Five ways to engage your online community

Photo by lululemon athletica.

Q. How can I engage the community without being the dominant voice?

The analogy of 'host' is often used to describe the role of Community Manager. Although it has merit, I think it can be misleading. You are the host in the sense that you provide a venue (platform), but ideally you're not the host in the sense the star or "life of the party". This is a particularly time-consuming role to assume, and you'll want to develop your community with scalability in mind.

The role of a Community Manager has to be very flexible and adapt over time. You'll start in the trenches, and with any luck you'll be commanding a platoon of moderators to run your community over time.

Although you may not want to be a primary participant - it is very important for your business/community to have a face, or multiple 'real' representatives. Don't have a faceless Admin or Moderator profile. Be transparent & authentic - as are the social media golden rules.

Aim to make the community self-sufficient to an extent, and always allow members time to help each other before you step in. When they do - thank them. And if you think another member can answer a specific question better than yourself, recommend them. Call on your community's knowledge.

Initially you will be stoking the fires (ok enough with the metaphors!) and your voice will be more dominant, but there are ways you can engage without making the focus about yourself.

Before you even begin:
- Start with only one or two forums to maximise the number of people in one forum at any given time. No matter what the subject (coffee, parenting, sport) the general chat forums almost always end up being the most popular, so don't try to tell people what they should discuss.
- Ask yourself why you expect members to participate in your community. Is there a clear benefit? Does your target audience have any desire to converse with each other - either online or offline?
- Don't hide the forums with too much navigation. Forums are often obscured as 'community' - which may tick your business wish-list but may not be as enticing from a user-experience POV.

FIVE WAYS TO ENGAGE YOUR COMMUNITY

What are you doing/watching/loving?
Start discussions by asking your community what they are doing (eg. if artists - what are they working on, what art are they enjoying/suggesting/looking forward to). Remember people generally love to discuss themselves and/or their interests. Hopefully this is why they are even a member of your community. I find if I answer the question myself, or add my experience I get a better response as the post is more genuine and sounds less like a school essay - "discuss".

Chat with your mentor/idol/hero
Bring in experts, celebrities or gurus - get members to submit suggestions on who. Then get members to post questions for the guest. Encourage your members to visit the site and participate live to get some fast-moving discussion taking place.

Meet a Member
Profile a member each week. Status and reputation are primary motivators in a community and members will enjoy the limelight. The profile will serve to put a face to your members and help create community bonds.

Attend a town meeting
Convene a 'town meeting' - can be done in asynchronous fashion but again live is a nice concept. Get input about your site, answers questions from members etc.

Build a list
Lists appeal to a wide audience. Get your members to help you build a top 10 or top 20 list on relevant subject. This will also provide great content you can use elsewhere on your site, or as a way of promoting your community.

All of these things take time - but building a community is an investment. As Seth Godin said it should be viewed as a process, not an event. Much like dating or losing weight, it takes time.

Do you have any helpful suggestions for my friend who posed this question?

Online Communities: Suggested whitepapers & reports

Photograph by Moriza / CC BY 2.0

The level of knowledge sharing in this industry has always impressed and inspired me to pass on what I've learnt. Here are a few recommended white papers and reports out there for those interested in community management, user-generated content and moderation.

Moderation in Social Networks
By: eModeration
Published: February 2010
Price: Free
http://www.emoderation.com/about/publications

eModeration have a number of brilliant white papers, a few of which are:
How to moderate teens & tweens; How to encourage participation and player loyalty in virtual worlds; Five techniques for creating safer environments for children.

State of Community Management
By: The Community Roundtable
Published: February 2010
Price: Free
http://community-roundtable.com/socm-2010/

"Community management is emerging as a critical discipline for managing social initiatives. The State of Community Management is our groundbreaking work in aggregating the best practices and lessons learned from our members, who have been leading the practice of community management in a variety of contexts – with B2B, B2C, marketing, support, and employee communities."

