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10 reasons why people aren’t contributing to your online community
If people aren’t contributing to your online community, you have a problem. Your community building efforts are going to fail if you can’t turn this around.
Online communities depend on continuity
You can’t expect to make a huge change to your online community without ramifications – especially when you try to change one of the few ways relationships are built and maintained.
What to expect as an online community manager
The role of an online community manager is always changing. If you’re new to the position or considering a career change, here’s an idea of what you can expect.
Don’t build a boring online community
Most online communities will fail – and they often fail for the same few reasons (I’ve mentioned them a number of times). What many community builders fail to understand though, is that their online community needs to be fun.
When an influential community member goes rogue
Your online community is controlled by a relatively small group of influencers or ‘power members’. As a community manager, you face a real dilemma if these members start to cause trouble. Here’s some advice to follow if you find an influential community member goes rogue.
A beginner’s guide to building a presence on Twitter
Twitter is a fantastic tool for building relationships and creating awareness. No community manager can ignore Twitter – whether you’re building a brand new online community or managing an existing one, you should be using Twitter. Just make sure you’re using it properly.
New Year’s resolutions for online community managers
Here are some suggested New Year’s resolutions for managers of online communities. You might focus on some of these already, but there is always room for improvement.
Online community metrics: numbers you need to pay attention to
Measuring the success of online communities can be difficult as relationships can’t really be measured using numbers alone. However, there are some numbers that can be used to help you determine whether your community is on the right track.
Improve your online community in five easy steps
Many online communities falter for the same reasons. Fortunately, if you recognise and identify common mistakes, they are relatively easy to rectify. Follow these five steps to immediately improve your online community.
What is an online community manager?
An online community manager means different things to different people and different organisations. In this article, I outline what an online community manager should be doing, and what kind of personality they should have.
How to deal with bad apples in your online community
At some stage, you will need to warn or ban members of your online community. Sometimes this can be hard to do – especially if you are banning popular or highly active members. Stay strong and be sensible, and your community will survive.
Invigorate your online community by closing it down
If you launched your community too soon, you might be better off closing it down and trying again. If activity and member engagement is poor, consider making membership more exclusive. Closed online communities are attractive online communities.
How to build and maintain trust in online communities
Online communities are all about relationships – and you can’t have strong relationships without trust. You need to recognise this and work to create an atmosphere of trust to ensure your community becomes stronger over time.
Inside the mind of an online community lurker
It’s great to see your online community’s membership grow. It can be frustrating when those new members don’t get involved, though. Understanding why members aren’t getting involved is the key to increasing member participation.
Don’t lose existing members of your online community
Online communities are naturally dynamic – new members join, old members leave. You can’t build a genuine online community if your member turnover is too high, though. You want to keep hold of existing members for as long as possible.
How to build an online community
The process of building an online community isn’t terribly difficult. The challenge is in the planning and execution – this takes time and a whole lot of effort. If you have both of these attributes, continue reading and I’ll tell you how to build a new online community.
Is it time to give up on your online community?
Most online communities fail. Most people fail to realise that genuine online communities take a lot of time, dedication, effort and persistence to succeed. Sometimes you need to make a decision – has the community failed, or have you failed?
Using and assessing feedback from online communities
An online community can keep you in touch with your customers. It can reduce your market research costs. It can help you adapt to change quickly and be more flexible. However, is all the feedback coming from your online community valid?
18 Rules of Community Engagement: Book Review
Do you have an online community? Does it have active members? Are you struggling with community engagement? Angela Connor’s new book ‘18 Rules of Community Engagement’ may help. Here is my review.
Using pseudonyms to encourage activity in online communities
You can’t build a community if your members aren’t active, engaged and involved. You can’t build a community if it’s only you talking. So, should you register and use multiple accounts in order for your community to appear more active and attractive?
A new community manager in an existing online community
Not all online community managers will be with the community from day one. Some may join further down the line – indeed, for most this is probably the case. So how do you ease yourself into existing online communities as the new community manager?
Build a stronger online community by empowering your members
The strongest online communities consist of members who feel empowered – they have influence in the community and feel trusted and valued. Empower your community’s members at every opportunity.
How to reduce failed threads and encourage community discussion
Discussion posts without replies don’t make your online community look very attractive to new visitors. Existing members could soon lose interest if their posts are ignored. It’s essential that you ensure failed threads are kept to a minimum.
Save time with these community building shortcuts
You want a great online community, but you don’t have the time or desire to spend months or even years developing one. Here are some community building shortcuts for those looking to build a community fast.
Community moderator privileges – easy to give, hard to take away
As an online community grows, more people will be needed to help maintain a positive atmosphere. Don’t get too carried away, though – give powers out sparingly. If you change your mind, you’ll find it difficult to take powers back without alienating your most valuable members.
