The Community Roundtable

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

Community: The New Normal

By

Is this the new normal? Well, there’s no such thing as “normal,” but there is a new way of thinking.

Over the last few years we’ve learned that “normal” might be what people were used to, but it only truly benefited a privileged few.

As companies navigate what the future of work looks like, they’re forced to look beyond the bottom line. Are employees happy? Do they feel connected to their work and the organization’s culture? Are customers being heard? More so, are companies listening?

Our world has been divided into three: BC (before COVID-19), pandemic, and now (the “new normal”) — and BC feels a lot longer than two years ago. Our research provides a data-driven look at organizations’ approach to the shifting landscape of the last few years.

In 2020, our research period closed before COVID-19 was widespread. Community programs were growing and changing in predictable ways, and the 2020 data was unsurprising. While there will always be new communities at the top of the funnel, mature communities were behaving as expected.

2021’s research reflected the first year of COVID-19’s impact on organizations. Globally, companies battened down their proverbial hatches, preparing for the storm COVID-19 brought. Budgets and hiring froze; understanding and urgency were up.

Few community programs had the financial resources to go beyond the status quo — even with increasing demand.

Online communities are experiencing a resurgence in 2022. After two uncertain years, where the target was in constant motion, community initiatives have proven their impact in both qualitative and quantitative ways, and are starting to reap the rewards and resources they deserve.

Does Community: The New Normal resonate with what you see in your organization? Read more in the 2022 edition of the State of Community Management.

Community: The New Normal

What is an online community of practice?

By

If you’ve heard the term “community of practice” and said, “Hmm…” you’re not alone. There isn’t just one kind of “community of practice” online today. The term can mean something very specific to different groups of people. I’ve outlined the two major buckets online communities of practice fall into (internal and external) and also provided examples of each.

Communities of Practice Types

Internal Community of Practice

An internal, employee community of practice is a community of professionals who share an industry/role/responsibility and also work for the same organization. Usually, the main focus of an internal community of practice is knowledge sharing. Common goals include problem-solving, expertise location, professional development, and innovation. There is typically an online ‘home base’ for these communities in the form of a group within an enterprise social network platform, space on an Intranet, or at a minimum a shared file folder.

Members find value in an internal community of practice through expedited work tasks, less frustration in finding solutions, and expert recognition/social validation. Organizations find value in increased employee efficiency, effective learning and development, and in innovation.

Helpful metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of an internal community of practice include the number of questions and answers, percent of questions answered, percent of questions with correct answers, successful searches, and collaborative outputs like standards documentation.

External Community of Practice

An external community of practice is a community of professionals who share an industry/role/responsibility, who work at many different organizations. A single organization builds, manages and supports an external community of practice for the benefit of a market segment. External communities of practice often focus on thought leadership. Goals center around problem-solving, expertise location, professional development, building professional awareness, and innovation.

Members find value in an external community of practice through expatiated resource location, expert recognition, and professional validation. Organizations find value through brand recognition, market insights, and customer loyalty. External communities of practice may also produce direct revenue if a community is membership fee-based.

Helpful metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of an external community of practice include the number of questions and answers, percent of questions answered, percent of questions with correct answers, questions answered, successful searches, resources & lessons learned shared, connections/friends requests made, and less direct measures like salary differential for members.

 

Review: Online Community Management for Dummies

By

 

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.

 

————————————————————————————————————-

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.