community management - Cultivating Community2024-03-29T08:34:48Zhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/feed/tag/community%2BmanagementThe Purpose of Community Platformshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-purpose-of-community-platforms2014-07-16T18:00:00.000Z2014-07-16T18:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>The platform for a community performs a single function: to facilitate interaction between members. An excellent community platform improves the quality and quantity of interactions between members. A bad community platform inhibits interactions between members. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, many organizations use platforms which restrain the growth of their communities.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282218?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282218?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>The platform is one method of facilitating interactions since for most online communities it is the only place where members will interact with each other. This is not a certainty, though. Many organizations develop platforms that are aesthetically pleasing, in line with other brand material, and clearly adhering to modern user experience principles. There is a problem with each of these aspects, but first we need to understand the biggest flaw in organizational thinking towards community platforms.</p>
<p>A content-led approach is common amongst branded online communities. Aesthetics and content is given higher priority than the interactions. This platform prohibits interactions between members. Many organizations develop a platform using a similar approach as a traditional website. In this approach, the designer/developer identifies what is needed and embraces this knowledge to design the platform. However, a community platform and a company website serve two different purposes. The former services to facilitate interactions between members, the latter serves to provide information to the target audience.</p>
<p><b>Ignoring the positive examples</b></p>
<p>Many organizations fail to research positive examples of online communities before embarking upon the development of their own platform. This means these organizations ignore best practices in favour of developing a community that adheres to more aesthetically pleasing concepts like those found in company websites.</p>
<p>Thus, whilst most successful communities use a simple, proven, interaction-focused platform, most organizations develop a custom, unproven, expensive community platform. </p></div>Power and Influencehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/power-and-influence2014-07-02T16:30:00.000Z2014-07-02T16:30:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282087?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282087?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"></a>You don’t have much power.</p>
<p>You can remove people and posts. You can write announcements. You can probably prioritise the content of some people above others. That’s about it.</p>
<p>You can’t use your power to get any member to do anything. Much of what we recommend is impossible unless you have influence. You can have influence in one or two ways.</p>
<p>1) You can become a highly respected and influential power user in your community.</p>
<p>2) You can develop great relationships with respected and highly influential members of the community.</p>
<p>You have a choice. Do you spend your time becoming the most influential member of your community or by becoming great friends with the most influential members of your community. The former is more tempting. It’s great if everybody knows your name. But it is a lot more work.</p>
<p>It’s easier to identify the key people and build strong relationships with them. Give them real power and then when you need something to happen, letting them know.</p>
<p>Start today. Pick the five people who made the biggest contributions in the past month and introduce yourself. Ask them how you can help them improve the community. You have to give before you get. Work hard to help the key people in your community before you ask the key people to help you.</p>
<p></p>
<p><em>(Image via The Noun Project)</em></p></div>Guest Post: How We Measure Content for Community Successhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/loyal-community-success2014-04-08T18:01:40.000Z2014-04-08T18:01:40.000ZShannon Byrnehttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/ShannonByrne<div><p class="p1"><em>This post originally appeared on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/measuring-content-success/" target="_blank">Loyal's blog</a>. </em></p>
<p><em>Loyal is a Community Development Studio. Process-driven and people-centric, they develop bespoke solutions for each of their clients. They've worked on community with a variety of organizations from Fortune 100s and international brands to seed stage startups and politicians. For more information, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is" target="_blank">http://loyal.is</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p dir="ltr">If you’ve been following Loyal for a while, you may have noticed that we’ve recently put a considerable amount of attention towards our content, and we’re seeing great results. Most importantly, we’ve seen increased engagement and interactions with members of our community — results tied directly to our goals and values as a company, as we put people at the center of our work. We believe that healthy communities consist of networks of relationships and that content is simply a tool, a vehicle by which to deepen these relationships for <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/measuring-community/" target="_blank">community success</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Before diving in, you should check out “</span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3024786/dialed/the-ultimate-guide-to-google-analytics" target="_blank">The Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics</a><span>” by Belle Beth Cooper (formerly of Buffer) on Fast Company. It’s a helpful guide for analyzing Google Analytics’ most important metrics, walking through a process very similar to our own. <em>Also, we should mention that much of our growth is due to the redesign of our site in mid-January. </em></span></p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>Where to Start</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">We always start every endeavor by defining its goals and assessing how they align with our overall business objectives, then breaking them into short-term wins and long-term gains. Beyond seeking to deepen our relationships, our other goals are to: establish ourselves as thought leaders on community design, get in front of brands, and educate our community and a broader audience on the power of designing and leveraging community for business growth. We do this through our blog content, weekly newsletter, curated social content, guest posts, and IRL interactions. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus on blog and social content for this post.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Visits</h3>
<p dir="ltr">At Loyal, when reporting on the success of our content, we start with the high-level metric of visits and unique visits. Although visits are not the most important metric, they’re a good determinant of the health of our content and site. We then look at the <strong>percentage of new visits</strong> to determine if our content is bringing people back (this is very important to us) and if we’re successfully growing our audience. In January, we saw a 171% increase in visits, and a <em><strong>176% increase in unique visits</strong></em>!</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Bounce Rates</h3>
<p dir="ltr">We do look at bounce rates, but they’re not as critical for us as they would be for an e-commerce company, for example, because although we hope new visitors contact us to learn more, we’re not selling a product on our site. We know that our visitors often come to our site to read a blog post or two, maybe comment, sign up for our newsletter, or contact us, then leave. As long as they interact with the content in some way, we’re happy.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Pages Per Visit + Time on Site</h3>
<p dir="ltr">We take a look at pages per visit to determine if visitors are interested enough to click through to other pages from the one they landed on. We also consider the percentage of new visits — it’s one thing if returning visitors are only reading one story, it’s more concerning if new visitors aren’t clicking through. In January, we saw a <strong>38% increase in pages/visit</strong>from the month prior for an average of 2.3 pages.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Time spent on the site helps determine the level of interest, as well as whether visitors are just skimming or spending a significant amount of time consuming the content. Our average time spent on the site was <strong>up 23 seconds</strong> in January, with an all-time high of 6:15 the first half of the month due to our new site and blog launch mid-month.</p>
<p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> <img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282153?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-center"></p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Pageviews and Specific Content Drilldown</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Pageviews help determine the success of our content in terms of the number of pages visitors are reading and how many times they’re coming back to the site. We saw a<strong> 247% increase in pageviews</strong> in January, also due to our site overhaul.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em><strong>The most important piece of information when analyzing our analytics is what specific content is driving traffic to the site.</strong> </em>That is, what’s grabbing the audience’s attention and keeping them there — what they’re finding interesting or of value. In Google Analytics, you can see this by looking at <strong>Behavior -> Site Content -> All Pages</strong> and sort by Unique Pageviews (highest to lowest). From there, you can also see how many people entered the site from specific pages, how much time they spent on it, which pages they left the site from, and what the bounce rate was.</p>
<p dir="ltr">By looking at which posts perform best, we can identify trends in our content that are attracting an audience. O<span>ur posts that have performed best, in order of popularity are:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/loyals-new-look/" target="_blank">http://loyal.is/loyals-new-look/</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/measuring-community/">http://loyal.is/measuring-community/</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/community-process/" target="_blank">http://loyal.is/community-process/</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/history-of-community/" target="_blank">http://loyal.is/history-of-community/</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/productivity-tips-for-community-people/" target="_blank">http://loyal.is/productivity-tips-for-community-people/</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Our site is a little too fresh or new to gleam too much from this, considering how these are our most recent posts. However, we have noticed that our audience is interested in actionable take-aways and quantitative anecdotes. We will continue to keep an eye on which of our content performs best moving forward.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Site Referrers</h3>
<p dir="ltr">It’s crucial for us to know where our visitors are coming from so that we allocate our time and resources wisely. By looking at referrers, we can discover where our audience is and what calls to action are successfully attracting them to the site. In Google Analytics, you can see this by selecting<strong> Acquisition -> All Referrals</strong>. There, you’ll see the number of visits from each referring site, as well as how many were new visits. You can click on each referrer to see which links they drove traffic to on which days. You can then go back and see which Tweets, for example, generated the clicks.</p>
<p>In January, our top referrers with percentage of unique visits were:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Twitter:</strong> 14%</li>
<li><strong>New Site Announcement (via Mailchimp):</strong> 11%</li>
<li><strong>Loyal.cx (direct)</strong>: 9%</li>
<li><strong>Facebook:</strong> 6%</li>
<li><strong>Google:</strong> 5.4%</li>
<li><strong>Newsletter:</strong> 5.4%</li>
<li><strong>SarahJuddWelch.com:</strong> 5%</li>
<li><strong>TheCommunityManager.com:</strong> 4.5%</li>
<li><strong>Lighthouse.io:</strong> 3%</li>
<li><strong>loyalcx.tumblr.com:</strong> 2.6%</li>
<li><strong>Tumblr.com:</strong> 3%</li>
<li><strong>The Fetch:</strong> 1.8%</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr">As you can see, our visits are widely distributed with the majority of referrals coming from Twitter and our email marketing campaigns. We should note that this does not take into account business leads and one-off inbound emails. We also only recently began contributing to other blogs and publications. Those sites being in our top ten referrers confirms that this is an activity that we should continue with. Also, we do not have a company Facebook page <em>(because we feel it won’t be as valuable for brands in the future)</em>, so it seems that our personal networks play a significant role in attracting visitors.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr"><strong>What All This Means</strong></h2>
<p dir="ltr">All of this data helps paint a story for us — a story about our community, our content, and our distribution strategy. By taking all the above information into consideration, we’re able to determine that our new site and blog with original content are successfully attracting new and returning visitors. We know that Twitter is our most successful distribution channel, our personal networks and relationships are high-value, and that we should continue to guest post. We know that there is a significant opportunity to grow these numbers and strengthen our community.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>We tend to nerd out over learning more about our community and look forward to seeing what content does and does not resonate with all of you!</em></p>
<hr>
<p class="p1"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>About the Author:</strong></span></p>
<p class="p1">Shannon Byrne is the Content Manager + Community Associate at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/">Loyal</a>, where she crafts words and creates community-driven strategies. Florida native turned Brooklynite, she has a passion for writing and a knack for connecting people. Follow her on Twitter <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.twitter.com/shannnonb">@ShannnonB</a>.</p>
<p class="p1">Read more stories like this one at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/">http://loyal.is</a>.</p>
