected during a slow time
  • What do you think? Do introverts make the best community managers?
  • Interesting data on how full time community staff lead to better measurement
  • What’s the difference between being a boss and being a leader?
  • Ever wonder what is going on in TheCR Network? Check out this sneak peek!

Thanks for reading – have a great weekend. We’ll see you in March!

The fine print – one survey participant will be randomly selected to receive a free one-year membership in TheCR Network (a $1495 value) if we receive 150 or more total completed surveys. The winner may not be a current Network member and the membership offer is non-transferable.

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TheCR Network is a membership network that provides strategic, tactical and professional development programming for community and social business leaders. The network enables members to connect and form lasting relationships with experts and peers as well as get access to vetted content.

TheCR Network is the place to learn from social business practitioners.  Join today

Friday Roundup – One Week Left Edition

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

Our annual research initiative – the State of Community Management survey closes next Friday, February 28th. If you have already taken this short survey (only 15 minutes!) – thank you! If you haven’t taken it, and are a community manager, community strategist, community program leader or volunteer who has community management responsibilities we would love to hear from you – you can take the survey here.

On a programming note, we’re offering a free, public webinar next Wednesday at 1pm ET focused on best practices for managing community platform changes. Register now! Now, on to the links:

Have a great weekend – see you on Monday!

 

 

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The Community Roundtable  is committed to advancing the business of community. We offer a membership based peer network, community management training programs and advisory services for corporations and individuals.

Friday Roundup – The We Love Community Managers Edition

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

We love you.

Today is St. Valentine’s Day and we want you to know how much we love you. How much? So much! Community managers are our favorite – quite seriously our reason for being over here at The Community Roundtable. Yesterday we highlighted some light-hearted cards to send to your favorite community manager, but this one is for you  ——————————————————->

I hope that warmed your heart! Looking for a more personal valentine from us? In honor of Valentine’s I have a deal for you – if you haven’t taken the 2014 State of Community management survey and do so in the next 24 hours, we’ll personally send you a nerdy valentine email. All you have to do is take the survey (15 minutes!) and then comment here with your email or twitter handle. Then just sit back and wait for a fun surprise! Deal? Deal!

Enough about love, onto the links:

Have a wonderful weekend – we’ll see you next week!

 

 

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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TheCR Network is a membership network that provides strategic, tactical and professional development programming for community and social business leaders. The network enables members to connect and form lasting relationships with experts and peers as well as get access to vetted content.

TheCR Network is the place to learn from social business practitioners.  Join today

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 – A Team That Snow Angels Together…

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By Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

TheCR Team celebrating a great 2013 at our end of the year meeting.

TheCR Team celebrating a great 2013 at our end of the year meeting.

This was an exciting week for TheCR team. On Wednesday we had the whole team together for a day of reflection and planning – as well as a little fun! There are so many perks to being part of a company where working at home is the norm. My commute is pretty amazing, we have the flexibility to walk our dogs or meet up with peers for lunch and if I wanted, sweatpants could be my uniform. But with all the benefits there is still something invaluable about sitting around an actual round table with my co-workers. I can confidently speak for all of us when I say we are all energized and excited for everything that 2014 will bring, including a wealth of opportunities to build on and share what we know.

We want to extend our warmest wishes for the rest of 2013 and hoping you too come back energized and ready for what 2014 will bring – we cannot wait to see you then!