Best Practices for Managing an Online Community
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Transcript of Best Practices for Managing an Online Community
1©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
Building and Managing a CommunityJordan Viator, Convio
2©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
An interactive group of people joined together by a common interest
What is an online community?
3©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
• Profiles
• Discussion Threads
• Groups
• Events
• Tagging
• Widgets
• Blogs
• Multimedia
• Ratings
Elements of an Online Community
4©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
• Openness and transparency
• Trust
• An organization that truly listens
• Active engagement
• Welcoming new members with open arms
• Being open to feedback and responses (yes, even the negative ones)
What makes a community thrive?
5©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
• What do you want to achieve with your community?
• What resources do you have to leverage?
• What is your strategy for the community and how does it fit into your overall communications strategy?
• Who is your audience and what will THEY get from being a part of your community?
• How much time are you willing to spend nurturing this?
“If you build it they will come” attitude
does not work here
Where to start: Strategy
6©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
1. A well-defined audience or tight-knit group
Why choose to build your own
community?
7©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
2. Sensitive Topics
Why choose to build your own
community?
8©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
3. Passionate Supporters
Why choose to build your own
community?
9©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
4. Specific Functionality
Why choose to build your own
community?
Interactivity
Login
Events
Take Action
Profiles
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• Integration with other online entities
• Website
• Other social media: Facebook, Twitter, etc
• Email campaigns
• Direct Mail
• In-person events
• Essentially, every touch point with a constituent is good to help spread the message of your community!
Promotion of your community
11©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
• Focus on the community members
• Sincerity is of the utmost importance
• Make it about the people participating, not you
• Engage with community
• Treat everyone as an equal
• Honing in on key skills of:
• Patience
• Networking
• Facilitating
• Marketing
• Communication!
Principles to live by:
12©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
1. Set expectations about what you can achieve in the community early
2. Have a strong understanding of why you want a community in the first place
3. Define your success metrics
4. Make it about your constituents and provide the tools and information most important to them
5. Be genuine and show a humanistic side in all community efforts
6. Be participatory and responsive
Practical Tips for Community
Management
13©2009 Convio, Inc. | Page
• Common Knowledge blog http://commonknow.typepad.com/blog/
• Connection Café blog www.connectioncafe.com
• ThePort Blog http://theport.com/blog
• Common Knowledge Resources libraryhttp://commonknow.com/html/resources
• Convio Research www.convio.com/our-research
• ThePort Resources libraryhttp://theport.com/resources
Resources