Cerebra

For the last three years I've had the privilege of being part of online communities in the role of community manager. At first, this role resembled that of a traditional forum moderator but as the web became more social, a new set of skills was required.

Below are just a few of the lessons I've learnt. Feel free to suggest others by leaving a comment.

1. Building a quality community takes time
Depending on the platform, an initial advertising campaign and possibly an incentive such as a competition can kickstart a community but not everyone will stick around after the fireworks show has fizzled. That's where a solid content strategy is needed and the ability to learn from members comes in.

2. Relevant content is king
Information that is on-topic and useful for the community trumps just about any incentive. Flashy banners, clever titles and competitions have their uses but tend to lack the deeper-rooted reasons why members joined the community in the first place.

3. Some people prefer to chat via email
It took years for email to be widely adopted and it may take a while still for some to reach the same level of comfort with comments on blogs/statuses, tweets, etc. I'd say about 15% of communication in the communities I've managed has been through email. It also has the advantage of reaching beyond the corporate firewall.

4. Recognition of top members goes a long way
Human beings generally take kindly to being recognised for their efforts and online communities are no different. Even a simple mention of how a member has in some way contributed to a community will boost their ego and more importantly, make them likely to stick around and keep contributing.

5. Be prepared to learn
Community members will most likely outnumber the community management team by a huge margin. As a collective they hold more knowledge on how a product/service is used, works (or malfunctions) and other tricks that only crowd-sourced insight can provide. These learnings are valuable as research and certainly dictate content strategy.

6. Take advantage of real-life events
The value of face-to-face interaction in building a relationship is invaluable and in my experience, is one of the best ways to get people to join an online community.

7. Sometimes you have to eat humble pie
When I've been wrong and the community picks up on it I've found that they are far more forgiving if I'm honest - admit my mistake and try to fix it. Simply deleting evidence of your wrong-doing after its been seen and/or questioned can have a negative impact on the community's integrity.