<p class="p1"><em>Image via GraphicStock</em></p></div>Getting Started with a Community Roadmap for the Entire Teamhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/loyal-community-roadmap2014-04-03T23:45:50.000Z2014-04-03T23:45:50.000ZSarah Judd Welchhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/sarahjuddwelch<div><p dir="ltr">As community managers <a rel="nofollow" href="http://blog.percolate.com/2013/07/from-community-manager-to-cmo/">rise in the ranks</a>, we're often tasked with strategic planning for our entire team. This is our opportunity to align the greater organization around community goals while demonstrating how community initiatives reinforce business goals.</p>
<p>Where to start? Before getting overwhelmed with the large task at hand, take a step back. You have so many more resources at your disposal than you likely realize.</p>
<h3>1. Clear Purpose</h3>
<p>What is your community meant to accomplish? Community’s purposes vary from company to company: to provide support, to provide knowledge or resources, to reinforce values, etc. Defining your purpose upfront, particularly in relationship with your organization’s vision helps with the next step -- setting goals.</p>
<h3>2. Actionable, Measurable Goals<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282129?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282129?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"></a></h3>
<p>With your purpose in mind, what can you accomplish this year that will further that aim? Perhaps it’s a support center or a community forum. Maybe it’s an education program or a content series. Or, maybe it’s a set of community features. And then, what are the metrics that would indicate success for each initiative? Consider this both in terms of the initiative itself as well as within the context of greater business goals, such as increase in sales, etc.</p>
<p>Whatever it is, map it out according to specific time periods. Often, it’s helpful outline these goals according to the fiscal year: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. Be sure to be realistic as to what can be accomplished within a given period of time. Examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Increase community referrals by 20% by end of Q2</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Decrease churn by 15% in Q1</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Increase monthly sign-ups as a direct result of community efforts by 10% in Q1</span></p></li>
</ul>
<h3>3. Company Alignment</h3>
<p>You might be in charge of community for your company, but community is everyone’s job. Truly effective community roadmaps include the entire team. Make sure that you’re able to articulate to each team (marketing, development, account management, sales, etc.) how your roadmap supports their own team’s objectives and larger company goals.</p>
<p>This makes asking for help much easier -- surely you’re not going to build and design that community forum yourself! When creating your roadmap, be very clear on what resources you have at your disposal, what you’ll need from other teams, and what you’ll need to provide to other teams. Will you need help from design and development? What about marketing or operations? How will your roadmap impact BD or support?</p>
<p>After you’ve determined purpose, set goals, and have ensured that your roadmap aligns with company goals, you’re ready to break these down into tactics. Make your tactics specific and have a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/community-process/">clear process</a> in place for assigning them to their relevant team member. The more clear you can be when setting expectations and responsibilities, the better. If you’d like more information on how to dive into tactics and execution, feel free to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.twitter.com/sjw">reach out</a>, I’d love to chat.</p>
<hr>
<p dir="ltr"><span><strong>About the Author:</strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Sarah Judd Welch is the Founder // Head of Community Design + BD at</span> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.loyal.is/">Loyal</a> <span>where she designs communities for startups, brands, and Fortune 100s. Find her on Twitter at </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.twitter.com/sjw">@sjw</a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>Read more stories like this one at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/">http://loyal.is</a>.</span></p>
<p> </p></div>The Problem With Community Platforms (and asking the right questions)https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-problem-with-community-platforms2014-03-27T15:00:00.000Z2014-03-27T15:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><b><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.discourse.org/">Discourse</a></b> looks interesting. It looks sleek, modern, and displays most of what people need. It's also open-source. It might be a fantastic new community platform. </p>
<p>It's going to tempt a lot of people to switch platforms...and this is the problem.</p>
<p>Switching community platforms is one of the riskiest things you can do. The benefits are usually minimal and the dangers are colossal. Unless you picked a terrible platform initially, changing a platform won't help you much.</p>
<p>If you want a better community, it's rarely a new platform you need, it's a new and better approach to community management.</p>
<p>How are you <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/concentrate-activity" target="_self">driving activity</a> and growth in that community? </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282092?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282092?profile=original" width="539" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>What are you doing to recruit members? Whom are you approaching? What are you telling them? What is their reaction? What tactics have you tried/not tried? How are you encouraging them to invite others?</p>
<p>How are you initiating and sustaining discussions? What topics have you tried? <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-help-members-overcome-their-fear-of-participation" target="_self">Who and how are you prompting people</a> to respond to these topics? What types of discussions work best? What does your audience analysis tell you will be most interesting?</p>
<p>What <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/14-events-you-can-organize-and-celebrate-in-your-community" target="_blank">events are you facilitating</a>? Have you scheduled regular, live, events? Are you reaching out to and inviting the top people in your community and sector to participate in these events? </p>
<p>Are you <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-psychological-impact-of-interactions" target="_self">building relationships</a> with members? How are you building these relationships? What is working/not working here? </p>
<p>Have you diagnosed your community? What specifically does your data tell you is going wrong? Is it growth, activity, or <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/creating-a-sense-of-belonging-in-your-online-community" target="_self">sense of community</a>? </p>
<p>Are you embracing the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/09/community-management-framework.html">full community management framework</a>? Or are you just doing a tiny sliver of the work you should be doing. </p>
<p>Too often, we jump straight to the conclusion that the platform is the problem. That's rarely the case. It's almost certainly the activity you're doing on the platform that matters. </p>
<p>This is why new platforms have made it easier to build communities, but haven't helped us build <i>better</i> communities. </p>
<p>The answers to these questions are far more important than the platform or its features. </p></div>Upcoming Webinar: Richard Millington Answers Your Community Questionshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/upcoming-webinar-richard-millington-answers-your-questions2014-03-21T22:37:15.000Z2014-03-21T22:37:15.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p><span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">On April 3rd, Richard Millington will host a free webinar <span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">answering your community questions he hasn't covered before. Want to learn more about how to pull the best content from your community, how to enlist volunteers, or how to develop your community strategy? </span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p class="p1">Richard has helped 100+ organizations develop successful communities. Clients like The United Nations, Novartis, Oracle, Greenpeace, Autodesk, and many more. <a href="https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/745680646" target="_blank">Thursday, April 3rd at 9am PDT</a>he'll be here to help you. Take advantage of this unique opportunity, invite your colleagues, and come with questions!</p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Thursday, April 3rd at 9am PDT</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/745680646" target="_blank"><img src="http://creators.ning.com/images/signupnow.png" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3">(find your <a href="http://everytimezone.com/#2014-4-3,240,6bj" target="_blank">local time here</a>) </span></p>
<p><strong>About the Presenter</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/557601?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/557601?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100" class="align-left"></a>Richard Millington is the founder of FeverBee, a community consultancy, and author of the new book <a xt="SPCLICK" name="www_amazon_com_Buzzing_Communi" href="http://click.et.ning.com/?qs=560c57e3d19c1a56c67ddba1974f386d6fa9b833e60253373fa5865fd1a51365b08d12542be0bec1" id="www_amazon_com_Buzzing_Communi"><font color="#75AF2D">Buzzing Communities</font></a>. He is also a frequent guest blogger here on <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#75AF2D">Cultivating Community</font></a> and our go-to presenter for the Community Management Talks series. His straightforward, results-oriented style is admired by many in the field, and it's just one of the reasons we've enlisted him to share community management best practices to help Ning Creators (and anyone else) refine their approach and cultivate thriving communities. Richard's next free talk is April 3rd at 9am PDT. We hope you can make it!</p>
<p>A recording of this webinar will be available on the Ning <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/community+management+talks" target="_self"><font color="#75AF2D">Community Management Talks</font></a> channel, and you can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NingTalk.</p></div>3 Reasons Why Community Needs a Process-Driven Approachhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/process-driven-approach-community2014-03-11T20:12:06.000Z2014-03-11T20:12:06.000ZSarah Judd Welchhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/sarahjuddwelch<div><p dir="ltr"><span>While in the trenches of community management, it’s sometimes challenging to take a step back, evaluate your efforts and determine strategic next steps. Being heads down in our craft is certainly respectable, however, sometimes a step back and a fresh perspective is all that’s necessary to recognize a missed step, spot a new opportunity or take our work to the next level.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>While there are tons of tools for building community, there are simply no band-aid solutions that will magically create or grow a community overnight. That’s why community needs a</span> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/community-process/"><span>process-driven approach</span></a><span>. Specifically:</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282098?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282098?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"></a><strong>1. Every Community is Different</strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>What works well for one community, cannot be exactly replicated for another. Each community has its own values, purpose, goals, demographics and cultural norms. The success of an ambassador program for one community may be poorly incentivized for another. As such, the specific tactics, tools and approach for each community should be unique.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong><span class="font-size-3">2. Community is Both Strategic and Tactical</span></strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Community is well known as a jack-of-all trades execution role, but it’s strategic, too. At some companies, such as Airbnb, TaskRabbit, and Etsy, community is core to the product and even built into the business model. As such, community efforts are centralized around more strategic approaches with complementary execution rather than strictly social media and support. This requires a higher-level view point than one that can only be seen from the trenches.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong><span class="font-size-3">3. Measure, Iterate, Repeat</span></strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>If you’re always heads down and reactive, how do you know what’s working? Taking a more process-driven approach allows you to define measurements of success upfront, evaluate progress against concrete benchmarks and then iterate both your strategies and execution accordingly.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>At</span> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is"><span>Loyal,</span></a> <span>we look at building community as not so different from human system design. As community folks, we’re structuring and enabling ways for people to engage with each other within specific product, platform, budget and time constraints to reach specific business goals. And, as such, we approach our work with a process</span> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/community-is-a-job/"><span>not too different from design processes</span></a><span>. This is what our process looks like:<br class="kix-line-break"></span></p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Understand the vision for success</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Define the problem or challenge</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Determine the goals</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Understand the constraints</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Research -- What does the data tell us? What do we intuitively know? What do users say?</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Set the strategy with the above in mind</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Execute</span></p></li>
<li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr"><span>Test, Measure, Iterate Repeat</span></p></li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr"><span>While community might not be repeatable from community to community, this process is repeatable and allows us to tailor recommendations for our clients accordingly. Internally, community managers can also use this same process for project sprints. What’s your community process?</span></p>
<hr>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>About the Author:</strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Sarah Judd Welch is the Founder // Head of Community Design + BD at</span> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.loyal.is/"><span>Loyal</span></a> <span>where she designs communities for startups, brands, and Fortune 100s. Find her on Twitter at </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.twitter.com/sjw"><span>@sjw</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>Read more stories like this one at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://loyal.is/">http://loyal.is</a>.</span></p>
