The Community Roundtable

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

TheCR Network Wrap Up for September 2019: TheCR Connect

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If you’re feeling the extra jolt of energy in the community space this week, there is a good reason! We are riding the high of TheCR Connect which took place September 23rd – September 25th in Boston. This one-of-a-kind occasion was filled with first time meetings, reunions, and so many ah-ha moments; I’m still reeling!

Our members are still talking about the peer-led sessions they attended, the connects they made, and colleagues they met IRL. Nick Emmet did an amazing recap of day 1 and 2 of the conference you can dive into if you are feeling left out. 

Many attendees and I marveled at the graphic recordings produced at the event. These unique and creative renderings help to bring the topics we discussed to life.

One of my favorite aspects of the conference was our first ever Community Solutions Showcase. Although the session stimulated many more questions than answers, it was insightful to learn more about how community platforms view the needs of community managers, and in contrast, how community managers are evaluating the platforms they choose. You haven’t seen the last of this conversation so stay tuned to TheCR for our next platform focused event.

Another one of my favorite moments from TheCR Connect 2019 was the award ceremony. TheCR Awards recognizes leaders, trailblazers, and newcomers in the community management space who are making waves. We honored long-time TheCR member and expert community manager Jeff Ross with the Lifetime Achievement award. On the other side of the spectrum, we also recognized Amy Rood, a newcomer to the community space who hit the ground running with thoughtful questions in the Network.

Although Connect took up much of TheCR teams lifeforce during September, we know that the impact of the ideas shared will continue throughout the year and this is well worth the effort.

We could not continue to put on these events without the leadership, guidence, and support of our members. One of the key conversations I am determined to continue is about empowerment.

As Rachel Happe stated during the conference, community leadership IS leadership and as community managers, it is time to step into our full power and influence.

As we move into October, I encourage you to find ways you can lead in your community. You don’t need to manage people to take up the charge of being a leader. Ask the tough questions, find a community-minded way to solve a problem. Set a meeting with a stakeholder to update them on community. If there is anything I learned from this years conference, it is this; community leaders are experts in their organizations and now is the time to speak up!

Where do you go to recharge, get advice, and find empowerment? If you’re a community manager looking for support, research, and tools, you have found your people! Join TheCR Network today and join the conversation.

Five reasons to take The State of Community Management 2017 survey right now

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Eight years. That’s like a century in community management, but that is how many years we have been pouring hundreds of hours of our time into creating The State of Community Management. This is my third year at the helm, and I’m excited. With new questions, new data analysis tools, and another year of comparative data, I can say without hyperbole that this will be the best, most informative State of Community Management ever.*

Why the asterisk? That’s you.

You see, our research – the carefully crafted questions, intensive data preparation and analysis, writing, graphics, design, and thought leadership – is only as valuable as you make it by taking part. Last year,  339 community professionals invested their time and entrusted their data to us. This year, we want even more participation, and so do you.

By filling out the survey – you are making the results more valuable for you.

Why? Well, because in data – more is better. The greater data set last year allowed us to compare communities across industries, use cases and sizes without fears of having a small sample size. That meant being able to share items in the report and blog posts that dug in on the issues facing subgroups of communities. Those subgroups? They’re customer support (or innovation) communities like yours. They’re in the nonprofit (or health care) space like you. They have a lone wolf community manager (or a team of community managers) like you. A big sample means we don’t just spot the big trends in community management – but the little ones as well.

In 30 minutes (or less), you’ll get a scorecard of where your community management stands, and maybe some things you haven’t thought about.

The survey data isn’t just for us, it’s a way for us to report back to you on where your community management strategies, practices and engagement patterns put you in our Community Maturity Model. We won’t publicly rank you – don’t worry – this is material for you to use to celebrate your successes, and maybe target some areas for improvement. We’ll also push your thinking about your community, your community engagement, and your community value.

In the past three years, we’ve built powerful cases on the need for community managers, the fallacy of the 90-9-1 rule, and the ROI of community. Knowledge is power.

It’s a survey developed with community professionals, for community professionals.

The State of Community Management is unlike any other survey, in that it’s both tech-neutral and developed in partnership with a team of experienced community managers from TheCR Network. Our working group spends hours discussing and reviewing questions to make them relevant to community practices across industries and use cases. We, too, live by the findings – we use what we learn in our own community for community professionals, TheCR Network.