User-generated Content & the Law
By: Tempero (UK)
Published: February 2010
Price: Free
http://ow.ly/1r5VR

Although its focus is on UK law this whitepaper provides a fascinating insight into trials and legal precedents being set internationally in relation to UGC & the law. Brought to you by Tempero who provided outsourced moderation for 14 years worth of hours in 2009 *head explodes*

Guide to Community Management
By: ReadWriteWeb
Published: May 2009
Price: $299 (USD)
http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports/community-management/

"A team of five ReadWriteWeb researchers worked together scouring the web for hundreds of blog posts and articles about online community management. We curated that collection down to the very best articles, then excerpted the best talking points, data points, advice and reflection on key topics. We then wove all those nuggets of wisdom into a cohesive report, mixed with our own perspectives on often controversial topics. "

Good practice guidance for the providers of social networking and other user interactive services
(ok, so not a great title!)
By: Home Office Task Force (UK) on Child Protection on the Internet developed in consultation with ACMA.
Published: 2008 (be mindful of publication date when assessing legal information within)
Price: Free
http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/operational-policing/social-networking-guidance/

Online Community Research Network (OCRN)
By: OCRN
Published: The OCRN published six reports a year
Price: ranges from $295-$349 but some reports become free after 6 months. If you are a OCRN member ($795), reports are included in your membership.
http://forumonenetworks.com/section/research/published

Recent reports include: Online Community & Social Media Compensation 2009; Online Communities: Surviving & Thriving in the Downturn Economy; Social Media Ecosystems; Online Communitie: Metrics and Reporting

"The Online Community Research Network (OCRN) is a collaborative effort of online community professionals to better understand the principal challenges of building and managing online communities."

Facebook Fan Page: from zero to 40,000 fans
By: Mudo Media
Price: Free
http://www.mudomedia.com.au/
"How Mudo built the largest and most engaged branded Facebook pages in Australia"*

Although this is a white paper geared at social media marketers, there are definitely learnings to be gleaned. The example of how they turned negative criticism about the body size of models into a user-experience is a great one, especially in light of recent discussion surrounding Nestle's actions on Facebook. It would also be of interest to community managers working with Facebook groups, and digital agencies. It does set a great precendent for clever and successful brand engagement.

* ETA: According to a list published today by Laurel Papworth the Supre FB page sits at position 33 on a list of Australia's top 100 FB Fan Pages - based on membership figures.

I'd love to write a book-list but I'd have to call it "10 books I'd love to read if only my toddler would allow it".

What else should I read? I'm taking suggestions....

Developing online community guidelines

Photo by Sacks08

Refining community rules or guidelines is best done in conjunction with your members, however you'll want to ensure you have at least the basics covered when you launch.

A lack of guidelines can create an unpleasant experience for members, and it can be very hard to retroactively change users' behaviour.

Guidelines set tone & expectations
The tone and atmosphere of a community is set in its very early days, and there isn't necessarily a right or wrong. If you want to be known for infamously banning people take a look at the Something Awful forums, or you want to set up a zero tolerance approach to all or part of your rule set, take a look at the Whirlpool broadband forums. Both are highly-trafficked forums with an unapologetic approach to their rules.

Should they be called guidelines or rules?
It is much more common for them to be called guidelines. If they are general or open to interpretation (be nice, show respect) they may be better off titled guidelines. If they are quite specific (no trading, copyright infringement etc) you could call them rules. Either way you will find some troublesome members combing them for loopholes!

Lonely Planet quite cleverly call theirs guidelines with the sub-heading: "The rules we'll shake hands on". This does a great job at reinforcing that as a member you've agreed to these conditions.

Three prominent points to writing guidelines
1) Keep them conversational so they are easy to digest
2) Keep them brief (easier said than done!)
3) Refine them in consultation with members

The devil's in the detail
Regarding point two - the more general your rules, the easier to enforce. That's not to say members won't hassle you for the specifics but it is easier for you to wield discretionary power. Inevitably it is impossible to predict the breadth of issues user-generated content gives rise to.

That said I inherited a community with 40+ detailed rules that had been developed over ten years and I found them effective, but I can't guarantee how many people read them. They were however developed in consultation with members so plenty of super-users were happy to C&P them to remind other users about them. On the subject of...

Self governance
Ensure you have an effective reporting mechanism! I would go as far as saying - don't launch without one due to potential legal implications. Encourage members to own their community and report guideline breaches. A level of self-governance is vital for a healthy community.

Best Practice community guidelines:
Lonely Planet
Get Satisfaction
Yahoo Answers
Trip Advisor
Flickr

I think the use of this sentence on Lonely Planet's site is a great fall back/reference for members who persistently create problems:

"If you don’t agree with them, we won’t take it personally, and nor should you when we suggest www.lonelyplanet.com might not be for you."

These CIPD rules are also worthy of note, they've usefully been divided into two categories: "how to get value from the forums" and "things to avoid".

Rules to consider
Disclaimer: please seek legal advice when drafting your rules and/or guidelines.

Aside from the basic and obvious such as legal restrictions (copyright, defamation, discrimination, privacy etc) here are some issues you may want your guidelines to address. There are a number of ways you can group these to make your message coherent. A number of communities separate the legal and behavioural rules - which is an approach worth considering.