<p><em>Image via iStockphoto.</em></p></div>Why I Don't Like The Term "Troll"https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/why-i-dont-like-the-term-troll2014-02-26T17:57:37.000Z2014-02-26T17:57:37.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p>I'm finding more and more that I'm uncomfortable with the way that the term "troll" is becoming a catch-all word for "person who's doing something I don't like." It's an easy word to use: say "troll" and everyone says "Ahh," and nods their head in empathy. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/dealing-with-trolls-4-snippits" target="_self">I've used this shorthand myself</a>. And I'm resolving to stop using it and find out what's really behind the "troll." </p>
<p><a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/187824-some-men-just-want-to-watch-the-world-burn" target="_blank"><img src="http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/187/824/media_http26mediatumb_uafbm.jpg.scaled500.jpg" class="align-right" style="padding: 5px;" width="257" height="206"></a>I think the turning point for me has been the recent Ars Technica article summing up a Canadian psychology journal article. Even the title is irksome: "<a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/02/science-confirms-online-trolls-are-horrible-people-also-sadists/" target="_blank">Science confirms: Online trolls are horrible people (also, sadists!)</a>" Almost every commentary I saw on the piece took the form of "A-ha! I was right! Trolls are terrible, awful, no-good people!"</p>
<p>While it's true that there are some people on the internet who just really enjoy causing, stoking, and/or watching chaos happening online, that number is relatively small (and fairly concentrated). To give some anecdotal perspective, GetSatisfaction founders Lane Becker and Thor Muller recently spoke at an event about their early experiences at the company. They found that the moment they encountered their first real troll, a member whose sole purpose appeared to be to cause disruption and discontent and could not be reasoned with, was about 50,000 users in. Becker described that as ultimately uplifting: yeah, they had a troll, but the other 49,999 people in the communities were pretty decent human beings. </p>
<p>Labeling a member as a troll is dehumanizing, a dangerous mindset for community managers to get into. We are literally saying (albeit subconsciously) "this member doesn't deserve to be seen as another human being, but as a deformed, inhuman <em>thing</em>." It's become such a loaded word that once it enters a conversation, it taints what we hear afterwards. Once someone is labeled a "troll," anything they say starts to be viewed through troll-tinted glasses, even when they are being fairly reasonable. Instead of encountering a disruptive user and immediately jumping to this: </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282125?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282125?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>Let's look at ways that we can figure out why this person is causing a disruption. </p>
<ul>
<li>Is this member upset about something involving your product/community? If so, what's causing their frustration and how can you help them? Does a new product not work like the old product did? Offer them some help getting familiar with it. Are instructions not as clear as they could be? Look at how you can revise them.</li>
<li>Is there a misunderstanding or a mistake happening? Is there a way you can prevent that in the future? </li>
<li>Does the member need to feel that someone's listening to what they're saying? How can you show them you're listening?</li>
</ul>
<p>Almost every article about traits or skills necessary for community management lists Empathy pretty high up. Make sure to turn your empathy filter on before labeling someone as a troll - you might just turn their behavior around. </p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">What are your thoughts? Do you think "Troll" is a necessary definition in community management or are you going to rethink casual use of it? </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Images via <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com">Know Your Meme</a>, <a href="http://dubbledeckerbus.tumblr.com/post/46534672104" target="_blank">Tumblr</a></em></p></div>White Paper: 5 Questions for Selecting an Online Community Platformhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/platform-selection-white-paper2014-02-21T22:00:00.000Z2014-02-21T22:00:00.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208341?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><link href="//cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-081711.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" ></link>
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<p>Today, we're proud to announce a project that's been in the works for a while: A collaboration with Community Pioneer F. Randall Farmer to produce this exclusive white paper - "Five Questions for Selecting an Online Community Platform." </p>
<p>Randy is co-host of the <a href="http://socialmediaclarity.net"><i>Social Media Clarity</i></a> podcast, a <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/frandallfarmer#profile-patents">prolific social media innovator</a>, and <em>literally</em> co-wrote the book on <i><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596159801.do?cmp=af-code-book-product_cj_9781449382568_7085710">Building Web Reputation Systems</a>.</i> We were very excited to bring him on board for this much needed project. While there are numerous books, blogs, and white papers out there to help Community Managers grow and manage their communities, there's no true guide to how to pick the right kind of platform for your community. </p>
<p>In this white paper, Randy has developed five key questions that can help determine what platform suits your community best. This platform agnostic guide covers top level content permissions, contributor identity, community size, costs, and infrastructure. It truly is the first guide of its kind and we're delighted to share it with you.</p>
<p>To download "Five Questions for Selecting an Online Community Platform," simply fill out the form below and you'll be taken to a download page. Be sure to come back here and let us know your thoughts and comments on Randy's theories. </p>
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</div>CMX Summit 2014: Trust, Collaboration, and Communityhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/cmx-summit-wrapup2014-02-14T17:52:33.000Z2014-02-14T17:52:33.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p>Last week, David Spinks and the team at TheCommunityManager.com gathered together over 300 community professionals for a first year conference that proved to be highly polished and extremely informative - <a href="http://cmxsummit.com/" target="_blank">CMX Summit</a>. Here are our takeaways:</p>
<p><strong><em>Why Should They? Trust Strategies for Every Situation</em> - Robin Dreeke, Head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Program</strong></p>
<p>Building trust with a community is the foundation for everything a community manager does. Robin led us through his model for trust, including taking time to understand where others are coming from, suspending your ego when helping others, providing factoids rather than excuses, and managing expectations. What building trust all comes down to, says Robin, is helping people discover what they want and helping them to achieve it. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282072?profile=RESIZE_480x480" target="_self" width="400"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282072?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"></a></p>
<p><strong><em>Intro to Community Psychology and the "Sense of Community" Theory</em> - Dr. David McMillian, Community/Clinical Psychologist</strong></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.wright-house.com/psychology/sense-of-community.html" target="_blank">Sense of Community Theory</a> is approaching its 30th anniversary, but it just as relevant as ever, and having David McMillian run us through it was a unique treat. What will really stick with me was David's closing remarks (transcribed by Shannon Byrne for <a href="http://thecommunitymanager.com/2014/02/06/4-elements-to-creating-a-sense-of-community-by-dr-david-mcmillan/" target="_blank">The Community Manager</a>): </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Go home and tell someone something a little too much. Take a risk. Maybe they will tell you something. If they do, take, catch it, hold it. Tell them that they belong to you, that you’re going to reserve a special place just for them. Tell them that they matter. Being connected doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice, you sacrifice because you care. The more expectations you create, the better you’ll dance with them. Give something of value and accept something you don’t have that’s of value to you. Learn, teach, grow, and prepare them for the day that you’re not going to be there. Then tell the story about the people you love. Create rituals, symbols, and traditions then tell them your ability to build a community has grown.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong><em>Crafting a Self-Sustaining Community Culture: The Power of Ritual, Purpose, and Shared Identity</em> - Emily Castor, Director of Community Relations at Lyft</strong></p>
<p>Seeing Emily present is always a delight and she is definitely the expert right now on building a company culture that becomes truly ingrained in your community (and vice versa). Lyft's pink mustaches and fist bumps are so much more than just gimmicks. These rituals and totems speak to a basic human need for something to build an identity around. These rituals scale organically and create a cultural identity, which then allows powerful one to one interactions to happen without the community manager needing to be involved. </p>
<p><strong><em>When Customers are your Product: Lessons from Hundreds of Collaborative Consumption Communities</em> - Lauren Anderson, Chief Knowledge Officer at Collaborative Lab</strong></p>
<p>Carrying on the peer to peer theme was Lauren Anderson of Collaborative Lab. Covering various companies that have built their business upon their customers' collaboration (and therefore built on community), she identified three key themes for community building for collaborative communities: Strong Values, Trust & Transparency, and Empowerment and Involvement.</p>
<p><strong><em>Building Branch and Potluck - Lessons in Developing Community Products</em> - Josh Miller, Founder of Branch</strong></p>
<p>Fresh off the announcement of being acquired by Facebook, Branch Founder Josh Miller sat down for a Q&A about community development. Josh shared some learnings from the difference between Branch and Potluck, most notably that people craft comments to their perceived audience. In this way, an intimate setting allows people to be their authentic selves more than a larger, more open setting. </p>
<p><strong><em>The Evolution of Communities - Social Design and Key Metrics for Every Stage</em> - Ligaya Tichy, Angel Investor, former Community Lead for AirBnB</strong></p>
<p>Ligaya Tichy is already a legend in the community industry, helping share the early community stages at Yelp and AirBnB. Her <a href="http://www.ligayatichy.com/1/post/2014/02/community-comes-together-at-last-at-cmx-summit.html" target="_blank">entire presentation</a> is full of actionable insights and really understandable breakdowns of the metrics that community managers should be keeping an eye on. Something I hadn't been familiar with before (but will now be swearing by) is her useful baseline for healthy community activity: 30% of your user base should be active monthly; 10% should be active daily, and 10% should be active concurrently on any given day. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282085?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282085?profile=original" width="570" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p><strong><em>Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Community Systems</em> - Nir Eyal, Author of "Hooked"</strong></p>
<p>I'm a big fan of Nir Eyal, and we reviewed <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/forumcon-2013-nir-eyal-hooked-model" target="_self">his presentation from ForumCon 2013</a> and we're even more excited to put his ATARI theory into action now. </p>
<p><strong><em>Building the 500 Startups Community on a Global Scale</em> - Dave McClure, Founding parter at 500Startups</strong></p>
<p>Dave McClure is one of the most colorful personalities in the venture capital scene and shared some of his experiences in early communities as well as nourishing a community culture at 500 Startups. "There’s always going to be tensions between marketing, sales, product, design, UX/UI," McClure admits, "but community can bring it all together."</p>
<p><strong><em>Lessons from the History of Communities – Why They Matter Today and Tomorrow</em> - Ellen Leanse, Apple's First User Evangelist</strong></p>
<p>The last speaker of the day, Ellen Leanse, was truly inspirational. Forget Sheryl Sandberg or Marissa Mayer, Ellen is who I want to be when I grow up. As Apple's first User Evangelist, she guided Apple through the particularly turbulent time after the departure of Co-Founder Steve Jobs. There is so much that I learned from her in the too-brief time she spoke, but the main thoughts I'll be keeping with me are, echoing the days's first speaker, that what you share with the community should be about what <strong>they</strong> need, not you. And that a community will hold your company accountable to be the best that you can be - so live up to it! </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282120?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282120?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"></a>I think the biggest think I took away from CMX Summit was an overwhelming feeling of love: for my job, for the community I have the privilege to manage, and for the community of community managers I get to be a part of. As part of her talk, Ligaya Tichy had little jars of Play-Doh handed out to attendees. Squeezing something, she explained, helps with public speaking... it gives an outlet for the adrenaline that flows when you're talking to a group of people. This encouragement to attendees to go speak within and outside of their companies is endemic of the culture of learning that was evident at CMX Summit. Speakers were actively engaged in each others' presentations, tweeting about them and referencing them later in their own. Whether someone has three months, three years, or three decades of experience in this field, we all have something to learn from each other. This year's attendee may be next year's speaker and vice versa. It truly is a great time to be a Community Manager</p>
<p>If you're sad to have missed CMX Summit, you can <a href="https://www.brighttalk.com/community/content-marketing/channel/10753" target="_blank">catch up on all the speakers</a> thanks to sponsor BrightTalk. And if you're encouraged to attend another community management conference, the <a href="http://www.virtualcommunitysummit.com/" target="_blank">Virtual Communities Summit</a> in London next week is sure to be another great event. You can also check out these CMX Summit posts from other attendees:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.evanhamilton.com/cmx-summit-community-management" target="_blank">What we learned (about ourselves) at CMX Summit</a> by Evan Hamilton</p>
