webinar - Cultivating Community2024-03-29T14:42:56Zhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/feed/tag/webinarCreating Healthy Communities in Social Media [Video]https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/creating-healthy-communities-in-social-media-video2014-01-16T22:43:25.000Z2014-01-16T22:43:25.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p>On Thursday, we had the pleasure of hosting Ric Dragon, CEO and co-founder of DragonSearch, for an enlightening hour on Creating Healthy Communities in Social Media. From the origins of the term "community" to how dysfunctional communities are like families, this was a fast-paced hour packed with information. Check out the video below and read on for highlights.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lA8yhNDAO4U?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/84343642">Creating Healthy Communities in Social Media with Ric Dragon</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/ning">Ning</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>The most interesting takeaway from this talk for me were the analogies between functional families and functional communities. All healthy families will have a small amount of dysfunction. Ric argues that the essential elements for functional and healthy communities are: </p>
<p><strong>Empathy</strong> - Being able to feel the pain of others and identify it. When large groups of people have a lack of empathy, bad things happen. </p>
<p><strong>Addressing the Elephant in the Room</strong> - a taboo or big element that members don't want to talk about can be the downfall of a community.</p>
<p><strong>Boundaries</strong> - Blurring of the boundaries that mark what's appropriate interaction between community members can be a slide down a dysfunctional hill. </p>
<p><strong>Conflict Extremes</strong> - While conflict can be healthy, too much conflict can be detrimental and needs to be addressed. </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4">What did you appreciate most in this webinar? </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Other resources mentioned by Ric:</span> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/13/asch-elevator-experiment/" target="_blank">The Asch Conformity Experiments</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.thekmiecs.com/marketing-advertising/the-5-types-of-roles-you-need-in-your-community/" target="_blank">Adam Kmiec's 5 Roles in Community</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.moxnes.com/" target="_blank">The Deep Role Model (Paul Moxnes)</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuckman's_stages_of_group_development" target="_blank">Tuckman's 5 Stages of Group Development</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number" target="_blank">Dunbar's Number</a> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html" target="_blank">Sherry Turkle, Alone Together (TED Talk)</a></p>
<p><a href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nN5DFNT-6ToC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=dunbar+gossip+theory&ots=7_L9506OTd&sig=tL3tbjzc74T3ZvDcIoPXu2Gf9dw#v=onepage&q=dunbar%20gossip%20theory&f=false" target="_blank">Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language</a> (Robin Dunbar)</p>
<hr />
<p><span>Creating Healthy Communities is part of the </span><a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/community-management-talks" target="_self">Ning Community Management Talks</a><span> series. Past presentations cover topics including strategies for generating activity, managing growth, facilitating member engagement, </span><a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/metrics-and-measurement-for-community-health-video" target="_self">metrics and measurement for community health</a><span>, and the science behind it all.</span></p>
</div>Upcoming Webinar: Creating Healthy Communities in Social Media with Ric Dragonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/upcoming-webinar-creating-healthy-communities-in-social-media-wit2014-01-07T01:02:02.000Z2014-01-07T01:02:02.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p><span class="font-size-3">On January 16th, Ric Dragon will host a free webinar on creating healthy communities using social media.</span></p>
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<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>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Thursday, January 16th at 9am PDT</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/282823774" 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/#2014-01-16,300,6bj" 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=RESIZE_180x180" width="100" class="align-left" style="padding: 5px;"></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">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>Upcoming Webinar: Community Platform Design and Developmenthttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/upcoming-webinar-community-platform-design-and-development2013-12-08T18:48:51.000Z2013-12-08T18:48:51.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p><span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">On December 18th, Richard Millington will host a free webinar on best practices for developing and designing your community platform. He'll be taking a closer look at <span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">what makes some communities stand out from others, e</span><span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">xamining the theory behind community design and showing you how to determine w</span><span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">hat the core features and unnecessary distractions are for your community. </span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" data-mce-mark="1">The goal of this webinar is to guide you <span>through the steps of the community platform design and development process and help you to develop a community that's set up for success. </span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Wednesday, December 18th at 9am PDT</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/579566470" 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/#2013-12-18,300,6bj" 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 December 18th 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>[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>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>Upcoming Webinar: Metrics and Measurement for Community Healthhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/upcoming-webinar-metrics-and-measurement-for-community-health2013-09-24T19:04:22.000Z2013-09-24T19:04:22.