Your blog should be an extension of your online community

by Martin Reed 11 July 2011

You (should) already know that your blog isn’t just another channel for sharing press releases and promotional material. You should be using your blog to share content that will be of value to your readers, and you should be using your blog to draw attention to members of your online community. Too many online communities [...]

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How to delete community members (sort of)

by Martin Reed 7 July 2011

You don’t want members to go AWOL on your community. It stands to reason then, that the very last thing you ever want to do as a community manager is actually delete someone’s account. However, members will sometimes request that you do just that. Depending on the reason, you might want to wait a couple [...]

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Features aren’t a selling point of your online community

by Martin Reed 30 June 2011

Visitors don’t care about the features your online community has to offer. They care about the benefits – particularly emotional benefits. VisaJourney.com is a fantastic online community for those emigrating to the United States. On their registration page, they have the following box: Why register? Here’s some great reasons to sign up! Send personal messages [...]

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Give disappearing community members a nudge

by Martin Reed 28 June 2011

If you notice that a prominent member hasn’t been active in the community recently, drop them a line. Send them a private message or an email. Make it known that they are missed, and make sure everything is OK. Don’t just sit back, hoping they’ll come back one day. Maybe they’re having trouble with the [...]

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Keeping your online community small

by Martin Reed 23 June 2011

People might join your community even though because it’s small. They want to feel as though their voice will be heard. They want to influence the community and be recognized. That’s all well and good – until your community grows. If it becomes too big you risk alienating these members and turning off new recruits. [...]

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An easy way to keep community discussions alive

by Martin Reed 21 June 2011

Many conversations that start in online communities suffer a premature death. For a real, meaningful conversation to develop, you want to see a few committed members keep it going. They need to bounce their opinions off one another and get into a debate. They need to ask questions, and get answers. Most of the time [...]

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The power of testimonials in online communities

by Martin Reed 16 June 2011

Testimonials are a great sales pitch for your online community. If visitors see genuine testimonials from real members telling them just how great the community is (and why), they’ll be more inclined to join. If you’re lucky, you’ll receive unsolicited testimonials. Make sure you reply (always keep the spotlight on the member, not yourself), keep [...]

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Why community managers need a thick skin (warning: strong language)

by Martin Reed 15 June 2011

I got to enjoy the following emails alongside my breakfast this morning (both from the same individual): 10.10AM Dont you ever ask me to change the name i use to go into your poxy chat room as the name i use is my name if your idiots that seem to think they are in charge [...]

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Saying ‘no’ (with encouragement)

by Martin Reed 14 June 2011

If you decide to make it harder to join your online community, you’ll be saying ‘no’ every now and then. When you decline someone’s membership application, you need to determine what you want to happen next. Do you want them to wait six months and try again? Do you want them to get out of [...]

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I want a copy of Managing Online Forums by @ifroggy

by Martin Reed 10 June 2011

Digging around my office yesterday, I found a spare copy of Patrick O’Keefe’s excellent book ‘Managing Online Forums’. You can read my review here. As it’s a spare copy I am going to give this one away. If you would like it, simply hit the Tweet button at the bottom of this post. On Wednesday [...]

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