• Stay on-topic and post in relevant forum
• Identity protection / public nature of forums (members sometimes want content removed and can sometimes be surprised that you can't remove it from Google results.)
  
• Clear thread titles
  
• Duplication / cross-posting
  
• No capitals / shouting
• Ghost / multiple identities
• Screen names (not offensive, business names etc)
• Data Protection Act (depending on what country you are based in)
• COPPA (")
  
• External linking guidelines (will you allow contextual links? How will you handle planted requests?)
• Trading
• Trolling
• Impersonation
• Inciting denial of service (encouraging users to visit another site with the purpose of abusing/attacking)
• Bumping (some forums don't allow 'bumping' of threads)
• Post-count 'boosting'
  
• Advice - no professional, medical, legal advice
• False / misleading statements
• Research (ask that journalists, students & researchers contact you first)
• Moderation explanations - I suggest stating clearly that moderation explanations are not open for public debate, especially if they involve discussing members' behaviour(s).
• Freedom of speech - it's always pertinent to remind Aussies we don't have it per se.
• Piracy / hacking
• Images - do not post images of other people without their permission
• Profanity
• Voting - can members solicit votes from others?
• Repetitive debates - it may preserve your sanity to cast a wide net that allows you to shut down the inevitable repetitive debates!
• Languages - will your community be English only? Look to travel forums for advice!

Further resources
Patrick O'Keefe's Managing Online Forums has a chapter dedicated to developing guidelines. His nuts & bolts approach is very useful for those of us in the trenches!

As a community member or manager, what is your experience with community guidelines? Do you have any suggestions or glaring omissions for me?

Australian Community Managers' Roundtable: Canberra

The third Australian Community Managers' Roundtable will be taking place next week in our nation's capital. There are a few spots left and no extravagant $700 tickets to contend with. Maybe next event :P

Details
When: Friday 5 March
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Where: Scarborough House, Woden ACT
RSVP: Join the Facebook group 'Australian Community Managers' where you'll find the event. Or track me down on twitter - @alisonmichalk.
Cost: free. Pay for own lunch - Belluci's 12:30pm. $18 lunch special. Nom nom.

Who is the event for?
The roundtables are designed for community practitioners, whether it be community managers or strategists. The event however focuses on the discrete issues pertaining to the day-to-day challenges of community management rather than broader issues (eg. social media marketing) as we feel these are better catered for by other events/conferences.

As usual we have a bunch of talent folk attending from companies such as Lonely Planet, Earth Hour, Disney, Optus, Community Engine, Channel 10, Fairfax Digital, Headshift and of course Gov 2.0 peoples.

What is discussed?
Discussion topics include serial pests/problems, monetising communities, metrics/ROI/reporting, internal communities, communities as customer support etc.

History of the roundtables & ACM group
The roundtables 'rove' with the aim of being inclusive to attendees around the country. The first was hosted in March '09 by the nerdily brilliant Venessa Paech, in Melbourne at the Lonely Planet (BBC) offices. The second was hosted in Sydney in June '09 by myself at the Fairfax Digital offices. Despite my attempts to 'hot potato' it to someone else, I have failed and organised the 3rd event with the help of Mr Craig Thomler :) Whilst we've all dreamt of hosting the 4th on Hayman Island, the confirmed destination is TBC. Takers?

The facebook group was started by Scott Drummond and myself, and recently migrated (or should I say regressed?) to a Google group, which we've found to be much more convenient. At least in part. There has been talk of the group formalising, which I strongly support. I think as a group of industry professionals, at the very forefront/trenches of community management, it would be great to lend our voice to issues ranging from #nocleanfeed to proposed cyber-bullying legislation.

I look forward to meeting some new faces, and as always the part-therapy like quality of the roundtable :)

If you know any Australian Community Managers' please spread the word.

Community management in 2010: my perspective

There were a lot of interesting predictions for 2010 in the social media space pertaining to community management.

One of my favourite quotes was “Regardless of whether or not you have a digital strategy – you have a digital strategy” (sorry don't have attribute, I believe it was Sebastian Gard?).

Social media: a must have
I think this idea ties in nicely with the sentiment that companies are seeing social media participation shift from a “nice to have” to a “must have”.

Retention, Value, Flash communities
In 2009 community became quite the buzz word with companies scrambling over one another to create their own community, everything from nappies to insurance spawned its own forum. Membership acquisition was largely garnered through promotions & competitions, and the "communities" were largely temporary. I think 'flash' communities will become more used through 2010 (primarily for advertising/marketing purposes), but at the other end of the spectrum retention will come into play. With a smorgasboard of communities, members will seek value.