<p><a href="http://loyal.is/cmx-summit-take-aways/" target="_blank">10 Take-Aways From the First-Ever CMX Summit</a> by Shannon Byrne for LoyalCX</p>
<p><a href="http://thecommunitymanager.com/category/cmx-summit/" target="_blank">CMX Summit Liveblogs</a> from TheCommunityManager.com</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/blog/cid/426748/Steal-These-Community-Management-Tips-from-CMX-Summit-Presenters" target="_blank">Community Management Tips Learned from CMX Summit</a> by Dennis Shiao of DNN</p>
<p><a href="http://www.feverbee.com/2014/02/cmxsummit-and-the-new-frontier.html" target="_blank">CMXSummit And The New Frontier</a> from Feverbee</p>
<p><a href="http://seen.co/event/cmx-summit-san-francisco-ca-2014-8705" target="_blank">Twitter Trending Wrap-Up</a> from Seen</p>
<p><em>Images via <a href="https://twitter.com/500startups/status/431555239271862272" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/wateringthewell/status/431498478468866048/photo/1" target="_blank">Adriana Cerundolo</a>, <a href="http://instagram.com/p/kF9qMEQLSL/" target="_blank">Krysta Gahagen</a></em></p></div>8 Signs Your Community Is In Troublehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/8-signs-your-community-is-in-trouble2014-02-04T23:59:04.000Z2014-02-04T23:59:04.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Your online community won't die overnight. That never happens. Most communities end with members gradually drifting away.</p>
<p>There are some clear danger signals that your community is going downhill, these are a few to watch out for:</p>
<ol>
<li><b>No new posts in 24 hours.</b> If your community goes an entire day (except Christmas) without a single interaction you’re on the brink of failure. Push the panic button. Engage heavily in one to one interactions to inject activity.</li>
<li><b>Key members have gone missing.</b> Name your top 10 members. Have any of them been posting less frequently recently? Why? Find out and adapt.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282062?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282062?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"></a></li>
<li><b>Less members are joining.</b> Community members are transient, they get jobs, move location, start families. You need fresh blood to keep the community active. Regularly measure the number of new members joining, when it dips (or slows) take action to recruit new members.</li>
<li><b>A new rival community is rapidly gaining momentum.</b> If you see a new community in your field rapidly gaining momentum, it means you’re not providing something these members need.</li>
<li><b>Posts go unanswered.</b> The lack of conversation is a clear flag something is wrong. When posts start going unanswered, people begin to drift away.</li>
<li><b>Declining sector/topic/passion.</b> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.uk-ct.net/">UK-CT</a> is a dying community for a video game which is over 10 years old. It’s entire audience has moved on to other games. It’s niche is dying, it didn’t stick with the players.</li>
<li><b>Lack of friendliness.</b> Whilst arguments are important, friendliness is more important. Do members seem less friendly recently? Do they lack familiarity with each other and previous community discussions? Do they know how the top members in a community are?</li>
<li><b>Boring discussions.</b> Subjective, but important. Do the discussions feel like they’re less interesting recently? Is there a poor quality of things to talk about?</li>
</ol>
<p>Keep an eye for these signals and react aggressively when you spot one. Don’t be passive, by the time you spot a signal, it might already be almost impossible to reverse the problem.</p></div>Techniques to Help Measure the ROI of Online Communitieshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/techniques-to-help-measure-the-roi-of-online-communities2014-01-15T21:44:58.000Z2014-01-15T21:44:58.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>If an organization is investing in a community, they deserve to know what they’re getting for their money. </p>
<p>The most common objections to measuring this ROI are 1) You can’t measure everything 2) it’s not about ROI.</p>
<p>The first is right, but you can still be accurate. The second is misguided (what does engagement eventually lead to if not greater profits?). </p>
<p>There are a few techniques that can really help here.</p>
<p>1) <b>Measure the increase since joining the community</b>.</p>
<p><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282318?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"></p>
<p>You can’t compare the spending habits of members to non-members. Those that decide to join a community are already likely to be your best and most passionate supporters. You need to benchmark buying habits of members when they join the community and then 6 to 12 months later. This shows what possible influence the community has had on their behavior. If members (on average) spent $35 a year when they joined the community and now spend $55 per year, that’s $20 per year increase.</p>
<p>2) <b>Non-members as a control group</b>. When Apple releases the next iteration of iPhone, millions of people will spend more on Apple products. You can’t attribute that to the community. To remove this, you need to use non-members as a control group (we’re abusing science a little here). Track the buying habits of non-members and remove any increase in spending from what you’re measuring. This gives you an amount that is attributable to the community. If the average customer (non-member) spending rose from $25 to $35, that removes $10 from the above figure. </p>
<p>3) <b>Survey religiously</b>. This is your secret weapon. You can’t track every purchase from every member (unless e-mail accounts are used to purchase the service <em>and</em> join the community). You need to survey the buying habits of your members. Not all members, but specific samples at certain times. This won’t give you an exact figure, but it will give you an accurate figure. You really want to know the value per active member – then you can multiply by the number of active members.</p>
<p>4) <b>Multiply by years</b>. If community members, on average, spend $10 per year attributable to the community, and you have 50,000 active members, that’s $500,000 <i>per year</i>. Multiply that by the year (and number of active members for each year) and you get a very accurate projection of future benefits of the community.</p>
<p><em>Image via GraphicStock</em></p></div>How To Handle Troublemakershttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-handle-troublemakers2014-01-13T20:53:14.000Z2014-01-13T20:53:14.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><span class="font-size-3">This topic comes up a lot. How do you manage people causing problems in your community?</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">There are remarkably few options.</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Do nothing.</b> There is a difference between causing friction and doing irreversible damage to the community. If they’re in the former, let it go. You’re not the opinion police.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Kick them out and ban them.</b> If they are doing real damage to the community, inciting hatred, planning terrorist atrocities, engaging in illegal activities, or insulted your parents – boot them.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Suspend them.</b> You don’t always have to kick people out, just suspend them from posting for a few days. Do this often enough and they will either lose interest in the community altogether, or recant their past behaviour and work for the common good.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Punish them.</b> Every time they do something wrong, reduce their karma points, prevent them from posting, reduce their post counts, change their profile picture, or simply edit their messages to something funnier – or just delete them entirely.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><br> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282052?profile=RESIZE_480x480" target="_self" width="400"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282052?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600" class="align-center"></a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><span class="font-size-3">Reason with them.</span></strong> <span class="font-size-3">Not you, the community. Ask a few regular members what damage they believe Mr. X is doing and present quotes (anonymously) to the person. They might see the light of day.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Sidetrack them.</b> Put them in charge of incredibly irrelevant projects, unimpressive forums, or agree to let them voice their opinions in their own column/forum.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Let the community decide. “</b>Well beloved community, do you want this member to continue doing what s/he has been doing? Or should we kick him/her out?”</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Bribe them.</b> If you stop doing {x}, I’ll give you your own forum, VIP status, extra karma points, a regular column.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Two more thoughts. (1) Be careful that the behaviour you don’t like and the behaviour the community doesn’t like align. (2) Just because the community doesn’t like one person’s behaviour doesn’t mean his behaviour is wrong.</span></p></div>Top 10 Cultivating Community Articles of 2013https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/top-10-articles-of-20132013-12-26T22:00:00.000Z2013-12-26T22:00:00.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208307?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>It's been a great year to be a Community Manager and it's been a fantastic year to be a writer or reader here at Cultivating Community. Here are the Top 10 Most Read Articles from Cultivating Community in 2013 - did you miss any?</p>
<p>10. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">Converting Newcomers into Active Community Members</a> - This webinar recording led us through ways to dive into your community's data and find out where you're losing members after they join, then take action to keep them as active community members. </p>
<p>9. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/6curation-tools-for-community-managers-" target="_self">6 Curation Tools for Community Managers</a> - Content curation is one of the best ways to keep interesting, high quality content flowing in your community. Here are six tools for you to start using in the new year.</p>
<p>8. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/community-spotlight-pcdn" target="_self">Community Spotlight: Peace and Collaborative Development Network</a> - Dr. Craig Zeiler inspired us as he told his story of founding and running the Peace and Collaborative Development Network, <span>the leading online global community of individuals and organizations working in peacebuilding, international development, and related fields.</span></p>
<p>7. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/infographic-the-value-of-community-management" target="_self">Infographic - The Value of Community Management</a> - Two community networks partner to create an awesome infographic. Working with The Community Roundtable's 2013 State of Community Management report made for one truly informative graphic. </p>
<p>6. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-make-social-work-for-your-forums-ted-rheingold-at-forumcon" target="_self">How to Make Social Work for Your Forums - Ted Rheingold at ForumCon</a> - Allison and I had the pleasure of attending ForumCon this year and Ted Rheingold's presentation was one of the highlights. </p>
<p>5. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/conceptualizing-a-framework-for-communities-video" target="_self">Conceptualizing a Framework for Communities [Video]</a> - Without a solid concept, communities can easily fail. This hour long webinar recording helps set you up for success. </p>
<p>4. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-different-types-of-events" target="_self">The Different Types of Events</a> - Events are a great way to increase participation in your community and this primer should give you some ideas to get 2014 started on the right foot. </p>
<p>3. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-monetize-your-online-community-video" target="_self">How to Monetize Your Online Community [Video]</a> - Monetization is so much more than advertising and Patrick O'Keefe joined us for this discussion on ways to think outside the ad box. </p>
<p>2. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-ultimate-welcome-for-your-online-community-s-newcomers" target="_self">The Ultimate Welcome for Your Online Communitiy's Newcomers</a> - Do you have a plan in place for welcoming your members? This article guides you through the essential parts of the Ultimate Welcome Package. </p>
<p>1. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/announcing-ning-3" target="_self">Announcing Ning 3.0</a> - 2013 saw the launch of Ning 3.0, a top to bottom redesign for the Ning Platform. It's been a fantastic year for us here at Ning. Other Ning-centrics articles cracking the top 10 included our <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/unleash-the-power-of-groups-on-ning-3-0" target="_blank">Introduction to Groups on 3.0</a>, and the announcement of a <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com%20/ning-blog/professional-community-course-by-feverbee-now-available" target="_self">professional community management course from Feverbee</a> for Ning Network Creators. </p>
<p>What topics would you like to see us cover in 2014?</p>
</div>What To Listen For (and how to act on it)https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/what-to-listen-for-and-how-to-act-on-it2013-12-03T20:17:49.000Z2013-12-03T20:17:49.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>We're commonly told to listen, but rarely told what to listen for.</p>
<p>Go to any community, and look for three things:</p>
<ol>
<li>What sort of information people ask for.</li>
<li>What members tell each other about themselves.</li>
<li>What people do in the community.</li>
</ol>
<p>In a previous community, we noticed that people liked to post what equipment they used on their profile page. They also compared different types of equipment. We incorporated this into a specific profile question and created a category solely for equipment comparisons. </p>
<p>Likewise, members liked to subtly boast about which events they had attended, so we made this a profile feature too. Members could choose to list all the events they had attended. </p>
<p>In one community, members always debated who was the best in their field. This also became a profile question and an ongoing poll. </p>
<p>In another community, members spent a lot of time talking about upcoming events. We created a place in the community for this. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282006?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282006?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a>If you know what sort of information members seek for and the format they like it, you can create areas in the community solely for this. If members frequently ask questions related to a specific issue and like simple tips, you can create a place in the community for this. </p>