We have a history of treating your data responsibly.

There’s a lot of important data in the survey. Budgets, staffing levels, other competitive information. That’s why each year we reiterate our pledge. We will not sell, use or otherwise share your individual survey response with anyone. Period. We won’t even report on groups that are too small to guarantee anonymity. The only time you’ll hear from us is if there is a question about your data, or to let you know the research report is available. Our business is built on the strength of our research.

Coffee. And a chance for much more.

OK – there’s one other reason we get in touch. In exchange for your time, we want to buy you a coffee – one of those fancy ones, even – with a Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts gift card. (You can also donate your $5 to Save Our Strength and feed the hungry.) And when all is said and done, one person will win a gift card worth $1 for every completed survey.

So – what are you waiting for? If you have any questions, shoot me a DM on Twitter.

Take the survey (and share the link!) athttps://the.cr/socm2017survey

2016 SOCM Report: Quantifying the Value of Community

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By Ted McEnroe, Director of Research and Training, The Community Roundtable

It’s here! Months of data gathering and analysis. Hundreds of thousands of data points. More than 100 charts. Today, we release the most comprehensive State of Community Management report in our history.

The State of Community Management 2016

Value of CommunityThis year’s report is a collaborative effort, involving not just the members of TheCR team, but members of TheCR Network who gave their time to the State of Community Management Working Group, and hundreds of community professionals – 339 in all – who invested the time to take the SOCM survey.

Now in its 7th year, this research has turned the tacit art of community management into the explicit discipline of community management. We now know how to build successful communities.  That is enormous progress and it has been rewarded with the strategic spotlight. Communities are now seen as the most effective way to deliver on a range of complex goals from delivering digital transformation to enabling integrated customer experiences to creating a culture of innovation.

That strategic spotlight is burning brightly, putting pressure on community professionals to demonstrate value and community ROI. It’s a tall order and it’s time for community professionals to prove themselves.

Key Findings

Our 2016 key findings are broken down by strategy, operations and tactics:

Strategy: Defining shared value drives success.

Communities that define the value of community for their members that overlaps with the value for the organization outperform those that don’t explicitly do so. And communities where the shared value is defined and can be measured handily outperform all others in the survey.

Operations: Empowering members accelerates engagement.

In last year’s The State of Community Management 2015, we highlighted the importance of strong advocacy programs. This year, we take a broader view. Communities that give their members real opportunities in the community – to lead programs and give actionable feedback – also achieve higher levels of engagement.

Tactics: Measure what you want to see, not what you have.

Our third finding suggests that communities need to be aspirational in their metrics instead of settling for what is easily available. Measuring behaviors and outcomes rather than just activity correlates with overall community maturity. That’s a challenge for a couple of reasons – those metrics can be harder to define and they can be harder to track in many platforms.

However, tracking behaviors gets at the heart of how the community generates value. It also taps into an important part of human nature. If you measure something, and you hold yourself accountable for it, you are more likely to do things to improve yourself in that area. Measure “members online” and you’ll try to improve members online. Measure “questions answered” and you’ll try to improve the number of questions answered. Which one has more value to a community and to the organization?

We can’t wait to hear what you think – tag your thoughts with #SOCM2016 to join the conversation!

There is a lot more in the report – including an expanded section on measuring ROI using a straightforward metric – answers. It’s a topic for another post – but the bottom line is clear. Communities are now seen as strategic enablers. Executives are watching and listening. But if we can’t or don’t show how communities drive business value over the next 18 to 24 months – that attention will go away, potentially to the latest shiny object like the idea of using chatbots instead of community managers to generate engagement.

But the thing is – communities do work and they work because of excellent community management. For the third straight year our data disproves the “90–9–1 rule” of engagement and our ROI findings show that those who can measure their ROI can post remarkable numbers.

We hope this report is the next step forward in helping you quantify the value of community. There will be a lot more to come and we have many other resources and services to help you deliver on the promise of community.

value of community

 

Learn more about The State of Community Management and ask your own questions. Higher Logic and The Community Roundtable present the State of Community Management 2016 Release Webinar: Wednesday, May 25 at 2pm ET. Register now on higherlogic.com.

