community manager

Community Champions are those members who are the most active and whom you have officially appointed to be volunteer leaders within your community. You may call them Advocates, Volunteers, Leaders, Mentors or a number of other names. SiftGroups calls them Champions.

A few weeks ago we asked if you have a social media policy, and gave you some ideas for how to create a simple plan which will enable your internal team to help support the audience-facing representatives of your company or organisation.

What happens when someone asks you a tricky question in your community, website, Facebook page, Twitter page or blog?  Do you answer them? How long does it take you to answer? If you don't know the answer, do you know the appropriate person to contact in your organisation? Does that person understand the importance of timeliness in a web environment?

This is a 4-part guide to using Facebook and Twitter for those already running their own online communities on their own sites.

In Part 1 of this guide to using Facebook and Twitter I explained that you should get into the social media scene and have a look around to find out where you need to be, and how information you share can shape your audience's perception of you.  

This is a 4-part guide to using Facebook and Twitter for those already running their own online communities on their own sites.

In Part 1 of this guide to using Facebook and Twitter I explained that you should get into the social media scene and have a look around to find out where you need to be, and how information you share can shape your audience's perception of you.  

This is a 4-part guide to using Facebook and Twitter for those already running their own online communities on their own sites.

In Part 1 of this guide to using Facebook and Twitter I explained that you should get into the social media scene and have a look around to find out where you need to be, and how information you share can shape your audience's perception of you.  

This is a 4-part guide to using Facebook and Twitter for those already running their own online communities on their own sites.

Recently one of the Community Champions in a community I manage came forward to suggest that we link to a controversial video circulating on the internet. She approached the community team in private, in the separate Community Champions area of the discussions, as she was not yet certain that it was appropriate to place the video into the public-facing area.

When addressing how best grow communities of practice (CoP) it’s wise first to consider what type of communities we are talking about. Typically these communities are by definition common professional, situational or vocational groups, for example professional trade and industrial associations. They are often relatively small in size, especially in comparison to large consumer-driven sites where the social ties are much looser, but the number of members far greater.

One of the key challenges facing communities, especially in their early stages of development, is the need to get people engaged. Later on in a community's development this evolves into providing feedback to your top contributors, as demonstrated in recent HP Labs research.