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281949?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281949?profile=original" width="302" class="align-right" height="259"></a><span class="font-size-3">You shouldn't be guessing what is or isn't working in your community. You should be gathering and analyzing data about your community's health. Metrics can paint a vivid picture about whether your existing, active members are more or less engaged in the community, and they can highlight anything that might be a cause for concern.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">If you want to answer questions about how healthy your community is, begin by gathering data. <a href="http://click.et.ning.com/?qs=0dabfa53cca88cb2f91419bf0caaaf4631f091f1ae6401816e44e0bfe0cbf9f4"><font color="#75AF2D">Join us October 1st</font></a> at 11am Pacific time to find out how to capture and interpret the data that will tell you if you have a healthy community.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">At the end of this webinar, you will be able to determine the difference between metrics for return on investment (ROI) and metrics for community health, identify key data points that you should collect to track community health, and turn this data into actionable insights about your community. </span><a href="http://click.et.ning.com/?qs=0dabfa53cca88cb2f91419bf0caaaf4631f091f1ae6401816e44e0bfe0cbf9f4" target="_blank"><br></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><strong>Tuesday, October 1st at 11am PDT</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/135349318" target="_blank"><img src="http://creators.ning.com/images/signupnow.png" class="align-center"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">(find your <a href="http://everytimezone.com/#2013-10-1,360,6bj" target="_blank"><font color="#75AF2D">local time here</font></a>)</p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong><big>Key Takeaways</big></strong></span></p>
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<ul>
<li><span class="font-size-3">The difference between metrics for ROI and metrics for Community Health</span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">Key data you should collect to track and determine Community Health </span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">How to turn this data into actionable insights about your community </span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-3">How lurkers add value to your community </span></li>
</ul> </td>
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<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong><big>About the Presenter</big></strong></span></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" style="padding: 5px;"></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 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 October 1st at 11am 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>Human-Centered Aspects of Community Management [Video]https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/human-centered-aspects-of-community-with-marc-siegel-video2013-09-11T15:40:28.000Z2013-09-11T15:40:28.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><p>Communities are collections of people, with desires and egos, so instead of worrying about community in terms of technical platform or UX Design, let's focus on what makes people tick and want to participate in our online communities. Humans are at the forefront of this discussion led by longtime community manager, <a href="https://twitter.com/marcsiegel" target="_blank">Marc Siegel</a>.</p>
<p>Using his experience in a variety of communities, including B2B and consumer product and support, Marc Siegel took us through the steps necessary to create, build, and nourish a human-centered online community experience. Watch the recording below:</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yH_DhMYHvWY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Below are a few of the points that really resonated with us, and we'd love to know what elements of Marc's presentation struck a cord with you. Join the discussion over at the <a href="http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/human-centered-community-the-discussion" target="_blank">Ning Creators network</a> or share your response as a comment below. </p>
<p>People come for content, but stay for relationships. If you can become interested in some of the other people in the community, learn a bit more about them, and start having conversations with them, you've created a relationship. The simplest way to do this is by actually using a member's name when conversing with her, and it's also good practice to share your name when signing off. </p>
<p>When talking to your community members, make sure to be open, honest, and transparent. This is especially important when resolving disputes. If you don't know about something or can't speak to it, it's best to be upfront about that and avoid "squirrely" responses which can erode trust.</p>
<p>When criticism is levied within your community, censoring that content is not the answer. Acknowledge the criticism and let your members know that they're being heard, even if nothing can be done about it at the moment. </p>
