#CmgrChat

Welcome to the archive of #CmgrChat weekly Twitter chat on Community Management.

As someone so eloquently put it in our first ever chat aimed at Community Managers and those that handle Social Media jobs full time, “Community Managers need a community too.”

Founded by Jenn Pedde (@JPedde) and Kelly Lux (@KellyLux /@iSchoolSU), this chat serves as a community to discuss ideas, foster collaboration, and act as a resource for all of those working in this ever changing industry.

The chat started in September 2010 and continues each and every week on Wednesdays at 2pm EST for one hour. If you are a community manager, or are looking to become one, this is the place for you. All are welcome!

Community Building at NASA

How NASA Builds Community

by on 2013.01.31

In the fall we held a special 2-year anniversary #cmgrchat with special guests from NASA. They manage a significant amount of social media assets and build their community through a variety of online and offline events. Arguably one of the coolest and most progressive organizations out there and we were lucky to have a few members [...]

What is a Community Strategist?

What Does a Community Strategist Do?

by on 2013.01.24

“So what would you say you do here?”  might just be one of my all time favorite Office Space quotes. And it’s something that goes through my head at least once daily when someone inevitably asks me what I do. Assuming we all know the difference between a social media manager and a community manager, [...]

The Community Manager

Community Influence – Online and Off

by on 2013.01.11

One of the biggest differences between a Social Media Manager and a Community Manager is the offline component of the day to day jobs.  A Community Manager should know how to find their influential members on the usual social media tools, but they should also know how to find their influential members offline. However, companies [...]

The Community Manager

Community Management for Nonprofit Organizations

by on 2012.12.11

We so often talk about communities and how they fit into support, content, marketing, pr, etc—but we had never really talked about community for nonprofit organizations. Are their goals and processes different than that of major corporations or start-up companies? We decided to find out. TheCMgr Q1) What does the day to day look like for [...]

The Community Manager

Social Media Compliance, Regulation, and Disclosure

by on 2012.11.19

As social media increasingly becomes accepted and utilized by brands large and small, the legalities and regulations mustn’t be an after thought. Brands can get themselves into a bit of hot water if the wrong things are said, or if they aren’t transparent enough in their day to day communications whether it’s in their advertising, [...]

The Community Manager

How to Manage a Forum Community

by on 2012.11.14

Way before Social Media entered the scene, forums were the big kids on campus. Pretty much since the days of the AOL chat room in the 90s to gaming threads & news site message boards, online community management focused on these day to day. This is where online community management was born, and now with [...]

Library of an Interaction Designer (Juhan Sonin) / 20100423.7D.0

Community Management Books & Their Takeaways

by on 2012.10.08

It’s hard to be in any position these days without continuing to develop professionally.  Without actually going back to school, what’s an easy way to do that?  Good ol’ fashioned book learnin’. For the past two years we have been cultivating a list of recommended books from #cmgrchat members and their top choices for excellent [...]

The Community Manager

How Credible is Your Community Manager?

by on 2012.10.03

The overwhelming majority of community managers out there are self taught and have been teaching themselves for the past 20 years.  There are some rockstar pros out there, but as online communities continue to thrive in places like social media we’ve gotten to the point where “community” needs to be taught just like we teach [...]

The Community Manager

The Ins and Outs of Managing a Blog

by on 2012.10.02

Managing a blog, wait, strike that. Managing a successful and engaging blog or site could be someone’s full time job.  To pump out the amount of high quality content that’s necessary to span the interwebs, to find new writers, moderate comments, and figure out all of the analytics behind your efforts is no small undertaking.  [...]

The Community Manager

The Relationship Between Customer Service & Community Management

by on 2012.09.28

When community managers aren’t discussing the difference between a community manager and a social media manager, they’re debating what department community gets housed in. Is it marketing? Is it support? Is it its own department of “community?” The easiest way to answer this question is with another question. What is community? I won’t bore you [...]

The Community Manager

New Member Outreach Tactics

by on 2012.09.14

User acquisition is traditionally handled by social media managers as well as SEO specialists, inbound marketing, paid lead generation, and excellent product design.  But seeing as how community managers are usually the ones creating content, they play a role in this too.   How are new members found, engaged with, and retained?  The answers below should [...]

What Tools do Community Managers Use?

by on 2012.09.07

A great community manager knows when, where, and how to find excellent resources of the highest quality. And in 958 tweets in an hour we figured out what the best of the best resources are, and who is using what everyday. Enjoy the list! Q1) What are the tools you can’t live without as a [...]