Is serious discussion possible in online communities?
Open online communities risk being taken over by an abusive minority or those looking to push their own agenda. The more open you want your community to be, the more you need rules, guidelines and moderation.
Who owns and controls the content in online communities?
Online communities rely on user generated content. If members aren’t creating content, you don’t have much of a community – so what happens when members ask for their content to be removed?
Turning ”I’m outta here” into ”I’m back”
Your best community member suddenly disappears. Conversations begin to die down. Your online community is suffering because members are vanishing. Why are these members leaving, and how do you lure them back?
Online communities need management buy-in
As a community manager, you need to be focussed on community building. You don’t want to be continuously justifying the community to managers and you don’t want to be distracted by internal politics. You need full management buy-in and support.
95 things I have learnt in 9 years of community building
When it comes to community building, there is no ‘one way’. There are tried and tested techniques, but nothing is guaranteed. Community building is a continuous learning process. Here is what I have learnt over the past nine years.
Are you honest enough to manage an online community?
You can’t build a welcoming, healthy community if members don’t trust each other. If they don’t trust you as the community manager, your community is doomed. If you can’t be honest, get out of the community building business.
Give members of your online community a roadmap
Online communities can be overwhelming places for new members. Regardless of your community’s size, some people will just feel lost and end up leaving – even after an initial period of engagement. Keep members active and engaged by providing them with a community roadmap.
How to make your online community stronger
A strong online community is a successful online community. Strong online communities can withstand anything – the loss of old members, the introduction of new members and pressure from your competitors. Follow these tips and make strengthening your community a priority.
How are you rewarding members of your online community?
If members of your online community don’t feel valued, they are less likely to contribute. By rewarding your members, you ensure they are recognised. This will lead to a far stronger community.
Community building means making members feel special
Getting members to stay active and engaged in your community is important. You can’t have a successful community without loyal, active and dedicated members. Making them feel special and valued is essential.
Warning: Power members may actually harm your community
Power members are your community’s cheerleaders. They’ll spend ridiculous amounts of time in your community, welcome new members and create new content. They do have a downside, though.
When members want to leave your online community
When managing and building your community, you will lose members. Some will silently vanish. Others will make a noise when they leave. Tread carefully. See opportunity. Fight, but remain honourable.
Community building: Be personal or don’t bother
For a community to be successful it needs to be based on strong relationships. You can’t develop a relationship with your members if you are impersonal. Effort doesn’t matter. Being personal does.
Your need to be relevant to your community
We act differently in different situations and around different people. We need to be aware of this when it comes to community building. Our personality needs to be relevant to our community and its members.
Go the extra mile for members of your community
There is still plenty of room for new online communities. More than enough. Even if your community isn’t new, you still need to be different. You need to stand out from the crowd – you can do this by going the extra mile.
What do you have in common with your community’s members?
An online community is no different to an offline community. The fundamental principles are the same. You communicate with others who share similar interests. To do this, you need to find what you have in common.
Not all online community members are created equal
Every member of your online community is important, but some are more important than others. You need to identify these members, recognise them and keep them. Sorry, no shortcuts are possible.
Managing Online Forums: Book review
If you have tried looking for books offering advice on how to build successful online communities, you will have noticed there isn’t much out there. Managing online forums by Patrick O’Keefe attempts to correct this situation – but is it a recommended read?
Get more members of your online community active
Online community developers and managers appear to be increasingly accepting of inactive members. I don’t like this trend. You should never stop working to increase your proportion of active community members. You can and should get more of your members involved.
Warning: Online communities are resistant to change
“Change” … “Yes we can”. No you shouldn’t, more like – at least when it comes to online communities. Change is the last thing your online community wants or needs. Concentrate on your members and your community – not your website.
20 questions for managers of online communities
To manage online communities successfully, you need knowledge. You don’t need to be a genius or an expert in your field, but you do need to learn, remember and understand a great deal of information. Make sure you can answer these 20 questions.
Online community competitions attract mercenaries
Competitions in online communities. Offer some prizes and you’ll attract members, right? Well, maybe – but most of those members will just be mercenaries who will leave as soon as the prizes dry up. These are members you don’t want or need.
Post dammit, or else!
One of the biggest challenges facing community managers is encouraging new members to post and create content. Should you force members to introduce themselves before they can access your community in full?
No abuse? You aren’t an effective online community manager!
If you want to be a successful online community manager, you have to be able to take abuse. You can’t hide from it and you can’t avoid it. If you do, you will never be an effective manager or leader.
Do you want real friends to join your online community?
Encouraging friends and family to join the online communities you manage can have some great benefits. They may well be more eager to post and encourage interaction, but do you really want certain information to be shared?
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