<p>One of the most useful aspects of human-centered community is the ability to really involve your community members into decisions about a product. Power-users in your community are the ones who are already invested in your organization or product and the more you can take their constructive feedback to the product team or involve them in the process, the more your community will come together.  </p>
</div>How to Integrate Events Into Your Community Strategy [Video]https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/integrate-events-into-community-strategy-video-with-breda-doherty2013-06-05T23:19:04.000Z2013-06-05T23:19:04.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208242?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><em>How to Integrate Events Into Your Community Strategy is the seventh in a series of <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/community-management-talks" target="_self">Community Management Talks</a>. Previous webinars cover topics including: content, 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 social science of online communities. To be alerted of upcoming webinars, <a href="mailto:ningsocial@glam.com" target="_blank">email Allison</a> with the subject line "Add me."</em></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Events are an important component to any community's growth strategy. No matter what type of community you have, there are events that you can hold on a recurring or one-time basis to foster a deeper <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_of_community" target="_blank">sense of community</a>:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> "A feeling members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and the group, and a shared faith that <span class="font-size-3">member’s needs will be met through their commitment to be together." </span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="https://twitter.com/BredaDoherty" target="_blank"><font color="#75AF2D">Breda Doherty</font></a>, co-founder and director of <a href="http://hubb.it/" target="_blank">Hubb.it</a> and a community management consultant with <a href="http://feverbee.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#75AF2D">FeverBee</font></a>, joined us to discuss the impact of events, explore <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-different-types-of-events" target="_self">different types of events</a>, and explain how events can fit into your community strategy. We invite you to watch a recording of the webinar below and read on for a few words about the presentation.</span><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wqJH5DBzr9w?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Events are essential to the development of a healthy online community, and should be included in the community's growth strategy when it moves from the <a href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/01/introducing-the-map-a-proven-process-for-developing-successful-online-communities.html" target="_blank">inception to establishment phase</a>. Too many communities shun events entirely, leaving members to rely on organic discussions as the sole stimulus of content. This is a mistake. Events provide a cause for constant activity, enable social interactions, give members a reason to visit more frequently, and facilitate a strong sense of community.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">As a community manager, you can get a lot of mileage out of one event. Take this webinar as an example: Breda picked the topic, I drafted a synopsis and posted an <a href="http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/webinar-how-to-integrate-events-into-your-community-strategy-join" target="_blank">invitation</a> to the Ning Creators community, sent out a <a href="http://bit.ly/115hI22" target="_blank">promotional email</a> to all previous webinar participants, created an <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cb9u8ajvhkfkarcg6nu88gm3jak" target="_blank">event on Google+</a>, and posted the news to our social channels.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">As the event neared, some discussion was generated over on Creators, and the post was shared by our community to Twitter and Facebook. The registration list continued to grow, and we were ready for a great presentation. During the presentation, we encouraged listeners to submit questions for the Q&A session to follow. We also carried out a conversation on Twitter using the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NingTalk&src=hash" target="_blank">#NingTalk</a>. Now, we're sharing the recording and using material reviewed in the presentation as the basis for this blog post. Visitors to this blog can contribute their thoughts using the Disqus commenting feature, and elements of the webinar will be brought back to the Creators community to foster further discussion on the topic of events.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Broken down, this means a single one-hour webinar can result in one or more blog posts, multiple community-led discussions, an email broadcast and follow-up, social activity and amplification. The ideas presented in the webinar will, over time, fuel further discussion and may even lead to ancillary events. Additional content ideas include photos, summaries, video footage, supporting interviews with key individuals about the event, a preview, live blog, and so forth.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">So you see, online events are really quite beneficial -- they not only invigorate the community by bringing in outside ideas, they also stimulate dialogue and create a shared experience. Shared experience is fundamental, as it adds to the sense of community a sense of history and shared purpose.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Offline events in the form of exhibitions, product launches, conferences, trade shows, and themed parties are an even greater means of solidifying relationships, building trust, and growing community. According to a <a href="http://sais.aisnet.org/2011/YoungEtAl.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> by Young, Takeuda and Cuellar, offline events can increase page views by 60.4 percent and participation by 27.2 percent. Community members are indeed most engaged during events -- they are also more likely to invite friends to join in the fun.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Watch the webinar for more information on <span>the psychological implications of events, tips on </span>how to determine which events are best suited to your community, and a more detailed look at the kinds of content you can derive from a single event.</span></p>
