Pa network community manager

1. Community Management A CRASH COURSE IN ONLINE FACILITATION Susan Tenby SusanTenby.com @suzboop https://www.linkedin.com/in/susantenby

2. Many Roles of the community manager  Public Face  Adding Personal Touch/ Trust element  Metrics and Sentiment: Listening for Organizational Health  Conversation Facilitator  Cheerleader  Volunteer Manager  Content Editor/Curator  Party Host

3. Benefits to Online Community Facilitation  Give your members a meaningful place to connect between mtgs  Starting & archiving of thoughtful conversations for future reference  Provide value to your members  Geo-location is not an issue  Encourage affiliate topical sub-group membership  Encourage a members-only tone to community and lexicon  Get user input and buy-in  Procure relevant, dynamic and current content  Recruit Staff and Volunteers

4. Being a Community Manager  Own the space  Stick to a consistent TOS and refer to it when members misbehave  Help to moderate and close off-topic conversations  Cross-reference appropriate outside resources  Cultivate a community of stars  Benefit from the network by sharing your expertise  Have management mtgs with Star members to solicit their feedback

5. Profile Personalization  Create a rich profile with multiple points of contact and a picture  Encourage other members to do the same  Connect with other members on outside social networks Not like this incomplete profile, but at a minimum, post your picture

6. Lead by Example  Create clear paths for members to excel up the ladder Host: answerer Participant: asker New Member: Lurker

7. All three levels are important

8. Every member wants to feel like a Rockstar  Ensure your VIPs (Very Important Participants) feel special.  Mention those who recommended them  Highlight the contributions of star members  Invite their ideas and feedback Ensure your VIPs (Very Important Participants) feel special.

9. Research and Share, close the loop  If a member asks a question, and you know the answer, answer it  If you don’t know the answer, reach out or look it up  The benefit to all members is important to remember – don’t just answer to one person  The more rich and summarized the answer, the more value it is to the community  Model this culture of generosity and helpfulness

10. No one wants to dance at an empty party  Start conversation threads that encourage members to share their expertise  “Is it ever OK to …?”  “Is … right about …?”  Has anyone tried…?  This type of question will perform well in a community of practice with experts  Share favorite resources regularly, as a generous gesture

11. Create Engaging Post titles  Helps to make problem more universal, not specific to one case  Don’t be too vague – be direct in the title  “Does Anyone know how to---?” questions tend to yield many responses This one received no engagement b/c it required further reading to understand the need

12. Mobile Version  A mobile version is available for your forum at panetwork.ning.com  When you find yourself updating Instagram or FB, peruse the forum threads  Try adding images to your posts to capture scrolling reader’s attn Forward thread feature auto-populates with subj and link – send reminder to yrself

13. Introduce yourself and welcome others  Start a pinned/featured Introductions Thread  All of you should introduce yourselves  Encourage members to introduce themselves. Ask users to answer a fact about themselves and their interest in PA work/network  Give new members a call to action, something to do Start a pinned/featured Introductions Thread

14. Create a culture in your community  Along with a TOS, there are cultural conventions unique to each community  These include exclusive lexicon and traditional posting themes  Introduce regular, repeatable conventions  For ex, Thankful Thursday, to show gratitude to members  Or pick a specific resource-sharing day  Bring in monthly experts online to do Q&A online events

15. Advertise your community  Mention a join us link to the community in your Linkedin  Include a link in your sigline and use that signature when you want to encourage other PAs to join  Encourage your up-and-coming members to share their community participation with their own networks

16. Solicit Feedback  You can ask community members about specific topics that they may have expertise in  But you can also solicit their feedback regarding what you all could do to improve the PA Network  If you see posts with questions languishing, cross-post them to another community and be sure to request that they answer on the PA Network  Email pitches : “Hey, I thought you may know the answer”  FB posts: “Hey Friends, who has an interior painter that they LOVE? “ ….. AND LINK BACK TO PA NETWORK

17. Answering pre-asked Questions by Re- Routing  If a question gets asked frequently, point the asker to the previous thread, so multiple or “forked” threads do not occur on the same topic  Consider summarizing the replies into one blog post (written by one of the moderators or community members)  Point future Q askers to this longer-form content

18. Bulletin Boards are another name for Forums  Think of the community as a virtual town square  Encourage participants and community groups to share local announcements, news, recommendations – not just questions  Share articles, reports, guides, presentations that you find useful

19. Most are Lurkers: Encourage them up the ladder of engagement  On online discussion groups, some will post frequently, some will post occasionally, and many will just "lurk" and never post at all, or send questions or comments directly to you instead  Model the appropriate behavior by re-routing misguided questions  Build trust by answering openly and within 24 hours

20. Resources  Online Community Resources Resources compiled or written by Nancy White http://www.fullcirc.com/commresources.htm thecommunitymanager.com Free Online Community Management Resources On The Web - The Online Community Guide There are a lot of free resources available on the web to help newcomers and experienced professionals become better Community Mangers. Online Facilitation An online community on YahooGroups facilitated by Nancy White. It is a community for people that facilitate/moderate online discussion groups, including communities of practice. onlinefacilitation.wikispaces.com A comprehensive resource by Nancy While on various, very specific aspects of building and facilitating online communities. Top 24 Communities for the Community Manager by Jenn Pedde, at thecommunitymanager.com 