Friday Roundup: The SOCM 2014 Edition

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

SOCM 2014 SponsorsAfter months of surveys, number crunching, chart perfecting and copy editing the State of Community Management 2014 was finally released this week! It feels a little bit like our baby bird has flown the nest – but we couldn’t be more excited to share it with you. We’ve already seen a few interesting articles analyzing the data – and we’d love to hear from you. If you have a perspective on the data or the findings please share it with us and we will feature it in a Friday Roundup post!

This week was understandably SOCM heavy for us, but there are some other great links from around the web and of course – the latest and greatest community and social business jobs we could find.

 A few SOCM focused articles from around the internet: 

Other great links: 

And as always, the coolest community and social media jobs available this week: 

  1. Director of Community Solutions at Small World Labs – Austin, TX
  2. Online Community Consultant at Small World Labs – Austin, TX
  3. Social Media Community Manager/Editor at DoctorDirectory.com – Asheville, NC
  4. Senior Community Manager at Reputation.com – Redwood City, CA
  5. Community Manager – at Firebase – San Francisco, CA
  6. Technical Community Manager at Famo.us – San Francisco, CA
  7. Community Manager, Turkey New York at Foursquare – New York, NY
  8. Global Community Manager atUBM – New York, NY
  9. Online Community Manager at National Institute for Children’s Health Quality – Boston, MA
  10. Social Media Community Manager at Creative Circle – Dallas, TX
  11. Manager, Community Mgmt at DigitasLBi  3 reviews – Illinois
  12. Director of Social Listening/Community Manager at Freeman Leonard – Dallas, TX
  13. Senior External Community Manager at Jive Software – Palo Alto, CA
  14. Senior Community Manager – Internationalization at Mozilla-  Remote, OR
  15. Sr Community Manager at CA Technologies – Islandia, NY
  16. Community Manager, Design Focused – Chicago at Uber – Chicago, IL
  17. Digital Analytics and Community Manager Job at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Seattle, WA
  18. Content & Community Manager at eCommerceFuel.com – Bozeman, MT
  19. Senior Director, Community Operations at deviantART – Los Angeles, CA
  20. Principal Community Management Associate Social Media at Capital One – McLean, VA
  21. Social Media Strategy Manager at Kforce – Plano, TX 

 

Have a great weekend – we’ll see you next week with a news Faces of Community Management profile, the monthly Network recap with Hillary and a new Community Fact poster!

 

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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. 

 

 

Announcing The State of Community Management 2014

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SOCM 2014 SponsorsBy Rachel Happe, Co-Founder of The Community Roundtable.

The fifth annual State of Community Management report is here!

A lot has changed in the five years we have been publishing this research and the State of Community Management 2014 continues to push the boundary of what we collectively know about community management. As the discipline has matured we have been able to translate much more of it into quantitative data. This year’s report is chock full of data, segmented and delivered in ways that will help you plan and act.

The report includes:

  • Key Findings
  • Findings by Community Maturity Model competency
  • Guidance on using the research, by competency
  • Best practices from TheCR Network, by competency
  • Additional resources

What you’ll see in the data is that community management is standardizing – but still not mature or completely integrated into core business processes. Most community initiatives now have approved community strategies, which is fantastic – and quite a change from the early days of shiny object syndrome. However, all to often those strategies are not mirrored by approved and resourced roadmaps, pointing to one of the biggest challenges in the space today – funding the resources and programs that will translate aspirations to reality.

Also encouraging is that the vast majority of best-in-class (most mature) communities can measure value, indicating an important shift in the market from something that was considered innovative and unproven to something that is understood and measurable.

This research was the result of a community effort that included TheCR Network members who guided our exploration, experts who helped tease out best practices, TheCR team who all contributed in ways large and small and finally our sponsors – DNN, Enterprise Hive, Jive, Lithium, and Sitrion – who made it all possible.

The collaboration across our community allowed us to bring this rich data to you. We hope you find it interesting but more importantly, we hope this data helps you succeed. If it does, we would love to hear about how you used it to plan your roadmap, educate stakeholders or justify your budget.

Happy reading!

 

 

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