Inexcusably late, here are my picks for the top five online community management posts in February.
1. 3 Steps to Reactivate a Sleeping Community
Even if you run a thriving and engaging community, there will still be people that stop visiting for any number of reasons. That’s OK. What’s not OK is to let them go without a fight. In this post from The Community Manager, Ryan Cox provides three ways you can entice lapsed members to return to the community.
2. Does your community have goals?
Nothing brings people together like a common goal. It works in real life, and as Rosemary O’Neill writes in this post, it works in online communities. Rosemary gives some examples of goals a community might work towards. Whatever goal you come up with for your community, Rosemary suggests you make it “public, achievable, and aspirational.”
Every experienced community manager has had to deal with member requests for new features. And every experienced community manager has had to say “no.” So how do you turn down a request without alienating members? In another excellent post from The Community Manager, Laura Gluhanich has some tips on how to tell a member that their wish isn’t likely to come true, while still being responsive and helpful.
4. How To Start An Online Community
When it comes to online community building, slow and steady wins the race. Too many organizations put the cart before the horse by building out a platform before thinking through how members will be recruited. In this post, Richard Millington provides a terrific primer on the right steps to take — in the right order — when putting together your online community.
5. How to Defuse a Civil War on Your Online Community
It’s a problem that might face any growing online community: What happens when the founding members find themselves outnumbered by newer members with different sensibilities. In this case, the newer members are demanding the moderators discipline the older members for perceived insults. Patrick O’Keefe tackles this problem in this post and recommends a strategy for keeping everyone together and happy.
Thanks for sharing, Dave. 🙂