Comments on: Go the extra mile for members of your community

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:05:56 +0000

This is a great list – definitely some surprises and things that are new to me too.

I especially agree with #10, that private communication DOES add value. In fact, I think it adds a lot more value than community managers give it credit for, because the user immediately knows you’re not replying for the sake of looking pro-active. You actually care.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:45:25 +0000

What about time consumption…. Phoning and IM to all members asking questions just seems crazy for anyone getting a couple thousand visitors a day. Content and community usually take precedents over anykind of help e-mail. Isn’t this what moderators are for?

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:33:48 +0000

You have some good ideas to make your community happier.

Altough these are great ideas, they require you to be involved in your community everyday for a good amount of time which most people won’t do.

By: Julia

Julia — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:01:05 +0000

Constant communication.. that’s the key to building a good community. People need to know that there’s someone in charge listening to and caring for their opinions!

By: Shawn

Shawn — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:39:20 +0000

1. If someone asks for help, don’t send them a link to the help section. Help them out personally. Email? OK. Instant Messenger? Better. Telephone? Wow! Awesome!

I COULD NOT AGREE MORE!

How many times I’ve been on forums where someone told somebody to “use the damn search!” or referred them to a generic but similar response I cannot tell you. A lot of people have different needs and abilities and a personalized response can go a LONG way in helping to deliver a fulfilling experience to them.

You’ve also just given me a great idea with 6 and 7. I’ve been reading and replying to this blog all morning, I think it’s time to sign up for the RSS feed (and maybe the e-mail).

By: How to make your online community stronger | Community Building & Community Management

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:36:45 +0000

[...] to be around. You need to be visible and you need to understand your community and its members. Go the extra mile for your community members, and you’ll get more of them active and [...]

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:36:08 +0000

Stan – That’s when you bring in your strongest members to help you. Delegate – your community will be stronger, and your members will feel even more valued.

By: Smiley

Smiley — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:00:48 +0000

I have a system of a heirarchy, plus the user-elected council to keep management/user relations high, in the future when the forum is too big for me to control on my own I’ll have the forum categories split under different co-admins who will keep a personal touch with the regular posters of their sub-forums. As long as they feel some sort of personal connection to the person or persons running the site..

By: Stan

Stan — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:03:08 +0000

These are good ideas. What happens if your forum becomes quite big. You aren’t able to have a personal chat with all thousands of them. Would you simply delegate to admins or what?

By: Martin Reed - Blog Author

Martin Reed - Blog Author — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:53:43 +0000

Smiley – Sounds great! Big projects to bring your members closer, and small tweaks to show you care. The perfect balance.

Jesse – How is this spam? You are sending the member a completely personal message, specific and tailored to that individual. Sure, if they request that they don’t want to communicate with you, don’t contact them. Otherwise, I don’t see the problem.

Nicole – I shrank it for design reasons, although I may be expanding it a little soon.

Scott – That’s one way of putting it! I would say the job is to facilitate and encourage relationships. Part of doing that though, is to care about your members!