For the past few days I’ve been in Orlando at ASAE’s Great Ideas conference. I love this conference because it’s small and the content is good and it’s not all about the expo hall (as much as I love me some expo hall). Also, it’s sunny and warm here and not a snowflake in sight, […]
Why Online Community is About More Than Community for Associations
There’s been a flurry of attention over a recent Associations Now story about how Doximity, a private online community for physicians, is outpacing the AMA in terms of membership. I started to reply to one of the comments in the original story, but then my response got so long I figured I should just write […]
My 3 CMAD Wishes
Another year, another Community Manager Appreciation Day (CMAD). This time last year I was quitting community management. That lasted about ten minutes because I missed it : ) Now I’m back, or trying to be back, and continuing to fight the good fight for community management in the association world. Things are inching forward, with […]
LinkedIn is Great…But Not as Your Community Platform
I know this topic has been discussed to death, particularly in the association community, but I just can’t help weighing in again after seeing it come up yet again in the ASAE LinkedIn group. The topic? Killing a private community in favor of using public social media platforms–in this particular case, LinkedIn groups. If you […]
Is “Most Active” the Best Metric for Online Communities?
It occurred to me this morning as I visited ASAE’s community, Collaborate, that just as a lot of social metrics are focused on quantity over quality, so are private community metrics. Featured on the home page of the community is the popular leaderboard showcasing “most active members”–aka the members who post the most and/or visit […]
The State of Social Media in Membership Marketing
Each year, Marketing General puts out a Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. And of course, each year I read the report from the social media/community management lens. Here are some social media highlights I pulled out of the 2013 report: One of the top challenges cited by associations is difficulty attracting/maintaining younger members 74% of responding […]
2013 State of Community Management Report Stresses Importance of Community Managers
Even though my current role is broader than community management, I’m still a community manager at heart and it’s still my passion. So I was super excited to get a peek at the first report of the Community Roundtable’s 2013 State of Community Management yesterday and even more excited to see that it contains some […]
Why I Quit Community Management
Community Manager Appreciation Day feels weird this year because I’m no longer a community manager–or at least it is no longer my primary, full-time role. Even though 2010 was apparently the year of the community manager, to me it feels like this year is the year that community management has gone mainstream. I admit, it […]
Community Un-Managing: Cheat Sheet for Community Managers and Tips for Companies
As I wrote in my last post, I recently left my position managing social media and online community for a large professional association. In the process of disconnecting myself from the organization’s various social media accounts, it occurred to me that I haven’t seen a lot–or anything–written about how to leave a community management position. […]
Threat to Associations? The $10,000 a Year Online Community
Yesterday I saw a job on Twitter: “Membership sales for Social Media.org.” As an association veteran, I’m used to membership director or manager positions–but have never seen a membership position billed as a sales position. So I went to check out Social Media.org, and discovered it is a “community for social media leaders at the […]