Private invite-only and hyper-local communities
Perhaps as the pendulum swings from big-business huge-SNs (aka FB) we'll see predictions ring true that private invite-only communities will become more popular, "velvet-rope social networks" as Chris Brogan aptly describes them. (Although in true form Brogan was talking about this a year ago.)

Hyper-local communities are also on the rise with the increase in geo-locational devices.

Privacy, authenticity, transparency, identity-portability
Although the issue of privacy stirred the hornet’s nest last year, I actually feel that transparency/authenticity will become stronger and internet anonymity less respected (this is not to say people shouldn't have control over privacy). Facebook connect has made it much easier to join multiple groups and carry your real identity with you, I only see this becoming more robust.

Multi-platform presence, platform-neutrality
I think 2010 will see companies valuing their presence across platforms, in conjunction with creating their own space for a community (I believe their is value in doing so, for knowledge management/content ownership purposes alone it's worth it), they’ll seek out their audience/consumer and engage with them across Facebook, Twitter and anywhere their brand in being discussed. I think it’s important that companies diversify their involvement on the web to maximise their audience reach. I think we've very much reached an era where we expect information to come to us. Give me convenience!

Professional roles: chat managers, moderators, SM/community managers
It’s been said the role of Community Manager will continue its steep trajectory, and I also believe businesses we see the value in hiring professional moderators, chat managers and the like to engage and govern. The increase in social media monitoring matched with ROI, will further justify these roles. As someone who manages a large team of volunteers, I see this as interesting evolution.

Although a lot of businesses are willing to risk placing graduates or interns in social media roles, I think the risk at doing so will become more apparent, unless you also feel comfortable letting them chair the next shareholders' meeting.

Technology, behavioral management software
Needless to say - behind the scenes - technology will be a game changer. As mentioned by Rebecca Newton here, the increase in behavioral management software is going to have a huge impact on how businesses can effectively participate in moderating and managing huge volumes of traffic and user-generated content. It will certainly aide the transition to moderation and management of the real-time web, and is particularly vital for those working with minors. Although legislation never happens quickly we will see governments moving towards stronger cyber-safety laws.

It’s shaping up to be a great year for community management and as always I’m enthusiastic about being involved.

Goodbye '09

I'm hoping to squeeze my last blog of '09 in, just in time... a quick summary of what's been a great year for me on the professional front.

We kicked off the Australian Community Managers' Facebook Group which has grown to 80 members and represents a diverse mix of talented individuals from companies, orgs and agencies alike. Two roundtables were hosted, the first in Feb 09 by the wonderful Venessa Paech at the Lonely Planet offices in Melbourne. The second was hosted by myself at the FD offices in June 09. If all goes to plan expect the 3rd in Canberra in Feb/Mar 2010 once we can work out how one can actually communicate via the web with public servants. (And this is pre clean feed!)

The current community I 'manage' grew from around 140,000 (*scratches head*) to 175,000 which was reflected in participation and new member engagement. As I blogged about, community growth is a challenge and whilst senior managment might chase metrics - at the coalface there's always more a community manager could do to manage rapid growth which should be viewed as a potential threat to the ecosystem, and planned for accordingly. It's a wonderful community and I feel very proud to be part of it.

In August we hosted the first FD Moderators Meet and flew in 25 of our volunteer Mods. The event was a real success. It was great to put faces to names, chat about the community IRL and give our Mods a sense of the larger framework that a 'small' biz unit like EB works in at a media org like FD.

I really enjoyed participating in the largely UK-based [e-mint] newsgroup founded by Rebecca Newton. I was fortunate to chat to her recently about her predictions for the growth of Behavioral Management Software as discussed in a great post by Holly Seddon about 2010 community management predictions.

I participated quite a bit in the LinkedIn Online Community Manager discussions, and also Connie Bensen & Jermiah Owyang's Community Manager/Evangelist facebook group and can strongly recommend them as a starting point for any community managers out there.

Rich Millington's blog Feverbee, as always deserves a round of applause, so thanks again for churning out such brilliant posts throughout 2009. If you only read one blog about community building/management, this should be it. (/end gush)

Other community management highlights of note for '09 - I attended an Advanced Online Communities workshop with community guru Nancy White, whilst she was visiting Australia. I certainly could have spent more than a few hours picking her brain! Thanks to Matt Moore at Innotecture for making that happen.

On a personal front I'm pregnant with my second child and will be taking some time "off" from April 2009. Needless to say I have a few things planned for 2010 (other than producing said offspring), so stay tuned!

