Top Five Community Management Blog Posts: June 2011

There are a lot of great community management blogs out there. I try to keep up with these blogs the best I can, but there are a lot of community managers who can’t find the time to take it all in. So I figured I’d take a crack at listing the top five community management blog posts of the month. If there’s a blog post you think I should have included, please leave a comment.

1. Mastering Motivation
Richard Millington

If you want your community members to do something, you need to understand their motivations. It seems obvious, but few community managers think it through. In this post, Richard offers some excellent advice on how (and why) to align your goals with the motivations of your members.

2. Building Online Community Through Email Noodges
Andrew Cohen

In a world of Twitter, Facebook, IM and SMS, we often forget the utility of old-fashioned email. Andrew uses a little Yiddish to remind us that email notifications are the best way to keep people coming back to the community. (Martin Reed has a similar blog post this month as well.)

3. Keeping your cool in the midst of community conflict
Blaise Grimes-Viort

Keeping everyone calm during an emotional community conflict is one of the toughest challenges facing community managers. Blaise offers some great advice on how to keep difficult situations from spiraling out of control.

4. Communities – Saints And Sinners, You Need Both
Phil Wride

A few months ago, I blogged about the difference between trolls and critics, and why you need the latter. Phil picks up on this theme by pointing out that “sinners” can actually drive interaction in the community. The tricky part, as Phil notes, is deciding when a sinner is more trouble than he or she is worth.

5. Oops – What do to when it goes wrong
Sue John

Sometimes, community managers have to engage in damage control. If and when that time comes, it’s vitally important to get it right. Sue puts together a brief but useful set of tips on what to do if your community is beset by technical  difficulties. (For more in this topic, see my Five Disaster Recovery Tips for Community Managers.)

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