Community Management 101

Maggie McGary
February 21, 2011
8 comments

Red Insurgency

The association I work for is making the leap many associations have already made: launching a members-only community platform. It’s exciting and something I, as the association’s online community & social media manager, will obviously be intimately involved with. As I have begun checking out the community platform vendor’s online community, one thing that’s struck me is how many associations have either already launched a an online community or are planning to, with a) little to no knowledge of community management as a discipline and b) no staff allocated to managing community.

What’s a person who knows nothing about community management but suddenly has the responsibility thrust upon them to do? Here are a few places to start learning about community management:

  • The Community Roundtable’s Getting Your Feet Wet in Social Media & Community –The Community Roundtable is, to me, the gold standard in the world of community management. I honestly can’t say enough good things about them and all I’ve learned being part of the Community Roundtable. This “getting your feet wet” guide is a great place to learn some basic information and a launching pad for learning more.
  • Blaise Grimes-Viort’s blog — This is a great blog and I love the weekly roundup of community management links. Again, a great place to start and find lots of other blogs and resources from.
  • FeverBee — Good, frequently updated blog that addresses community management issues in detail.
  • Online Community Strategist — great, informative blog that focuses on community management.

There are many others but I’ll stop at these for now.

What other sources of information about community management do you recommend?

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Karen Denise

Great information and resources. Thank you for sharing your research and ideas. So glad I found this blog. Good fortune with your organization's venture.

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Claire Wagner

I strongly recommend Deb Ng's posts about community management on her blog site, Kommein. She ran a very active site for freelance writers for several years and has a lot of experience. Thanks for pointing out these other resources.

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Patrick Carlson

Hi Maggie - thanks for this excellent post. My association is VERY close to launching our online community - and as manager of online communications - I am going to be de facto community manager.

These links are some great resources - and KiKi L'Italien has been a great resource for my association as we navigate the development and launch of the community.

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Rachel Happe

Hi Maggie - thank you so much for the shout out and for your advocacy of the discipline generally. I also just did a presentation with Megan Smith on community management fundamentals if people are looking for the high level overview: http://www.slideshare.net/rhappe/community-management-fundamentals

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Joshua Paul

Maggie, I can't agree with you more about the importance of a strategic approach to online communities. A content plan, communication plan, and growth plan are critical to avoid lulls, confusion, and overall failure. The training, and planning that go into online community management at mid-sized and large associations is just as important as the software platform. Our member engagement blog and online community resources are great places to get information to make your online community a success.

Member Engagement Blog: http://socious.com/member-engagement-blog/

Community Resources: http://socious.com/community-resources/

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