<p>If you know how members like to create their identities, you can help them do this. If members like to refer to the famous people in their field they've met, or post photos of themselves with famous people, you can create areas where they can do this. If members like to display their collections/equipment in photos, you can create a specific place for this (and let other members vote on it).</p>
<p>If you know what members do in the community, you can incorporate this in to what you do. If members like to debate politics, you can create a place just for this.</p>
<p>Listening is fine, knowing what to listen for is better. </p></div>First Class Lessons from The Ritz-Carlton Employee Communityhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/ritz-carlton2013-11-26T21:50:11.000Z2013-11-26T21:50:11.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p>The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company prides itself on being the gold standard for hospitality across the world and their record backs up that pride: the <a href="http://corporate.ritzcarlton.com/en/About/Awards.htm" target="_blank">list of awards</a> bestowed to their properties is quite impressive. Their service has received note, as well, making them <span>only hotel company to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from the United States Department of Commerce twice. What can you, as a community manager, take from their example?</span></p>
<p>The Ritz-Carlton employee motto states "We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen." <a href="http://corporate.ritzcarlton.com/en/About/GoldStandards.htm#service" target="_blank">Every employee is empowered</a> to "create unique, memorable and personal experiences" and to "own and immediately resolve guest problems." Those memorable experiences are shared at <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/30/simon-cooper-ritz-leadership-ceonetwork-hotels.html" target="_blank">daily lineups</a> - departmental meetings that keep the teams on the same page. This commitment to the customer is something that hasn't gone unnoticed; Ritz-Carlton is frequently honored for its customer service and employee programs and has been the inspiration for other high-end customer experiences <a href="http://socialmediatoday.com/The-Big-Brand-Theory/ritz-carlton-uses-social-media-create-indelible-memories" target="_blank">like Apple's retail stores</a>. This extends to the brand's social media presence, where an emphasis is placed on engagement, not just numbers.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Hospitalityfan">@Hospitalityfan</a> We place focus on engagement levels. Fan acquisition not big priority for us. Nice to have, but engagement essential <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MMchat&src=hash">#MMchat</a></p>
— The Ritz-Carlton (@RitzCarlton) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitzCarlton/statuses/334111622295609344">May 14, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<p>How does this relate to you as a community manager? Like the Ritz-Carlton Ladies and Gentlemen, you have to be empowered to help your community. When community members constantly hear "I'll pass that feedback on," or "I'll let the product team know," in response to their feedback, they quickly realize that the community manager is ineffective and lose faith in them. A community manager has to be empowered to become a part of the decision-making process, functioning as the primary conduit from the community to the company. Unfortunately, the answer to some feedback may be "No," or "not in the foreseeable future," but letting the community know this instead of being afraid to say No is generally a better option. </p>
<p>Another important aspect of Ritz-Carlton's policy to keep in mind is that it doesn't just pertain to turning around negative experiences. Their much lauded $2,000 policy (that any member of staff is enabled to spend up to that amount to make a customer happy, without General Manager approval) says nothing about making an <em>unhappy</em> customer happy - it applies to all customers. While you may not have such a hefty bankroll for making your community members happy, think about the little ways you can build them up: member appreciation programs, <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/14-events-you-can-organize-and-celebrate-in-your-community" target="_self">events</a>, even something as simple as giving them a shout-out. </p>
<p>Finally, if your community has reached the third phase of the <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-online-community-lifecycle-stage-three-maturity" target="_self">Online Community Lifecycle (Maturity)</a> and your new member numbers have begun to stagnate, don't start to fret. Remember that engagement is key to keeping your members happy and active. In the business world, it's a well documented fact that it's <a href="http://www.inc.com/karl-and-bill/its-cheaper-to-keep-em.html" target="_blank">more efficient to keep existing customers</a> than seek out new ones - the same applies to your community.</p>
<p>How do you make it a priority to create personal experiences for your community? </p>
</div>Concentrate Activityhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/concentrate-activity2013-11-22T19:47:20.000Z2013-11-22T19:47:20.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Imagine you have 30 people that want to meet up. Where would you do it?</p>
<p>You could meet in a bar or cafe, but it will probably feel a little too loud and squished. You could meet in an exhibition centre, but it would feel too empty and lack a close atmosphere.</p>
<p>Or you could meet in a local community hall. It's cosy, not empty.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281981?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281981?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>This is just as true for communities. When you launch a community you want to focus your activity in as small a place as possible. Don’t use all the features you have available. Hold some back for when the community grows.</p>
<p>Concentrate your activity and add more areas when you need them.</p></div>[POSTPONED] Upcoming Webinar: Creating Healthy Communities in Social Media with Ric Dragonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/upcoming-webinar-creating-healthy-communities-in-social-media2013-11-18T20:17:10.000Z2013-11-18T20:17:10.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p><em><span class="font-size-3">Edited 11/19: Due to technical issues, this webinar has been postponed. We look forward to announcing the new date and time shortly. </span></em></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">On November 21st, Ric Dragon will host a free webinar on creating healthy communities using social media.</span></p>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><span class="font-size-3"><font color="#000000" face="arial,verdana,helvetica">Tolstoy famously opened his novel Anna Karenina with, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” The same could be said of communities; there is a strong similarity to a dysfunctional community and a dysfunctional family. In this webinar, Ric Dragon is going to discuss some of the underlying concepts behind what makes for healthy communities in social media. </font></span></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Thursday, November 21st at 9am PDT</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/399740374" target="_blank"><img src="http://creators.ning.com/images/signupnow.png" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3">(find your <a href="http://everytimezone.com/#2013-11-21,300,6bj" target="_blank">local time here</a>) </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><strong>ABOUT THE PRESENTER:</strong><br> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282056?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282056?profile=original" width="100" class="align-left"></a>Ric Dragon is the author of Social Marketology and the DragonSearch Online Marketing Manual, both published by Mc-Graw Hill. He is the CEO and co-founder of DragonSearch, with more than 20 years of extensive experience in graphic design, information architecture, web development and digital marketing. As an artist, Ric has been shown in countless group and solo shows. He is a regular guest columnist for Marketing Land, and Social Media Monthly, and a speaker at many marketing and business conferences.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">A recording of this webinar will be available on the Ning <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/community+management+talks" target="_self"><font color="#75AF2D">Community Management Talks</font></a> channel, and you can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NingTalk.</span></p></div>Organizing an Unruly Community: Share Storieshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-share-stories2013-11-12T17:00:00.000Z2013-11-12T17:00:00.000ZCarrie Melissa Joneshttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CarrieMelissaJones<div><p class="p1"><a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-a-5-step-series" target="_self">By now</a>, you've <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-open-up-lines-of-communication" target="_self">opened up lines of communication</a>, written and shared <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-lay-down-the-law-write-some-simple" target="_self">solid guidelines</a>, and <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-establish-benchmarks-and-goals" target="_self">established benchmarks</a>. You're bound to have made a few in-depth connections with community members. Now is the time to harness these connections, get to know people more deeply, and share their stories.</p>
<p class="p1">Stop what you're doing and send a few emails to schedule calls or Google Hangouts with users this week. You should keep doing this periodically or create an easy automated way for people to share stories in an ongoing</p>
<p class="p1">On these calls, ask your community members about their lives and why they do what they do and how you can help them. Don't just talk about your product or service. Invest your time in them as human beings. Ask them what they love and what ticks them off. With their permission, I highly suggest recording these conversations. Over a smartphone or in-person, I recommend an app called "<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.recordertheapp.com/" target="_blank">Recorder</a>". On the computer, there are a few plugins you can use to record your audio for later use (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.evaer.com/" target="_blank">Evaer</a> for Skype is one I've used). <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/" target="_blank">Google Hangouts</a> lets you record things On Air, so that's a great option. Again, get their permission first.</p>
<p class="p1"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282035?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282035?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a>If you want to do something a bit more "scaleable," create a series of questions (say, 5 of 'em) and simply email them to 5-10 people and have them respond with their answers. This will create instant content. I like to ask for photos as well so I can include them with the content. It just makes the piece that much more personal. People are generally more than happy to provide one.</p>
<p class="p1">Once you have some stories to share, do a quick check to make sure you have plans for distribution of the stories. If you're lucky, you already have someone on your team working on these efforts or you walked into them already set up. But if you're just starting out, you may be a lone ranger. That's okay, just start simply with:</p>
<ol>
<li>Blog</li>
<li>E-mail newsletters + links to subscribe shared out</li>
<li>Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and/or any other social profiles that make sense for your community</li>
</ol>
<p class="p2">Now, write like you're going mad. Share the stories out in multiple ways. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.vocus.com/blog/repackage-reuse-content-lead-gen/" target="_blank">Keep re-purposing your content and re-imagining it</a>. Write a blog post, but then also create presentations to post on Slideshare, upload it to Scribd, share it out on all your social profiles... there are so many ways to share and keep the stories alive.</p>
<p class="p2">Get your whole team in on the sharing and have them send out the stories to people they know on their social networks. Send it out to other online communities with similar purposes that you may be a part of. Just get that community out there.</p>
<p>These are the stories that will sell your community to others. This is community as a growth engine. Make it awesome. Make it accessible. Make your community members feel like they're part of something and that you care about their story. If you invest in them, they're much more likely to invest in you.</p></div>Big Launch Syndromehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/big-launch-syndrome2013-11-07T17:10:00.000Z2013-11-07T17:10:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><span class="font-size-3">Most branded communities fall victim to a crippling disease. It's a disease spread largely by marketing folk. I call it the Big</span> <span class="font-size-3">Launch Syndrome. The Big Launch Syndrome can be identified by several  common symptoms.</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Issuing a press release.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Hosting a contest/offering incentives to get people to register.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Developing expensive bespoke community platforms</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Advertising/promotion about the community.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Mass e-mails announcing the launch of a community.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Guest post by the CEO.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Blogger/influencer outreach campaigns.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3148/3091222567_947819d221.jpg?width=400" width="400" class="align-center" /> <span class="font-size-3">The Big Launch Syndrome is what happens when brands adopt a marketing-led approach to developing a community (as opposed to a community-led approach). It's what happens when brands don't realize that a community is a unique field which requires a unique approach. It's what happens when brands fail to understand that an online community has (unsurprisingly) more in common with offline community theory than previous marketing efforts.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">A big launch establishes a bad first impression, wastes a lot of money, sets too great expectations, focuses on the wrong metrics and is a massive gamble. Worse still, the Big Launch Syndrome is fatal. Every community that falls victim to it dies. To all brands, I know how tempted you are to go with the big launch. It's what you know and what you're familiar with. It feels safer. It feels like it should work, but it doesn't. Start small, grow steadily. Focus on a narrow group. Get 50 highly active members, then aim for 100 and 500. Forget a public launch and celebrate public milestones instead.</span></p>
