The recent Atlassian acquisition of Trello, got me thinking about some of my favorite community manager planning, design and communication tools. Turns out my top three go-to tools for community management were not designed specifically with community management work in mind. Nonetheless, I couldn’t live without them.
Trello
“I have the simplest job!” …said no Community Manager ever. As anyone in community will tell you, no day looks the same and very few projects are one-and-done. Trello helps you manage all the moving parts.
Trello is a list management tool that allows you to categorize your thoughts in a highly customizable way. I kid you not when I say I could not live without it; I currently keep everything from my Editorial Calendar, to my Playbook, to my daily to-do list on Trello. On top of list making, the App allows you to color code, mark check lists, set due dates, toggle to calendar view, and tag team members.
Need to manage a list of users? Trello helps you label them by engagement status. Want to keep an eye on a co-worker’s project? Trello subscribes you to their list activity. Top that off with a sleek interface and endless app integration options and you’ll wonder why you ever wrote your checklist on a scrap of paper.
Canva
This tool is my secret weapon. So much so, that I hesitate to tell anyone about it. Why? I can easily create high-quality graphics that trick people into thinking that I am a graphic design genius with high level coding skills.
As Community Managers, we inevitably end up wearing many hats and often have limited budget with which to work our magic. Canva is your best friend on days when you are asked to step to the fringes of your job description. Design a community logo, event image, or gamification badge – this cloud-based image design app has you covered.
Slack
I’m pretty sure the only email I have ever received from my boss was a letter of employment. That’s because my team communicates exclusively on Slack.
Slack is AIM for grown ups – a real-time messaging app designed for team collaboration. Communicate with coworkers in public, private or direct message channels. The result of using Slack aligns perfectly with the spirit of Community: when questions and answers are worked through publicly, the entire team benefits. Add to that the searchable archive of any term or user, and you are living well beyond the confines of email chains.
Want to bring even more community into Slack? Try it out as a chat space for your users in supplement to your platform.
True Story: I drafted this blog post in Trello (using a checklist to organize my ideas), designed the title image in Canva, and pasted the entire thing into Slack for a coworker to review. Ta-da!
What tools are you using to make your community management easier? I would love to hear about your favorites – the more the merrier!