<p><font size="3">Big thanks to Breda Doherty for sharing her expertise, and thank you to everyone who participated. </font></p>
<p><em><span class="font-size-2">For more in our Community Management Talks series, check out <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/content-and-community-webinar-recording-with-richard-millington" target="_self">Create Content that Your Community Will Love</a>with Richard Millington. You can also <a href="http://www.feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank">download</a> half of Richard's new book "Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities" for free. To be alerted of upcoming Community Management Talks, <a href="mailto:ningsocial@glam.com" target="_blank">email Allison</a> with the subject line "Add me."</span></em></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281760?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281760?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="120" class="align-left" height="120" style="padding: 5px;"></a></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span><a href="http://twitter.com/bredadoherty" target="_blank">Breda Doherty</a> is the co-founder and director of <a href="http://hubb.it" target="_blank">Hubb.it</a>, a global events community</span> <span>aiming to bring online the spirit of festivals, connect event goers, provide them with information to make their attendance easier, and give them a place to review their experiences. </span>In addition to managing the emergent Hubb.it community, Breda is a consultant with <a href="http://feverbee.com" target="_blank">FeverBee</a>, and helps to run the FeverBee Professional Community Management Course, which you can check out at <a href="http://course.feverbee.com" target="_blank">course.feverbee.com</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Breda got her start in community management at <a href="http://www.learningpool.com/conversations" target="_blank">LearningPool</a>, the UK's largest online learning community where events were a key part of the community’s growth strategy, and she saw firsthand how powerful events can be when growing an online community.</p>
<p><span> </span></p></div>Optimizing the New Member Experience: Q&A with Videohttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/optimizing-the-new-member-experience-q-a-with-video2013-04-30T21:10:00.000Z2013-04-30T21:10:00.000ZAllison Leahyhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/allisonleahy<div><p><span class="font-size-3"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/65113518?byline=0&portrait=0&color=75af42" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">Converting newcomers</a> into active, longtime members of your community doesn't happen overnight. Less than 9% of new unique visitors will ever register for your community, and just a tiny portion of those newcomers will sign-up and stay awhile. BUT, if you get in the habit of measuring and tracking the newcomer journey from day one through day 180, you will gather the insights you need to divert would-be lurkers into core contributors. In this Q&A session, Richard Millington, founder of <a href="http://www.feverbee.com/" target="_blank">FeverBee</a> and author of Buzzing Communities, answers a dozen crowdsourced questions on how to craft a new member strategy with <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/the-ultimate-welcome-for-your-online-community-s-newcomers" target="_self">warm, welcoming content</a> that will help you captivate and cultivate the best members for your community. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Imagine the conversion process as a sales funnel.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">From the top down, you have your first time visitors, returning visitors, registered members, first time contributors, regular contributors, and longtime contributors who are still participating six months later. Now, imagine that people are dropping out all along. You can use data to look at where people are dropping out, and test different interventions to improve the ratio.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">The thing about converting newcomers into regular members is that if it's not going well, it's a problem that you don't see. Unless you're measuring your data. Unless you're looking at where members are dropping out. This could be something that's happening in your community as well. You could have a lot of members that are visiting your community's home page, and a lot of members that are dropping out along the way.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">We looked at a variety of different data points and what we discovered was that for every 1000 members that visited the landing page or home page of the community, only one of them was a regular member six months later.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">One of the easiest and quickest ways you can improve your conversion ratio -- and build a much bigger online community than you have right now -- is by identifying and inviting the people who are already talking about your topic. Seek them out on Twitter and LinkedIn, point them to an interesting discussion that's going on in your community and invite them to join.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281684?