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Nov
28

A Couple of Minutes – Tales From My Community Manager Letterbox

By | community, members

1 Comment

Contact Us

Do you have a "contact us" link/section in your community? Do you get those emails? If not then you should. As the Community Manager you are on the front line of your community and it's important that you have  your finger on the community pulse. Many people will use the contact us link to ask site usability questions, express concerns, complain, or from time to time (but don't hold your breathe) say thanks. How you deal with those emails is extremely important. Don't just resort to generic responses. Let the … [Read more...]

Nov
25

The Personal Touch

By | community, members

1 Comment

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Back in May I explained how I email new members of my community each month. With over 1000 members joining monthly it's impossible for me to contact each and everyone of them, but I still believe it's important to try and connect with as many community members as possible. I still use the same email template, as the one I posted in May, but with slight variations, and as I mentioned in my original post the key to this email is that it comes from my personal site email address as opposed to a "contact@email.com or … [Read more...]

Aug
11

Sticks and Stones …

By | issues, members

10 Comments

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We are all going to come across situations where people aren't going to like us. I can guarantee you that even if you manage a community for teens/kids, through to people in theirs 80's, you are going to get times when comments are going to be directed at you that are going to cut like a knife. Online it's easy for people to lash out emotionally in ways they would not otherwise do so, and as the Community Manager you are going to be the prime target for those comments. So get a thick skin and get one quick, because … [Read more...]

Jul
18

Selective Moderation – Tales from My Community Manager Letterbox

By | complaints, issues, members, Online Community Management

1 Comment

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I generally only respond once to an email of complaint from a member, otherwise the conversation just goes around and around in circles. So I endeavour to succinctly and politely explain the reason for the banning/thread deletion/post editing .... etc, etc. However on occasion I may have to follow that up with a second email. I would suggest to anyone who oversees a community that you never ever get into an argument, either in public or in private, with a disgruntled member. It's not professional and it doesn't … [Read more...]

Jun
12

Oops – What do to when it goes wrong

By | community, complaints, members, Online Community Management

3 Comments

Sorry

Your community is experiencing a little (well alright it might be a big) technical glitch, or you tried something new and it went down like a lead balloon. Here's my little mantra of what I do when it all goes pear-shaped: Listen. Acknowledge. Fix what can be fixed. Change what can be changed. Own up when it goes wrong. Admit when you're wrong, or have messed up. … and when you can't do any of those things say sorry, and mean it. We can't always please every single one of our members every … [Read more...]

May
05

How To Get New Members To Post – What I do

By | members

2 Comments

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Every time someone joins our community they get an automated welcome email, that while it shares great information and encourages them to post, it is, at the end of the day, automated. So how to get new members who haven't posted to post? Well at the end of every month I send an email to all new members who have joined that month, and have made less than 3 posts. We get approx 1,000 new members every month so I can't possible email each and every one of them individually, however I send them all an email through … [Read more...]

Apr
21

Community Easter Egg Hunt

By | community, forum, members

2 Comments

Easter eggs

Love, love, love this idea on the Sitepoint forum. It's a great way of fostering some community spirit, and fun competition, between members. People often to stick to areas of a community they are familar with. In some cases I've seen people who won't even venture out of a thread/topic let along interact within another section of the site, so I love this because it's simple, creative and encourages members to explore areas of the community that they might not otherwise have ventured … [Read more...]

Feb
24

Private or Not?

By | community, manager, members, Online Community Management, Trust

7 Comments

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My thoughts on whether a Community Manager should read member's private messages without their knowledge. It takes time to build trust between a community and the person who helps facilitate the connections and conversations. Members want to know that the Community Manager has the best interest of the community at heart. So with that in mind I was a little miffed to read a blog advocating the need for tools so that Community Managers/Admin can read member's private messages. Whilst I feel all the other suggestions … [Read more...]

Dec
21

End Of Year Community Spirit

By | community, members, participate, social

6 Comments

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The community I manage is well established and vibrant (although that brings its' own issues and keeps me pretty busy) and quite often the members come up with some great ideas. One of the traditions they look forward to every year are the "End of Year Polls." I can't take credit for this, it's not my idea, it's something that members created themselves and it's grown each year. It's a great way of helping to foster community spirit, and really helps to remind members of what has occurred in the community during … [Read more...]

Jun
18

Community Relationships

By | community, forum, manager, members, Online Community Management

1 Comment

relationships

It's the relationships your members are able to create with each other, that makes the difference between a good community and a great one. People come together because a common element draws them in, but what happens after that initial buzz wears off? You can create as many special offers, and campaigns, as you want, but those only provide short term responses. So what is it that keeps people coming back? The relationships they form. So how do you encourage members to build relationships? Make each new … [Read more...]