community management (80)

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.
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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. So don’t force them, addict them. Here’s a few ideas to get your employees involved in building your community.
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Richard Millington leads a 60-minute presentation on the advanced social sciences that underpin our work as community builders. He takes us beyond motivation and covers topics such as roles and labeling effects, the new best friend theory, conformity, the bystander effect, group polarization, and eleven other concepts that can help you build bigger, better, and more active communities.
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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.
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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. 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.
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The answers to all your burning community health questions are in the data. Watch this webinar and learn how to diagnose community health through three key metrics: growth, activity, and sense of community. Then devise a data-driven strategy to improve the quality and frequency of engagement in your community.
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Don't guess what is or isn't working in a community--gather and analyze the data. Richard Millington outlines a few of the data points you should be measuring and how you can use this data to form actionable insights and improve the health of your community.
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Are Comments Bad for Science?

Popular Science declared that it is shutting off comments because "comments can be bad for science." The logic driving this decision is that less informed, quick-to-react readers may dominate the discussion and lead others astray. We argue that there are better ways to approach the problem at hand and offer alternative solutions to keep the community in tact.
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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. If you want to answer questions about how healthy your community is, begin by gathering data. Join us October 1st at 11am Pacific time to find out how to capture and interpret the data that will tell you if you have a healthy community.
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Using his experience in a variety of communities, Marc Siegel took us through the steps necessary to create, build, and nourish a human-centered online community experience. Watch the recording and tune into Marc's fabulous stories of community cultivation successes and failures.
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The biggest influence upon whether a newcomer becomes a regular (after their first contribution), is the speed and quality of the response to their first message. If they don't get a response within 24 hours, they're gone. Give priority to ensuring newcomers (the people with a 1 post count) get a quick response.
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Communities are collections of people, with desires and egos. Instead of worrying about community in terms of technical platform or UX experience, let’s focus on what makes people tick and want to participate in our online communities. Join us September 10th to learn the ins and outs of connecting with your community in a humanized way.
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The goal at this stage isn't to persuade members to create an online identity for the community. Don't ask any questions that don't relate to the name, e-mail, and password. The goal is simply to get them through this stage and back to participating.
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The goal of every community manager is to progress your community through its lifecycle. If you achieve this, you maximize what your community can be, the benefit it brings to your organization, and the benefits that members gain from the community. Watch the recording of Richard Millington's presentation to learn more about The Online Community Lifecycle and improve your approach to community management.
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In the first visit, members need to see something they want to participate in. Too frequently we focus upon getting members to read. That's easy. Getting them to participate is more difficult.
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Every few weeks, Ning invites a leading expert to discuss trending topics and best practices for community management. Watch the recordings here.

More than two million people have built a branded social network on Ning. Many of these customers now enjoy thriving online communities. You can find a few of those success stories here.

Learn what it takes to thrive and see what it is possible to achieve with Ning.


Growing a thriving online community is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Our goal at Ning is to make building a community dead simple. We provide an incredibly reliable, popular, and easy-to-use platform so you can focus on cultivating your community.

Learn how to start your community in minutes.

Have you considered monetizing your community? Download your free copy of Monetizing Online Forums by Patrick O'Keefe to learn what methods are available, how to implement them, and how you can benefit today.