(Originally presented at a DNN webinar, "The 7 Traits of Highly Effective Community Managers" - http://www.dnnsoftware.com/About/Resources/Webinars/view/webinar/cid/423799) Behind every successful online community is a highly effective community manager. While community members "make" the community, it takes an effective community manager to establish the ground rules, steer conversations, introduce members to one another and encourage activity and contributions. The seven traits you need to effectively manage your own online community: 1) MacGyver-like 2) Omniscient 3) Parental 4) Unconventional 5) Unflappable 6) Proactive 7) Generous

1. Dennis Shiao
Director, Product Marketing
@DNNCorp | @dshiao
Tweet with hash tag:
#DNN

2. What we’re covering today:
Your owned and operated [EXTERNAL] online
community.
What we’re NOT covering today:

3. Job Description: Community Manager
MUST HAVE:
 Proven ability to develop an idea, build broad, cross-organizational
consensus and sponsorship and carry it forward to implementation
and operational management.
Product
Management
Politics
Sales
Operations
 Excellent communications skills with particular strength in written
communications and presentations.
Marketing
PR
Communications

4. Job Description: Community Manager
 Superb understanding of trends and industry direction coupled with
the ability to identify the most important applications of these trends
for integration to the community.
Analyst
Industry
Expert
Integrator
Implementer
 Proven ability to work effectively with a project team responsible for
content delivery tools such as search and other web-based support
tools to deliver unparalleled online support experiences.
Project
Management
Technologist
Customer
Support

5. Job Description: Community Manager
Photo credit: ruffin_ready on flickr
Photo credit: natalialove on flickr

6. Strategic Role of The Community Manager
Community
Manager Roles
Marketing
PR
Sales
Customer Support
Professional Services
Product Management
Operations
Organizational
Roles
CEO
CFO
CIO
Engineering
Legal
Sales
Marketing
HR
Customer Support

7. Strategic Role of The Community Manager
YOU.
Community
Organization

8. The Currency of The Community Manager
Activity
 Logins
 Page views
 Unique visitors
 New users
 Repeat logins
 Time on site
Satisfaction
 Survey results
 Sentiment
 Net Promoter
Score (NPS)
Business Value
 Leads
 Inquiries
 Pipeline
 Revenue
Related SlideShare: Top Metrics to Track Online Community Health

9. Community Management Grows in Strategic Value
2013
Growth Path
Chief Content Officer
(CCO)
Content Marketer
2014
Growth Path
Community Manager
Chief Community
Officer (CCO)

10. Chief Community Officer
“Responsible for
culture, commu
nity, governmen
t
relations, diversi
ty and global
responsibility
efforts.”

12. 1) MacGyver-like
Your mission:
Find creative solutions using the tools
available to you.





Be prepared (for anything)
Identify the tools available to you
Find creative solutions using those tools
Improvise as needed
Find ways to re-use those tools
Image source: the MacGyver page at IMDb.
P.S. Be always prepared for adventure, too.
A list of problems solved by MacGyver:
http://macgyver.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_problems_solved_by_MacGyver

13. 1) MacGyver-like
MacGyver Tip for Community Management:
Lean on community “champions” to help resolve issues
“When reaching out to your army of champions, not only do you need to be empathetic to
their work load and current challenges, but you need to wholeheartedly inspire and
motivate them to want to get involved. Present the problem, ask for the support, and be
sure to celebrate and socialize their efforts internally and externally.”
Jenny Berthiaume
Online Community & Engagement Strategist
Twitter: @jennycb
Our take: “An issue solved by the community is an epic win for the community manager.”

14. 2) Omniscient
You have your eyes and
ears on:
What’s going on (now).
Backward-looking trends.
The reason for those trends.
Forward-looking trends.
What users like.
What users dislike.
What features are missing.
What the future holds.