<p>(<i>Image: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/3091222567/">Redline</a>, a Creative Commons <a rel="nofollow" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">Attribution (2.0)</a> image from jurvetson's photostream</i>)</p>
</div>3 Hallmarks of an Excellent Modern Community Managerhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/3-hallmarks-of-an-excellent-modern-community-manager2013-11-01T16:00:00.000Z2013-11-01T16:00:00.000ZAlethe Denishttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/AletheDenis<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282117?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282117?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="260" class="align-right" style="padding: 10px;"></a>Community management can be tricky terrain to navigate. Whether you manage a community of slick talking sales professionals or manage complaints for an adult daycare, as it may seem some days, tailoring your approach to fit your community is essential. However, I have found that the core principles of managing a community are the same across all platforms and interests. For example, you can have ten different communities around Bonsai Trees and each will develop a different personality, and grow and develop at its own rate, through the same set of stages. By the same token, communities with varying interests and possibly even on totally separate platforms all require certain management skills and tactics that can be applied across the board.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282137?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282137?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="280" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;"></a>I’ve been an avid social media enthusiast since before anyone had even heard the term “Social Media”. Anyone remember <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRC" target="_blank">mIRC Chat</a>? Back in the 1990s, chat rooms were the only social medium that was readily available to the public. Bulletin boards were mostly professional and required you be a member of an organization or to be invited by a member. Being an Admin of a chat room was EASY. There was only one medium for communication and the majority of handles allowed for anonymity and therefore total freedom of text, without fear of repercussions. Additionally, admins only had three actions to consider: reply, ban, or ignore.</p>
<p>Today’s community managers have a bit more on their plates. You aren’t really managing a bunch of anonymous handles. You are managing, nurturing, and severing relationships. MySpace and Facebook launched the model for the modern communities we curate today. Communities where people can post a myriad of media types and where people generally use their real names and photos while interacting with people they know or meet online. In these modern communities everyone can find you, and your “likes” are even considered admissible in court as evidence.</p>
<p>Managing a few different types of communities, all at various stages of development, has taught me a great deal about people. Through my trials and tribulations I have discovered that three key elements are paramount to any community’s success. While they can be described simply as “work” for you, I believe that incorporating these three attributes into any community management strategy will result in marked improvement in engagement.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Consistency</strong></span></p>
<p>Consistency is King in all interactions with your community members. Like wrangling a bunch of grubby four year olds on the playground, you must wield your power fairly and enforce the rules equally, or you will suffer a barrage of mean spirited feedback. Make the rules clear, concise and indisputable. Your “Rules” or Terms of Use should also be readily available to all community members upon joining and anytime thereafter. <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/list/tag/community+guidelines" target="_self">Once the guidelines are set</a>, follow them. If you start to play favorites or more harshly moderate certain individuals, regardless of your community type or platform, you will come under fire very quickly for not being “Fair.” Unfortunately, a response of “Life’s not Fair” won’t win you any fans either.</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-3">Availability</span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282163?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282163?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="220" class="align-right" style="padding: 10px;"></a></strong></p>
<p>Your community doesn’t take a weekend, holiday, or mental health day. In fact, most communities for special interests will become <em>more</em> active outside of traditional working hours, when most people have time to interact and contribute. You should always be monitoring your community on a daily basis. I usually operate under the notion that if I am not sleeping, then I am available to my members. Customer Service is the most essential part of doing business. Your community may not be a retail store front, however you are offering a service to your members and with that comes the responsibility of supporting their needs and addressing their concerns as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>Some folks will need quite a bit more attention than others. In fact you may never hear from 80% of your community, regardless of if they have problems or not. Monitoring your community’s discussions for issues and community concerns is also an integral part of this support. You can’t rely on your members to let you know if there is a problem directly. I usually learn that there is a problem or situation from user discussions prior to anyone actually composing an email regarding the problem.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Value</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282188?profile=RESIZE_320x320" target="_self" width="280"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282188?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right" style="padding: 10px;"></a></p>
<p>There are many, many places that your potential community members can go to learn about and discuss their cat figurine collections. For that reason it is vital that you have quality, valuable content available within your community. You can invite all the cat figurine authorities to join your community and write your little heart out but at the end of the day your members need to be able to find Value in joining and contributing to your community. Even with a new community it’s important to add quality content and interact with your members in a way that not only shows that you are educated on the subject of cat figurines but that you also enjoy the heck out of collecting them. Passion for your topic will attract others who are passionate and encourage them to interact with others in your community.</p>
<p>If you build great value within your community, as well as curate and promote the quality content of your members, the rest will follow. Gaining a lot of new members all at once won’t encourage growth and interaction in your community unless the value is already there. Encourage gradual growth instead, through the dispersing of valuable information and expert engagement. Your community is about interaction between members and the sharing of knowledge, as well as fostering personal sharing and building of relationships between members. Reach out to people who can lend their expertise to your community. Through their contributions, you will grow your credibility and entice new members to join, as well as increasing the participation of your current members.</p>
<p>Your community is not a pot of water that you are waiting to see boil. Instead it is a very delicate sauce, which needs constant attention and patience. It takes time and loads of energy to develop a truly fantastic and engaged community. Deliver Value, Be Available and Be Consistent and your efforts will be rewarded.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282230?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282230?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="140" class="align-left" style="padding: 10px;"></a></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282230?profile=original" target="_self"> </a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Alethe Denis</strong> is the Social Media Manager for <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.imagiclab.com" target="_blank">iMagicLab</a> and Community Manager of <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dealer20.com" target="_blank">Dealer20</a> and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.lifeclip.com" target="_blank">Lifeclip</a>. An early adopter of all things social media and future cat lady. Connect with her via <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/alethe" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> or <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.twitter.com/Leafies42" target="_blank">Twitter</a></p></div>How To Persuade Employees To Join Your Company's Online Communityhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-persuade-employees-to-join-your-company-s-online-community2013-10-30T17:00:00.000Z2013-10-30T17:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Your employees probably aren’t keen to help you build a community. It’s more work for them. It’s not even in their job description. If you force them to get involved, you’re going to get the minimum effort.</p><p>So don’t force them, addict them. Here’s a few ideas to get your employees involved in building your community.</p><div style="margin-left: 2em;"><ul><li><b>Interview Them.</b> People like to feel important. Interview an employee for the community. Ask for opinions and comments on the interview. I bet your employee joins in the conversation. Then get him or her to interview someone else for the community.</li><li><b>Introduce them to fans.</b> Introduce them to fans of their work. If they work in marketing, introduce them to people that like their marketing materials.</li><li><b>Talk about them.</b> Talk about your employees in the community. No one can resist learning what people are saying about them.</li></ul></div><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5226980494/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5166/5226980494_4a122c7cb5.jpg?width=500" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></p><div style="margin-left: 4em;"><ul><li><b>Community-voted employee of the month.</b> Every month let the community vote on their favourite staff members from a list. Those with 0 votes might decide it would help if people knew who they were – and what a way to improve customer service. You might also want to turn this into…</li><li><b>A popularity ladder.</b> Keep an ongoing popularity ladder. With awards for the top members, most improved etc. Copy the sports team format of fans favourite.</li><li><b>Give an employee an advice column.</b> Give employees responsibility for a 4 week advice column on one specific aspect of your product or service. Why 4 weeks? It's low pressure and won't last forever. They might just enjoy the interactions and fame.</li><li><b>Online customer complaints.</b> Be bold; build a specific place for online customer complaints. The customer community can complain against products, specific staff interactions, anything they like.</li><li><b><img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4085/5096035675_fbc69eac8f_n.jpg?width=214" width="214" class="align-right"/>Ask for feedback and improvements.</b> Ask the community to give their feedback and recommendations – directly to the employee’s e-mail address.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Ask the employees to run a competition.</b> Ask an employee to run a competition or innovation project related to their field of expertise.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Moderation and Responsibility.</b> Give them power to moderate and responsibility for a forum/group within your community.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Name areas of the community after them.</b> Sneaky, but name areas of the community after staff members.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Bring it up in staff meetings.</b> Make the community report item 5) in every meeting. What’s the latest news, developments, ideas and complaints?</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">20% rule.</b> Like <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/jobs/21pre.html?_r=0" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">Google</a>, offer a 20% rule for innovation and getting involved in your community. They don’t have to use it, but I bet they want to.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Only let the top employees participate.</b> Now everyone wants to participate. Once you’ve reached top employee status, you can join and represent the company to the community.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Set an employee –vs- community challenge.</b> What’s a big challenge facing your organisation? Set a challenge with your employees competing against the community. See who comes up with the best solution.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Create profiles with ugly pictures.</b> Another sneaky idea, but effective. Create profiles for each employee – but use pictures they don’t like.</li><li><b style="font-size: 12pt;">Participatory content.</b> Start a series all your employees can be involved with. Try “Day in the life of….” It’s easy and builds relationships with members.</li></ul></div><p>Above all, look for opportunities involving responsibility, fame, and their ego over financial incentives. Being rated and judged by the community is a power motivator to keep returning.</p><p>(<i>Images: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5226980494/">Student participation in open source projects (A professor's perspective)</a>, a Creative Commons <a rel="nofollow" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en">Attribution Share-Alike (2.0)</a> image from opensourceway's photostream; </i><i><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48424574@N07/5096035675/">trophy 1 | the both and | shorts and longs | julie rybarczyk</a>, a Creative Commons <a rel="nofollow" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">Attribution (2.0)</a> image from 48424574@N07's photostream</i>)</p></div>Awesome Questions To Ask New Members Of Your Online Communityhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/awesome-questions-to-ask-new-members-of-your-online-community2013-10-24T14:00:00.000Z2013-10-24T14:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><span class="font-size-3">Filling out your profile when you join a community is a tedious task. You’ve done it on dozens of other communities and very few people are going to read it. It’s also damned difficult to talk about yourself. You walk the fine line between arrogant and boring. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281958?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281958?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">So ditch the About Me section and ask specific, interesting questions instead. Here are a few of my favorites:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><i>How did you first become interested in {topic}?</i></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><i>What was your best experience in</i> <em>{topic}?</em></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><i>Who do you most admire/who is your favorite {topic person}?</i></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><i>What do you think will happen in {topical issue}?</i></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><i>What do you want to get from this community?</i></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font-size-3">The questions are easier and more interesting to reply to. Nearly every answer will be interesting, too. By revealing this information your also disclosing personal thoughts about yourself which <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/10/bonding-a-community-the-final-step.html" target="_blank">increases your level of engagement</a>. Finally, it will give you great content to introduce newcomers to others in the community. </span></p></div>Advanced Social Sciences for Community Builders [Video]https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/advanced-social-sciences-for-community-builders-video2013-10-23T18:00:49.000Z2013-10-23T18:00:49.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KIqQR7YuZdQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>On Tuesday, Richard Millington joined us to explain 16 social science concepts that are relevant to community builders. Hit play on the recording above to learn more about the advanced social sciences that underpin our work as community builders and get insight into how you can leverage these concepts to influence behavior and build bigger, better, and more active communities.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282037?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282037?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-center"></a><em>(Click image to view larger size)</em></p>