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281684?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-center"></a>The conversion process doesn't stop at registration.</b></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">It's not enough to simply promote your community. When you're trying to grow your community, you have to give yourself more time to convert these newcomers into regulars. "For every one minute you spend recruiting someone to join, you're going to need an extra three minutes to convert them into a regular member," says Richard. "It's a rough, but probably fairly accurate ratio." The point being, newcomers need your time and they need your personal attention. BUT, not every member is worthy of a personal introduction. <span>Data shows that i</span>t's best to hold off until a member has made her first contribution. Engaging with and amplifying a first post will go a lot further than a quick 'hello.'</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Design your home page to encourage engagement. </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Latest activity should always be at the top of the homepage -- the first thing a visitor sees. Many organizations bury the important stuff beneath the fold -- the point where you need to scroll down to see what happens. Bold images and logos may look attractive, but they push critical information too far down the page. If the exciting things that are happening within the community are always visible, newcomers will be more inclined to participate right away. It's also a good idea to tweak the positioning of featured discussions, modify the layout, and change the call to action. Over time, if you're measuring your data, you will learn what works and what doesn't.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Be specific.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Make sure the welcome email highlights something within the community. Don't give new members ten things to look at, focus on one specific thing that you want them to do next. That initial post will get her caught up in the notification cycle where she will be more likely to continue participation. Community managers should redirect their energy on getting newcomers to make that first contribution right away. After that first post, it will be easier to build interest, engagement, and connections within the community.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Slow, steady growth is key.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You don't want an explosion of growth or one major promotional push. It can destroy the sense of community that already exists. Imagine if you visited your favorite community tomorrow and no longer recognized any of the contributors? Worse yet, they're all re-posting on topics that were talked through in previous months. If members are introduced to the community on a rolling basis, it is much easier to bring them up to speed and socialize them with existing model members. Facilitating these types of interactions early on will cement the foundation for the types of collaboration that make the community thrive. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Don't promote the community.</strong> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">Promote something that happens within the community. That way, visitors are primed to participate in something straight away. You have a relatively small window of time to encourage participation. If the engagement doesn't happen within the first few hours or days, it's far more likely for a new member to become a lurker and far more difficult to provoke future contributions.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>The six month mark.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You want newcomers to be participating in your community six months later. Six months is the standard amount of time someone has to participate in a community before they can be categorized as a regular.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You can improve these metrics quickly by measuring a newcomer's journey. The important thing is that you analyze new member behavior regularly and use those insights to calculate your next intervention. For more insights, watch Richard's webinar on <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/converting-newcomers-into-active-community-members" target="_self">Converting Newcomers into Active Community Members</a>. And, stay tuned for an overview of how to use Google Analytics and member data to track member activity from registration through the first six months.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1281731?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" style="padding: 9px;" class="align-right"></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For more community management best practices, </span><a href="http://www.feverbee.com/ning.html" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">download</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> half of </span><em style="font-size: 12pt;">Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities</em><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> for free, then thank </span><a href="http://twitter.com/richmillington" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12pt;">@RichMillington</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">!</span></p>
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<p>Optimizing The New Member Experience: Q&A is the sixth in a series of <a href="http://cultivate.ning.com/community-management-talks" target="_self">Community Management Talks</a> with <a href="http://feverbee.com" target="_blank">FeverBee</a> founder Richard Millington, who has already shared 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>
<p>To be alerted of upcoming Community Management Talks, <a href="mailto:ningsocial@glam.com" target="_blank">email Allison</a> with the subject line "Add me."</p></div>