15. 2) Omniscient
Tip for Community Management:
Read community members’ online body language
“It is essential that your community manager be hypersensitive to the ‘energy in the
room,’ so to speak. A good candidate will have expert listening skills and will be able to
match his or her energy and tone to the environment in which he or she is
working, blending effortlessly and quickly becoming an asset to the community.”
Jenise Fryatt
Social Media Strategist, Content Marketing, Blogger
Icon Presentations AV/Smarter Shift
Twitter: @JeniseFryatt

16. 3) Parental
 Nurture
 Develop
 Guide
 Resolve
 Comfort
 Feed
 Teach
 Praise
 Protect
 Humor
 Inspire
 Listen
 Watch
 Give
 Reward
 Love
 Encourage
 Challenge
“It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a community manager to raise a village.”

17. 3) Parental
Tip for Community Management:
Make community members feel heard
“In general, most people just want to feel like they are being heard
and a simple acknowledgement can be enough to calm someone
down.”
Lauren Harper
Social Marketing Manager, Oracle Eloqua
Twitter: @LaurenEHarper

18. 3) Parental
Tip for Community Management:
Treat community members with consistency
“Like wrangling a bunch of grubby four year olds on the
playground, you must wield your power fairly and enforce the rules
equally, or you will suffer a barrage of mean spirited feedback.”
Alethe Denis
Social Media and Community Manager
iMagiclab, LLC
Twitter: @Leafies42
Alethe’s blog post at Ning.com:
3 Hallmarks of an Excellent Modern Community Manager

19. 4) Unconventional
Conventional:
…is uniform.
…is boring.
…is the same old thing.
…doesn’t inspire anything or anyone.

20. 4) Unconventional
Be unconventional:
…experiment.
…measure.
…evaluate.
…double down on what’s working.

21. 4) Unconventional
Tip for Community Management:
Use humor
“Communities need help, but they also need some comic relief.
Take a moment everyday or week to inject some humor. Maybe
that's a joke, a funny image or anything that will make your
community smile for a moment.”
Koka Sexton
Global Sr. Social Marketing Manager
LinkedIn
Twitter: @kokasexton

22. 5) Unflappable
Realities of Community Management






Expect controversy.
Anticipate negativity and/or trolls.
A crisis can arise any day, any hour, any minute.
Users will not be happy with you.
Users will not be happy with your brand.
Expect the unexpected.

23. 5) Unflappable
Side note: when facing a
blitz, provide good
SERVICE [pun intended]
To judge quarterbacks, see how they perform when faced with a blitz.
To judge community managers, see how they perform when faced with a crisis.
Photo credit: West Point on flickr.

24. 5) Unflappable
Read the blog post and see the full graphic at Kuno Creative.

25. 6) Proactive

26. 6) Proactive
A good community manager responds to issues.
A great community manager resolves them
before they even become issues.

27. 6) Proactive
The proactive habits of highly effective community managers






“Always On”
Outreach
Analytics
Trend spotting
Encouragement
Recognition
 Experimentation
 Planning
 Feedback to internal
stakeholders
 External PR
 Optimization
“Community members don’t always tell you how they feel. Use analytics to fill in
the blanks.”

28. 7) Generous
Great hotels have great concierges.
Photo credit: adrianflower on flickr.

29. 7) Generous
Be the concierge for your online community





Welcome them to your great city
Give them directions
Recommend venues and destinations
Make dinner or show reservations
Make sure their stay is pleasurable

30. Closing Quote
Tip for Community Management:
Simmer for best taste
“Your community is not a pot of water that you are waiting to see
boil. Instead it is a very delicate sauce, which needs constant
attention and patience. It takes time and loads of energy to develop
a truly fantastic and engaged community.”
Alethe Denis
Social Media and Community Manager
iMagiclab, LLC
Twitter: @Leafies42

31. Book Recommendation
The Art of Community
By Jono Bacon
Ubuntu Community Manager
Twitter: @jonobacon
Hat tip to Adrian Segar (@ASegar)
There’s a section on “Effective Community Management.” Available for
purchase at Amazon.

32. In Summary
MacGyver-like
Unflappable
Omniscient
Parental
Proactive
Unconventional
Generous

33. Questions?
Contact me:
dennis.shiao@dnnsoftware.com
@DNNCorp | @dshiao
http://www.dnnsoftware.com