<p>Unlike <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/community+management+talks" target="_self">past presentations</a>, there is no direct connection between the themes discussed outside of the fact that they are all concepts sprung from the social sciences. I found this non-narrative approach refreshing and at the end of the hour was left with the urge to research and find out more about the <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=social+identity+theory&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=" target="_blank">Social Identity Theory</a>, <a href="http://www.behaviormodel.org/" target="_blank">BJ Fogg's Behavior Model</a>, roles and labeling effects, and the new best friend theory. On Richard's recommendation, I added <a href="http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Situationist</a>, <a href="http://www.spring.org.uk/" target="_blank">PsyBlog</a>, and <a href="http://gpi.sagepub.com/" target="_blank">Group Processes and Intergroup Relations</a> to my reading list; if you're interested in the topic, you should do the same! Scroll on for key takeaways shared on Twitter and add your own thoughts in the comments below. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Don't overload your community with unused features... focus on what people are actually using <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NingTalk&src=hash">#NingTalk</a></p> — Crystal Coleman (@thatgirlcrystal)
<a href="https://twitter.com/thatgirlcrystal/statuses/392688591056285696">October 22, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>For <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23communities&src=hash">#communities</a>, major goals are too daunting, smaller, achievable goals elicits more productive engagement <a href="https://twitter.com/RichMillington">@richmillington</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ningtalk&src=hash">#ningtalk</a></p> — Catherine Shinners (@catshinners)
<a href="https://twitter.com/catshinners/statuses/392694353241862144">October 22, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>"The Vocal Minority Believe that they speak on behalf of everyone" - <a href="https://twitter.com/RichMillington">@RichMillington</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NingTalk&src=hash">#NingTalk</a></p> — Alethe Denis (@Leafies42)
<a href="https://twitter.com/Leafies42/statuses/392688181822255104">October 22, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>People become the expectations of them. If you give people roles & implied characteristics, they will adopt those tendencies. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NingTalk&src=hash">#NingTalk</a></p> — Allison Leahy (@zapleahy)
<a href="https://twitter.com/zapleahy/statuses/392693191205351424">October 22, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Communities that last the longest have the strongest sense of community. - <a href="https://twitter.com/RichMillington">@RichMillington</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NingTalk&src=hash">#NingTalk</a> <a href="http://t.co/hx4nw8ifiH">pic.twitter.com/hx4nw8ifiH</a></p> — Ning (@Ning)
<a href="https://twitter.com/Ning/statuses/392687032423575552">October 22, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Inspiring, Enlightening & Motivational! Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/RichMillington">@RichMillington</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/Ning">@Ning</a> for a great <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NingTalk&src=hash">#NingTalk</a></p> — Penni Shelton (@PenniShelton)
<a href="https://twitter.com/PenniShelton/statuses/392711001562296320">October 22, 2013</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"></blockquote>
<hr>
<p>For more community management best practices, <a href="http://www.feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank">download</a> half of <em>Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities</em> for free, then thank <a href="http://twitter.com/richmillington" target="_blank">@RichMillington</a>!</p>
<p>Advanced Social Sciences for Community Builders is part of the <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/community-management-talks" target="_self">Ning Community Management Talks</a> series. Past presentations cover topics including strategies for generating activity, managing growth, facilitating member engagement, <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/metrics-and-measurement-for-community-health-video" target="_self">metrics and measurement for community health</a>, and the science behind it all. </p></div>Organizing an Unruly Community: Open up Lines of Communication from Community Manager to Customerhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-open-up-lines-of-communication2013-10-22T16:00:00.000Z2013-10-22T16:00:00.000ZCarrie Melissa Joneshttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CarrieMelissaJones<div><p>In this 5-part series, Carrie explains how to take your community from unruly to organized, positioning you for scalability and growth. You can find the <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-a-5-step-series" target="_self">full introduction here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Step 1: Create a clear line of communication from yourself to the community.</strong></p>
<p>The first step is surprisingly simple. If you're managing an unruly community, the very first thing you need to do is throw people clear communication channels. This can be scary and unpredictable, but it is necessary.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282047?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282047?profile=original" width="457" class="align-center"></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282076?profile=original" target="_self"><br></a> Here’s a great way to get started:</p>
<ol>
<li>Send out individual emails to all current users. Use a program like Mailchimp or Constant Contact to monitor response rates and open rates. Follow up with those who don’t open the email. Before sending, get input from your design team (if applicable) and product team in order to make sure you're all on the same page about messaging. It's best to throw in your picture so they know you’re a real person and give them several ways of reaching you (Twitter, G+, email).</li>
<li>For community members who have been sending out angry messages, write a special (super short!) note in addition to that email. Tell them how important their input is. Whatever they request, make it happen if you can or make sure they know you're advocating for them higher up if you can't.</li>
<li>Create a platform for people to talk to one another. Involve your product, engineering, business, and any other relevant teams in this discussion. Take some time to think about where your community is most likely to feel comfortable and start there. Choose a platform that's free or cheap so you can transfer if necessary or integrate into your product later. This is a pilot. Ning, Mightybell, Google+, and Facebook are all great starting points.</li>
<li>Continue outreach on a regular basis via email or private message as well as the platform to the following groups of people: newcomers, anyone who has commented and started a good discussion, anyone with customer service issues, and anyone with product feature suggestions.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now wait for the responses. Dedicate yourself to replying to each one at some point in the day or funneling them to the right people (preferably after lunch so your blood sugar is up). Once you've established a relationship, funnel future queries to the community itself and have people send their questions to the community platform. That will release you from answering a bevy of emails and allow the community to gather together and help one another. Choose a few people who are positive and encourage them to take care of others. Send swag if you must!</p>
<p></p></div>Creating A Sense Of Belonging In Your Online Communityhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/creating-a-sense-of-belonging-in-your-online-community2013-10-17T14:40:00.000Z2013-10-17T14:40:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Not many groups offer a sense of belonging. Most groups don’t try. Members join for a tangible benefit rather than an emotional need. When a member really feels they belong amongst a group, their loyalty, commitment, and willingness to help increase dramatically. You have them for life.</p>
<p>Creating a sense of belonging requires a high-involvement approach. Far higher than what you’re currently doing. Every member needs to be treated as an individual. He or she needs to be personally welcomed by others, invited to get involved, given responsibilities, have a mentor/buddy to see them through, and be sought out if they’ve gone absent for a while.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281970?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281970?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>Most organizations, including yours, will say a super-high involvement strategy isn’t possible. It requires too much time, money, and resources. It <em>is</em> possible, just not if it’s entirely run by your organization. You need every member to help run the community.</p>
<p>Most branded communities move too fast. First they try to get a lot of people, then they aim for a lot of involvement. Do the opposite. First try to get a lot of involvement from a dozen members, then grow steadily. Never accept a member if you can’t offer a high-level of contact. This is the level of involvement you should strive to achieve. You want members to feel you care about each person.</p>
<p>A high involvement strategy should, naturally, get members more involved. If you begin high-involvement from the beginning, it ripples onwards throughout the community. Every member will be involved.</p>
<p>If you already have a community then begin a high-involvement approach with just 10 members. Contact them often, both online and offline, solicit their views often. Highlight places they might like to participate. Offer them roles and responsibilities. Spend 80% of your time on just 10 members. Soon they should do the same with 10 of their own.</p></div>Organizing an Unruly Community: A 5-Step Serieshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/organizing-an-unruly-community-a-5-step-series2013-10-15T16:00:00.000Z2013-10-15T16:00:00.000ZCarrie Melissa Joneshttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CarrieMelissaJones<div><p>Today, I'm starting a series about organizing an active community that's never before been managed. This situation is growing more common, since many companies with successful products realize late in the game that they need someone onboard to organize the (messy, disorganized, broken) communities that have grown as a result. If you’re just starting out, there is hope.</p>
<p>I'm here to answer the question: Where do you begin when you're tasked with something so overwhelming? You have so many questions and yet you have very little time to ask them. </p>
<p>I’ve been there. I picked up the never-before-managed expert academic communities for Chegg’s homework help products. It's been an interesting road. But I’m now successfully through the crisis stage and onwards on a journey toward community unity and awesomeness.</p>
<p>Your users may be angry, they may be frustrated, or they may be breaking rules that don't even exist yet. It's tempting to jump in and start responding right off the bat. Instead, you should arrive with an action plan.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282005?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282005?profile=original" width="600" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p>This will be a five-part series, organized in the following steps that you should take if you're facing too many roads to travel down all of them at once:</p>
<ol>
<li>Create a clear line of communication from yourself to the community. </li>
<li>Create rules and guidelines. Distribute them widely.</li>
<li>Survey the current community for sentiment to get a sense of what motivates them to leave or keep coming back. Institute end surveys for people who decide to leave.</li>
<li>Pick out the positive examples in your community and tell their stories a bunch of different ways and through a bunch of different channels.</li>
<li>Create long-term strategy, outreach, and content efforts for the community. Begin to tell the community's history. Make it badass.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, before you begin this journey, take a moment to breathe and remind yourself that each person you help is a victory. Make your users feel amazing and you will reap the rewards. Don't let the detractors get you down. </p>
<p>Take another moment to be thankful. If your company has created products that are engaging enough to build an organic community, that's a very good sign that you're working on something worthwhile.</p>
<p>And, finally, after you're done deep breathing and being thankful, decide today what success will look like for you in your new role. So many community managers skip this step and end up working tirelessly toward some nebulous endpoint that never presents itself. Instead, decide now what you will see as a success at the end of the week, in one month, and in six months: a specific growth goal, a specific number of replies sent, a specific number of engaged comments. Take things from there so you have a concrete goal to work toward.</p>