Have a great New Year's Eve. See you in 2010.

Online community moderators: managing volunteers

As a Community Manager I am often asked ‘why do people volunteer to moderate?’

I imagine if you are volunteer for a charity you are less likely to be asked as it’s assumed to be purely altruistic despite myriad motivations one might have.

This post aims to look at the reasons people volunteer to moderate, with the hope it will improve your skills as a Community Manager in managing and nurturing these vital positions. Managing volunteers comes with an additional set of challenges due to the lack of renumeration.

According to Peter Kollock (The Economies of Online Cooperation) there are three major reasons why members contribute to communities. (He also cites further reasons which have merit.) Hat tip to Ayett Noff’s blog (an old post but very relevant).

Three major reasons member contribute to communities

1. Anticipated Reciprocity – A user is motivated to contribute to the community in the expectation that he will receive useful help and information in return. Indeed we have seen such active users receiving more help than lurkers.
2. Increased recognition – individuals want recognition for their contributions. the desire for prestige is one of the key motivations for individuals’ contributions in an online community. Contributions will likely increase if they are visible to the whole community and are credited to the contributor. … the powerful effects of seemingly trivial markers of recognition (e.g. stars, ranking) are overwhelming.
3. Sense of efficacy – Individuals may contribute because the act results in a sense that they have had some effect on the community.

I’ve applied these reasons when exploring the motivations of Volunteer Moderators. (I should note all motivations have their merit!)

Why people volunteer to moderate online communities

1. Requited reciprocity
This is the above model come full circle. Members have received said good will, and are motivated to return it.

The majority of volunteers I’ve worked with over the years cite their primary motivation as ‘wanting to give back to the community’, relating interactions and personal experiences that have helped them.

In my experience this plays a part for most volunteers, but those who are motivated purely by this notion are in the minority.

These volunteers tend to be the easiest to manage as their desires are fulfilled by the community. They are not particularly interested in being rewarded (financially or other), nor are seeking recognition (this is not to suggest they shouldn’t be given any!). You can’t convert vols to fall into this category – it occurs naturally – but it is nice to single these mods out an acknowledge their contribution to the community. I suggest privately. These Mods often slip through the cracks as they stay out of limelight and do their thing - so be sure to keep in touch with them. They can offer valuable suggestions and are usually a pulse of the 'goodness' within the community.

2. Increased Recognition/Social capital
Increased recognition – widely referred to as ‘social capital’ – status. I see this playing a much larger role as a motivator. Over time regular contributors to online communities rise through the ranks, and recognition forms an important part of their online persona. This can be attested to by the importance given to post count or join date. Some members get to a 'used-by' state or saturation point, where the community has fulfilled their needs. They are looking for something more, rather than exiting the community, and this may motivate them to seek promotion to moderator.

In one community I worked with I noticed that all the members with the highest post counts (most active by one metric) were either volunteer Moderators or well-known ‘stirrers’. Not necessarily trouble makers but popular and well-known for being outspoken. (So perhaps not Moderator material).

These volunteers respond well to both rewards and recognition. Visible status such as a Moderator tag/avatar/icon will be valued, along with public or peer recognition. They are more likely to want to be involved in community decisions and may in fact feel left out if they’re not. They’re likely to be more vocal opponents about community issues – and this can be harnessed as they can provide great feedback (encourage them to offer practical solutions to any complaints they have). If you do implement a rewards program you may care to read Rich Millington’s post 'Never reward your volunteers'.

3. Sense of efficacy
I see this behaviour apparent in moderators with a penchant for helping enforce rules, answer technical questions, reply to administration questions. In my experience they are often Mums who had a professional career (pre-children) and are aware they have skills to offer the community.

These volunteers are easy to manage but they’re most likely to respond to financial rewards. They tend to play more of a staff type role and often fulfill task-orientated duties that could well fall into staff member’s responsibilities. These volunteers respond well to recognition but it should be on a peer-to-peer level – avoid delivering it a way that may be condescending (head patting). Acknowledge their very practical contribution to the community. Ask if any processes can be improved or streamlined (eg. Are they answering queries that could be added to a FAQ, could we put up a sticky post explaining x, does a rule need changing?)

Do you manage moderators? What do you think? I’d love your feedback and am always willing to answer any questions you may have.

Huge warm thanks to the wonderful Moderators I work with, and the valuable contribution each & every one of them bring to the community.

Disclaimer: I’ve never studied psychology so these are just my personal observations from working with volunteers in both an online and offline capacity.