If you are anything like me, one of the toughest parts about blogging is showing up to write when you are feeling uninspired or suffering from a severe case of writer’s block. One way to keep yourself accountable is to create an editorial calendar. I know for many of you this probably sounds scary and intimidating. But, I promise it really isn’t. Most of us think about meetings and...
What Community Managers Can Learn From Being In The Kitchen
As a community manager, it’s really easy to get stuck in a bubble of living and breathing the communities that you manage. It can be a good idea to step outside of that bubble every once in awhile to seek out other perspectives. As someone who is a voracious reader, I do this most often by reading all kinds of books and blog posts in a variety of industries with varying perspectives. I stumbled...
Is Slack Unintentionally Becoming The New Online Community Platform We Have All Been Waiting For?
On the surface, Slack is just another workplace communication channel. It directly competes with Campfire, Hipchat, and even to a lesser degree Google Hangouts and email. It’s tagline is to change the way companies communicate and make work life easier. There’s no doubt Slack is revolutionizing how many companies are communicating these days. Due to a great UX, site stickiness and an insane...
Four Reasons Why All Bloggers Should Check Out The New Community Building Course
I’m super excited to announce that my first digital product is now live and open to the public for purchase. This comes in conjunction with a blog makeover. (I’d love to hear your thoughts- good and not-so-good – around the new, responsive design). The Create Your Tribe product is a month-long email course to help new biz bloggers build a thriving community around their brand. For...
A Community Manager’s Guide To Meerkat (With 6 Possible Use Cases)
At first glance, I didn’t want to like this app. I have written more than a couple of times about social media shiny object syndrome. Most of the sites that make an initial splash wear off and fade into relative obscurity within a couple of months. Think Highlight, Ello, Yo and so many more. After spending a lot of time on this app over the last week (including getting sucked into an epic 7...
The Case Against Gamifying Your Online Community
When it comes to launching a new online community or driving more engagement in an existing one, the first suggestions community managers usually bring up are gamification, giveaways and contests. It has become the default, go-to answer for many. I’ve seen this approach result in all kinds of headaches and problems time and time again. It brings out the same reaction in me as when a...
The Secret To Creating A Booming Online Community
What if I told you there was a magic formula you could follow and replicate exactly to create a booming online community with crazy high levels of engagement? A formula that could help your brand new community turn into an “overnight success” with thousands upon thousands of active contributors each week. I bet you anxiously took out your moleskin, ready for me to spill the goodness...
Finding Your Sweet Spot As A Community Manager
Growing up, I was a huge basketball fan. Despite being slightly vertically challenged, I had a sweet spot on the court where I knew I could sync a jump shot regardless of pressure. I was in the zone, and knew no matter what obstacles were thrown around me I could focus and make the shot. So, what does this have to do with community management? As a community manager, I’m used to wearing a lot of...
The Biggest Mistake You May Be Making With Your Community Moderation Strategy (And Why Facebook Will Never Have A Dislike Button)
Moderation is a big topic in the community management space. For many, it automatically conjures up images of trolls and ban buttons. However in reality, high quality moderation goes way beyond that, and is equal parts an art form, psychology and science. In a Google Hangout on Air yesterday as part of CMAD, modern community moderation was the hot topic discussed by Justin Isaf, Darren Gough...
11 Tips For Recruiting Your First 100 Members To Your Online Community
Building a community from the ground-up is hard, often lonely work. You are starting out as the only evangelist for this fledgling idea, and you have to hustle day in and day out to get those key first members. Why 100? That’s when you typically should see some more user-generated topics and comments that isn’t necessarily all seeded by you. What better way to illustrate this than...