<p>Now go out and wow 'em. </p></div>Metrics and Measurement for Community Health [Video]https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/metrics-and-measurement-for-community-health-video2013-10-08T15:40:00.000Z2013-10-08T15:40:00.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Jb_EeBqp8s?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3">If you want to increase the number of members who are participating in your community,</span><span class="font-size-3"> where should you focus your time to get the best results? Should you be promoting your community on Facebook and Twitter, or reaching out to members privately by email?</span></span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3">If 50 community members are complaining about a site change, what should you do? Should you revert back to the original design, should you survey members to find out more, or should you do nothing at all?</span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3">The answers to these questions and more are in your community's data. You must collect data to understand h</span></span><span class="font-size-3">ow successful your community engagement efforts are and wha</span><span class="font-size-3">t is or isn't working in your community. </span></span><span class="font-size-3">A data-driven community manager would look at which channels are giving them the members that actually convert to regular participants of the community. She would recognize the complaints, but would soon realize t<span class="font-size-3">hat what members get riled up about can actually be irrelevant to what they're doing. </span></span><span class="font-size-3"><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Once you start gathering data, you will begin to track and learn how your community is progressing through its lifecycle. From there, you can design interventions to increase engagement, improve the sense of community, and make your community a success. Measuring data is a critical part in knowing where you are now, it can help you:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><font size="3">Deal with unseen problems</font></li>
<li><font size="3">Respond properly to vocal minorities</font></li>
<li><font size="3">Allocate your time</font></li>
<li><font size="3">Optimize your tasks</font></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font-size-3">I</span><span class="font-size-3">n the recording above, FeverBee</span><span class="font-size-3"> founder and community consultant Richard Millington reviews the many <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/measuring-an-online-community-master-your-data-to-gain-an-unfair-" target="_self">important metrics you can gather data around</a>, including: <span class="font-size-3"><br /></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>New visitors</b>. This shows whether your outreach is successful. Always compare it to the previous month and six months ago. You should also analyze where these visitors arrived from and track how many of each progressed into active members. You can also track the success of each different source of members (where does the best quality traffic come from?)</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>New visitors to new registered members</b>. This shows whether your website is optimized for converting a curious visitor into a member and whether you're attracting the right sort of visitors. You can go further and measure their progress through each stage of the registration form.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Percentage of members who make a contribution</b>. This shows whether you are converting those that register into participants within the community. If this is low, you might be just collecting lurkers.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Members active within the past 30 days</b>. This shows whether you are gaining or losing active members. When this number starts to drop, you have a serious problem and a limited amount of time to correct course.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Contributions per active member per month</b>. This is an activity per member ratio. If this drops, members are less engaged in the community and this could lead to more members leaving. This might also show if a small number of members are dominating the discussions.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Visits per active member per month</b>. This shows how often members visit the community. The less frequently members visit, the more likely the contributions will drop and the number of active members will depart. This may also show the popularity of events held in the community.</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3"><b>Content popularity</b>. Each piece of content can and should be measured. How many people read it and how many responded to it. This will indicate which content items are most popular and which should be discontinued.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font-size-3">In addition to quantitative metrics, you may want to gather information about the the sentiment in your community. Feel free to use this <a href="http://bit.ly/18EEHrS" target="_blank">Sense of Community Index</a> to <span class="font-size-3">survey your members on an annual or bi-annual basis.</span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">For more community management best practices, </span><a href="http://www.feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">download</a><span class="font-size-3"> half of </span><em style="font-size: 12pt;">Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities</em><span class="font-size-3"> for free, then thank </span><a href="http://twitter.com/richmillington" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">@RichMillington</a><span class="font-size-3">!</span></p>
<hr />
<p>Metrics and Measurement for Community Health is part of the <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/community-management-talks" target="_self">Ning Community Management Talks</a> series. Past presentations cover topics including strategies for generating activity, managing growth, facilitating member engagement, <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">converting newcomers into active members</a>, and the science behind it all. </p>
</div>Measuring An Online Community: Master Your Data to Gain an Unfair Advantagehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/measuring-an-online-community-master-your-data-to-gain-an-unfair-2013-10-04T13:20:00.000Z2013-10-04T13:20:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208290?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>You have a truly remarkable advantage over offline community builders. You can track every single action your audience makes. You should know exactly what stage they are at in the membership life cycle process and which stages need to be optimized.</p>
<p>I'm always amazed by the number of organizations and community managers who have either:</p>
<ul>
<li>a) No strategy for the community beyond maintenance; or</li>
<li>b) A strategy built upon guesswork and assumptions when the data is so close at hand.</li>
</ul>
<p>You shouldn't be guessing what is or isn't working in a community. You should be religiously gathering and analyzing what the data. You should measure the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>New visitors</b>. This shows whether your outreach is successful. Always compare it to the previous month and six months ago. You should also analyze where these visitors arrived from and track how many of each progressed into active members. You can also track the success of each different source of members (where does the best quality traffic come from?)</li>
<li><b>New visitors to new registered members</b>. This shows whether your website is optimized for converting a curious visitor into a member and whether you're attracting the right sort of visitors. You can go further and measure their progress through each stage of the registration form.</li>
<li><b>Percentage of members who make a contribution</b>. This shows whether you are converting those that register into participants within the community. If this is low, you might be just collecting lurkers.</li>
<li><b>Members active within the past 30 days</b>. This shows whether you are gaining or losing active members. When this number starts to drop, you have a serious problem and a limited amount of time to correct course.</li>
<li><b>Contributions per active member per month</b>. This is an activity per member ratio. If this drops, members are less engaged in the community and this could lead to more members leaving. This might also show if a small number of members are dominating the discussions.</li>
<li><b>Visits per active member per month</b>. This shows how often members visit the community. The less frequently members visit, the more likely the contributions will drop and the number of active members will depart. This may also show the popularity of events held in the community.</li>
<li><b>Content popularity</b>. Each piece of content can and should be measured. How many people read it and how many responded to it. This will indicate which content items are most popular and which should be discontinued.</li>
</ul>
<p>You should also use <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2008/10/measuring-diy.html">sampling</a> to understand the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>What percentage of newcomers remain members for more than a month</b>. Select 10 newcomers from three months ago and analyze their journey through the community and specifically where they dropped out of the process. Did they make a contribution? Did they not make a second contribution? You can adjust and tweak your community for this.</li>
<li><b>Speed of replies to discussions</b>. How quickly are discussions receiving a reply? The faster the responses, the higher the level of social presence within the community and the greater the level of participation.</li>
<li><b>The percentage of newcomers who initiate a discussion</b>. This highlights whether newcomers may be unmotivated or intimidated to start discussions.</li>
<li><b>Language and tone of voice</b>. What language do members adopt when they address each other? Is it formal and polite? Is there friendly banter? Is there a sense of familiarity? This will let you know what <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/list/tag/community+lifecycle" target="_self">stage the community is in</a>.</li>
<li><b>Sense of community</b>. Ask members every year to participate in your specially modified version of the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.communityscience.com/pdfs/Sense%20of%20Community%20Index-2(SCI-2).pdf">sense of community index</a>.</li>
<li><b>Number of volunteers</b>. This will indicate the number of people moving on to the highest levels of engagement within the community. Low numbers usually limit the scalability of the community.</li>
</ul>
<p>Each piece of data will tell a story. If the number of active members is decreasing but the level of contributions continues to rise, it might indicate a core group is dominating discussions and other members are unable to break into the circle. As a result you might provide core members with a separate place to chat, or work to break newcomers into the group or talk directly to group members about the problem. </p>
<p>Create a spreadsheet and a graph showing all this data. Update this monthly. Watch for numbers that dip and take a corrective course of action. </p>
<p>When you gather data you can set objectives, strategy and targets for each of the areas of community management (growth, moderation, relationships, activities, content etc...). </p>
<p>In practice, if you notice the number of volunteers has dropped, you can set a relationships strategy to focus on fewer bring and offer opportunities to be involved in areas of the community they are passionate about. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>(<i>Image: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/286709039/">Measuring time</a>, a Creative Commons <a rel="nofollow" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en">Attribution (2.0)</a> image from aussiegall's photostream</i>)</p>
</div>The 5 Worst Community Guidelineshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-5-worst-community-guidelines2013-09-27T16:00:00.000Z2013-09-27T16:00:00.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208299?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>Community Guidelines can be a struggle to write, especially since they're so specific to your community and its members. Inspired by a recent <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=cmgrchat&src=typd&f=realtime" target="_blank">#CMGRChat</a> on developing community guidelines, here are some really terrible ways to phrase your guidelines. </p>
<p><strong>Don't be a nOOb</strong></p>
<p>Really? That's how you're greeting your new members... with admonishment that they might not even understand? Take a minute to think about what annoying behaviors you lump into the idea of a "nOOb" and figure out how to preempt that behavior. </p>
<p><strong>Don't [this], Don't [that], Don't [this thing, too]</strong></p>
<p>A focus on the negative can make members overwhelmed and almost afraid of the community they're joining. Try to focus on positive reinforcement instead. </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>Instead of "don't troll," it's "be awesome to one another." Focusing on encouraging positive action, not restricting. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23cmgrchat&src=hash">#cmgrchat</a></p>
— Matt Fairchild (@Scav) <a href="https://twitter.com/Scav/statuses/382938552436154368">September 25, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<p><strong>Only moderators are allowed to tell people when they're doing something bad.</strong></p>
<p>In a well-established, vibrant community, members will become pretty good at discouraging unacceptable behavior from newcomers. Obviously, you don't want your community ganging up on new people, but allowing them the freedom to say "Hey, that's not really cool... here's how this community works" to potentially disruptive members can be more effective than a moderator stepping in immediately. </p>
<p><strong>Having 16 pages of guidelines... for a brand new community.</strong></p>
<p>While you want to make sure that some ideal behaviors are laid out from the start, community guidelines should be heavily influenced by your community. How can you know what those guidelines will need to be until your community has actually gotten started? </p>
<p><strong>404 - Page Not Found</strong></p>
<p>And the worst community guidelines are the ones you haven't actually written. Relying simply upon a Terms of Use document, with no guidelines on how members are expected to behave within the community is basically letting the Wild West run free within your community. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Now that you know what not to say, check out this article from The Community Manager for ideas on getting your Community Guidelines started or refined: <a href="http://thecommunitymanager.com/2013/09/26/how-to-write-effective-community-guidelines/" target="_blank">How to Write Effective Community Guidelines</a>. </p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Lead Image inspired by the <a href="http://forums.roadbikereview.com/womens-cycling/1895-rules-female-cyclists-298333.html" target="_blank">list of Rules for Female Riders</a> from an 1895 edition of The New York World. </em></p>
</div>