Online community management for dummies - Deborah Ng

Online communities are the neighborhoods of the Internet, where different personalities who share a common interest can learn, discuss, and interact. Its up to you, as the community manager, to guide, monitor, respond to, and assess the activities of your community to benefit your company and build loyalty. Its a big job, and heres how to do it!

• Compare and choose
  decide on the type of social community your business needs




• Hat dance
  learn to be a leader, advocate, editor, brand evangelist, referee, liaison, and problem solver




• Gotta have rules
  establish guidelines that encourage quality participation




• Meet the group
  find innovative ways to learn about members and solicit their input




• Listen and share
  pay attention to comments, participate in discussions, and follow through on solving problems




• Build traffic
  make your site irresistible with valuable content and use quality keywords for high search rankings




• Study the stats
  install the right programs to monitor your community and let the results guide your strategy




• Go offline
  use speaking engagements, conferences, and fun events to draw new members

Open the book and find:

• What you need to know about online communities




• Ways to sell your communitys value to the boss




• How to handle difficult members




• Tips for growing your community




• Why you should visit other communities




• How to use what you learn




• Ten things every community manager should do




• More resources for community managers

Learn to:

• Identify core tasks for community managers




• Build and maintain positive relationships within your online community




• Establish policies and transparency




• Manage comments, respond to criticism, and evaluate ROI