The Community Roundtable

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

Infographic: 2014 SOCM Sneak Peek – April 1st

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

After sharing our sneak peek podcast yesterday I knew that I had to give you an early look at the numbers. Rachel mentioned some key findings in the podcast – I’m not going to share those, but I am excited to share a little more about what the 2014 research said about community managers.

2014 SOCM April 1st                          Download the infographic to share: 2014 SOCM Infographic- April 1st

Happy April 1st everyone! We’ll be releasing the actual State of Community Management research report later this month – stay tuned and have a great day!

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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. 

 

Podcast: State of Community Management 2014 Sneak Peek

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

April marks not only the 5th anniversary of The Community Roundtable, but also our 5th year publishing the annual State of Community Management research reports.

Last week I caught up with Rachel Happe for a preview of the research and got to chat about how the State of Community Management research has evolved in the last five years, what’s new for 2014 and got a sneak peek at three key findings in this year’s research.

The complete 2014 State of Community Management report will be released in late April. In the meantime, you can check out past reports from 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 – or download our State of Community Management Toolkit to access reports, the Community Maturity model and a helpful reference guide.

Stay tuned for the full findings!

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Did you know that The Network members work with all kinds of communities? In fact, about 25% work in either internal or external communities and 50% work with both!

No matter what kind of community you work with membership in TheCR Network will save you time and improve the quality of your work by connecting you with peers, experts and curated information. Learn how joining TheCR Network can improve the work you do.

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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

Measuring the Value of Communities

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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.

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.

What Can The SOCM Research Do for You?

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By Maggie Tunning, Learning and Culture Manager at The Community Roundtable.red old style alarm clock isolated on white

Time’s running out – the last day to take the 2014 State of Community Management survey is next Friday, February 28.

The Community Roundtable publishes The State of Community Management research each year to highlight advances and trends in the business of community management. This research is for – and prepared in collaboration with – community managers. Mike Pace sums up the reason to participate – Community Manager: Help Yourself (note: that post links to the 2013 survey – you can take the 2014 survey here).

We want the State of Community Management research to be a useful resource for community managers. How can it help you? Members of TheCR Network use it to:

1. Educate. As community managers, we are on average poorly resourced and largely haven’t yet broken through to having a seat at the executive table. While on one side there’s massive interest in using social to provide better experiences for the ecosystem, on the other side there’s still a broad lack of understanding of what that actually takes. Maria Ogneva

2. Benchmark. The past reports have been a great asset to community and social media managers as they offer insight into how other companies are doing community. It also allows individuals at these companies to take an honest look at their programs. Jeff Esposito

3.  Resource. Community Managers will continue to struggle for capacity, budgets, and recognition. But, this can change if we as Community Managers become comfortable challenging our leaders, consistently sharing results, and educating business areas on how to use the tools and successes. James LaCorte

Your participation is important to us and your community management peers, and we’re interested in responses from all types of communities at all stages of maturity. Take the survey here today or help spread the word to others you know. As a thank you for participating, you’ll receive a discount on new individual membership in TheCR Network ($500 off!)

 

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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.

 

 

Preview of Preliminary 2014 State of Community Management Results

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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.

Call for Research Participants: 2014 State of Community Management

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2014 State of Community Management SurveyIt’s that time of year again! Today we’re excited to kick off the 2014 State of Community Management research – our annual research initiative which focuses on community maturity assessment and will explore the questions:

  • How are communities performing?
  • What are the standards and strengths of online communities today?
  • What opportunities should community managers focus on to grow their programs?

This year’s research was developed in collaboration with TheCR Network’s Community Maturity Assessment Working Group, a set of experienced community managers and practitioners. Data will determine how communities are performing in the eight competencies in TheCR’s Community Maturity Model.

The 2014 SOCM is designed to help participants and Community Audit clients build roadmaps like the one below. Framing current and desired performance by competency enables constructive dialog with stakeholders about strategic, budget and resource decisions – and helps you gain the support and resources you need to be successful.

Community Roadmap

Want to participate? We’re looking for community managers, community strategists, community program leaders and volunteers who have community management responsibilities to tell us more about their communities in this online survey through February 28, 2014. The survey will take you 15-20 minutes to complete.

We are interested in learning more about communities at all levels of maturity, so your response is important to us even if your community is in the early stages of development.

As a thank you for participating, you will receive a promotion code for a discount of $500 that you can apply to a new individual membership in TheCR Network in 2014. We’re also launching a new Community Audit service and offering special pricing to the first five interested participants.

Click here to take the survey now!

Building Value: Articulating the Power of Community Management

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Over and over we hear from members and peers that articulating the value of a thoughtful and well-executed community program is one of the hardest parts of their job. Sure – wrangling tough community members isn’t a walk in the park, and no one likes a troll, but condensing the power of community management into a few sentences is often very tough – even for experienced community practitioners. If you’re building out a community program at your company, you’ve likely faced the same challenge.

In the document below – our 2013 State of Community Management report, we focus specifically on the value of community management. Highlights include discussion around what business communities look like – and the value of this type of program, as well as an in-depth look at the role of a community manager and the value they bring. Resources like this report can really provide the concrete research and case studies that non-believers are looking for.


2013 SOCM: The Value of Community Management from The Community Roundtable

Check out all of our State of Community Management research here – including the evolution of the social business industry and analysis of organizational patterns and lessons learned from industry leaders and practitioners, and see how you can leverage the insights within to better articulate the power of the work you do. We know the value of expert community management – help the rest of your company see it, too.

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The Community Roundtable Toolkits are designed to help individuals map out the next challenges in their community journey. The Toolkits provide actionable templates, guides and resources whether you are laying the foundation for a successful program to organizing, assessing and reporting on their community efforts to truly transforming your organization into a networked business to gaining the knowledge needed to effectively coach executives in social.

Learn more.

Announcing the State of Community Management Toolkit

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By Shannon DiGregorio, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable

The State of Community Management (SOCM) has been one of our core research platforms and we are excited to announce the availability of The State of Community Management Toolkit, which includes both newly released research from our 2013 SOCM as well as an archive of our past research that provides different lens on the leading practices required to create a successful community program. It also includes a document that adds more definition and details to the Community Maturity Model, allowing community program owners to better assess their progress across an enterprise.

The State of Community Management Toolkit includes:

  • The Community Maturity Model, TheCR’s framework for establishing a community program roadmap [Graphic]
  • The Community Maturity Model: Defining Enterprise Wide Maturity – a reference guide that defines how to use the CMM to assess and plan enterprise-wise social and community maturity [Reference Guide]
  • The 2013 State of Community Management: Moving Toward Maturity – newly published data and research about the value of community [Research]
  • The 2013 State of Community Management: Value of Community Management – research that looks at how community management contributes to the success of communities, including graphics to use in your presentations [Research]
  • The 2012 State of Community Management Report – research that profiles how organizations mature, the initiatives they typically go through at each stage and the milestones that signify a move to the next stage of maturity. [Research]
  • The 2011 State of Community Management Report – research that consolidates the best practices related to the competencies in the Community Maturity Model: Strategy, Leadership, Culture, Community Management, Content & Programming, Policies & Governance, Tools and Metrics & Measurement [Research]

The SOCM Toolkit is now available for $99