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Three engines of powerful communities

February 29, 2016 By Ted McEnroe

The State of Community Management 2016 survey is open until March 18. We need you, but we’re already seeing results that could fundamentally shift your community plans.

By Ted McEnroe, Director of Research and Training

SOCM2016 Draft Cover ShadowWe’re a little over halfway into the SOCM 2016 survey period, and have a little more than half of the survey total I really want to see for this year’s research. But even so, just going through the early data – there is so much here that I can’t wait to share.

So here’s a little taste – and a call to action. The data is awesome, but a bigger dataset will make a huge difference, and I guarantee, those who take the survey get 10x the value out of the report this spring.

So, who’s taken it so far?

About 40 percent of those who have taken the survey classify themselves as working in the high tech/telecom/software sector. That makes for a robust sector that we can really dig into in our results.

Everyone else – we need you. We need to double or triple the number of responses in the media/entertainment, nonprofit, business/legal/professional and health care sectors to get a big enough segment to dig into. And seeing into how these more “traditional” sectors handle communities is a fascinating window into how customer and worker relationships are changing.

And a note for community vendors. You have a great opportunity for a third-party view of communities on your platforms as a group. Don’t miss it. Right now, a hat tip to Jive for providing 25 percent of our respondents. Everyone else? Get the word out to your customers about the survey – and the opportunity for them to get their free community evaluation scores.

The divide among Top 10 community platform vendors at the moment is below.

Vendors

Now, on to the data!

Three emerging engines of powerful communitiesengine

1. The power of documenting value.

We asked this year if people had defined the value of the community for the organization, the member and the “shared value” of the community – what matters to both sides.

The statements themselves were a mixed bag, but the results are remarkable. Defining value helps focus your efforts, and communities that have done it are more mature across the board than those who have not.

2. The power of the feedback loop.

A new question this year, inspired by members of our State of Community Management working group in TheCR Network, has asked about the ways communities receive member feedback. The data is incomplete, but the trend is that communities that provide a formal feedback process score more highly across the board than their peers.

3. The power of programs.

We talk often that community content and community programs are two sides of the same coin. Good content brings people into community, but programs create opportunities for “member collisions,” where they can share and interact. So far, the proof is in the engagement numbers. Communities with robust, integrated programming calendars have far better engagement than their peers.

Oh, and for the fourth straight year, we can again say the 90–9–1 rule of community is dead. Very very dead.

SOCM2016_GetStarted_BadgeThe survey is open through March 18, and we need your data today.

If you aren’t taken it, please do. For you and for us.

If you have taken it, get a friend or two to take it.

Oh, and one more thing.

Community professionals are charitably-minded

We decided this year it would be a nice thing to offer a $5 coffee gift card to folks in exchange for their time. The nice thing? The majority of respondents would rather give food to those in need than grab a latte and scone. 56% of respondents so far have chosen donations to No Kid Hungry/Save Our Strength over a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

Your data can make that check bigger, too!

take the survey button

Measuring the Value of Communities

February 25, 2014 By Jim Storer

By Maggie Tunning, Learning and Culture Manager at The Community Roundtable.

It’s the last week to take the 2014 State of Community Management survey! Have you shared your community insights? If you work with an online community we would love to hear from you – you can take the survey here through this Friday, February 28th.

Last week we shared why the State of Community Management research is important to community managers. Today, we’ll give you a preview of how the data supports the importance of community managers.

value of a community manager

Preliminary results show that survey respondents who have at least one full-time community manager dedicated to their community are more likely to be able to measure that community’s value – only 6 percent of those with no dedicated full-time community manager feel they can measure the value of their community, but 51 percent of survey respondents with one or more dedicated community managers indicate that they can measure this. Dedicated staffing for communities is a sign of community maturity, and these communities with one or more community managers are more likely to have a defined strategy and cultural norms for participation.

Stay tuned for more 2014 State of Community Management results on the standards and strengths of online communities. Can’t wait for more community data? You can check out past State of Community Management results here.

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The Community Roundtable is committed to advancing the business of community. We are dedicated to the success of community and social business leaders and offer a range of information and training services. We facilitate TheCR Network – a trusted environment in which to discuss and share daily challenges and triumphs with proven leaders.  Our weekly programming, access to experts, curated content, and vibrant discussions make TheCR Network the network of the smartest social business leaders.  Join today.

Preview of Preliminary 2014 State of Community Management Results

February 11, 2014 By Maggie Tunning

By Maggie Tunning, Learning and Culture Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Fun fact: this is actually a picture of our team tabulating results. (No. Not it's not.)

Fun fact: this is actually a picture of our team tabulating results. (No. No, it’s not.)

 

We launched the 2014 State of Community Management survey a few weeks ago and can’t help ourselves to start sifting through the results. Last week we hosted a workshop for members of TheCR Network’s Community Maturity Assessment Working Group to talk about what’s interesting and/or surprising about the early data set, as well as how we want to approach segmenting and presenting it later.

A few highlights about what we’re learning and thinking about:

Community leader/advocate programs: About 34 percent of communities have formal advocate programs (with a defined application and renewal process), and 39 percent have informal programs. What can we learn from the more mature communities to strengthen the informal programs and build new ones?

Community culture: When looking at the traits of communities surveyed, they’re on average balanced between content and conversation, formal and user-generated content and being reactive and proactive to issues. Do these traits change when the data set is segmented by types of communities (the categories of internal and external communities profiled)?

Community management: About 75 percent of communities surveyed have at least one full-time community manager on staff. Almost 29 percent have more than one full-time community manager. Does the number of community management resources affect the development of other community maturity indicators – like community playbooks, editorial calendars, crisis plans?

Interested in being a part of this research? There’s still time to participate — take the survey here through the end of February. As a thank you, we’re offering a discount off a new individual membership in TheCR Network (that includes the opportunity to collaborate with our smart working group members) – so if you’re thinking about joining now is the time!

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The Community Roundtable is committed to advancing the business of community. We are dedicated to the success of community and social business leaders and offer a range of information and training services. We facilitate TheCR Network – a trusted environment in which to discuss and share daily challenges and triumphs with proven leaders. Our weekly programming, access to experts, curated content, and vibrant discussions make TheCR Network the network of the smartest social business leaders. Join today.

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