The Community Manager

A Special #cmgrchat 2 Year Anniversary Announcement!

by on 2012.09.05

Two years.  If you had told me two years ago that I’d be writing this post and going to tell you what I’ll be telling you in a few short paragraphs I probably would have told you you were nuts.  The events that led up to me sitting in this chair typing this, working for [...]

The Community Manager

Building Community in Blogger Outreach

by on 2012.08.14

Community management is very much about uniting people. It can face inward amongst employees at a company, it can be customer facing as most are known for doing, but it can also be outward facing to bloggers & businesses in your industry. Blogger outreach traditionally is a public relations task, however it is something that [...]

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Community Management Job Searching

by on 2012.08.13

Searching for a job is never an easy task (as we learned about on Friday’s post about finding your first CM gig) and finding a good job is like searching for a needle in a haystack.  In the world of community management where job titles and job descriptions are so wildly inconsistent, where do you [...]

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Is a Community Manager a Community Member?

by on 2012.06.13

Community Managers have the interesting and unique position in a company of straddling a very thin line that most employees never cross.  Customer Support works with customers, but it’s a very clear line.  Usually the flow of communication is very simple – a customer contacts customer support with an issue.  Then customer support helps that [...]

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Blog Comments, Do They Still Matter?

by on 2012.06.01

A blog is a place that you own, and you control, as the brand.  You have every right to set the guidelines, create services, and use this space to engage your community.  However, with the meteoric rise in social media use in the past 5-8 years, blog comments seem to have taken a back seat [...]

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Useful Conference Preparation Tips

by on 2012.05.10

In today’s online heavy world, conferences provide an excellent way to bridge the online / offline gap.  The amount of networking and connections you can make nowadays on social platforms and virtual events is staggering, but that doesn’t replace the quality of meeting someone face to face.  Conferences provide the ability to not only meet [...]

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Community Management of the Future

by on 2012.05.07

Even though Community Management seems to be at it’s height, we’ve still got a long way to go before we come to some kind of consensus as to what CMs do day to day, what they’re called, and what we expect them to do.  So what does the future of Community Management look like to [...]

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#CmgrChat – 2/8 – Community Guidelines

by on 2012.04.09

Being a part of a community doesn’t come without some guidelines, rules, & regulations to follow.  Have you ever been a part of an organization that didn’t have something to adhere to?  Without any of that, you run the risk of entering into chaos.  The best community managers create guidelines that encourage, support, and best [...]

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#CmgrChat – 1/25 – To Automate or Not Automate Your Community

by on 2012.02.29

We had 820 tweets in this week’s chat by quite a few talented community managers.  The discussion of automation is always heated because it’s basically efficiency vs. quality to most people.  Does one have to be sacrificed for the other?   From what this chat discussed, neither have to be at the sake of the other.  [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 1/18 – Community Manager Burnout

by on 2012.02.28

Burnout isn’t a new concept. From my day to day community working with USC, I’ve learned that this is a concept that social workers, in their profession, are constantly talking about. The idea of taking time for themselves and taking mental (and physical) breaks from their very serious jobs. And I keep drawing comparisons to [...]

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#CmgrChat – 1/11/12 – The Role of the Community Manager

by on 2012.02.01

We started 2012 off by hitting the ground running by essentially asking “What is a Community Manager?”  We discussed the roles of a community manager back in one of our first chats in 2010, and I can tell you that the discussion has evolved a lot since then and people have become quite protective of [...]

Community Manager Appreciation Day #CMAD

Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day! #CMAD

by on 2012.01.23

In 2010, Jeremiah Owyang declared every 4th Monday in January as “Community Manager Appreciation Day.”  This day is meant to recognize and celebrate efforts of community managers around the world using social media to improve customer experiences.  Or so says the Wikipedia page. As we all know, there are quite a few community managers out [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 12/21: Community Manager Travel

by on 2012.01.20

Excessive traveling for conferences, meetups, events, or face to face meetings can do a number of positive and negative things for a community manager and their community.  What are some of the strategies that the best CMs have in place for not missing a beat?  How do they keep up with their day to day [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 12/7: Community Engagement & Holiday Planning

by on 2012.01.19

We realize that at the time of publication this is appearing in January, well after the holiday season.  However, this may prove useful for any planning you do for 2012′s holiday season, and it’s never too early to be prepared or start thinking of ideas that you’ll need to get approval on ahead of time. [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 11/16: Choosing a Monitoring System

by on 2012.01.18

Choosing a monitoring system may fall more into the purview of a Social Media Manager or Strategist, but the right tool to monitor a community is important to the average community manager or strategist.  This chat saw 774 helpful tweets regarding which systems people were using, and how they came upon the decision to use [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 11/9: Google+ And Community

by on 2012.01.17

When we held this chat in November, Google+ had that week just announced its Google+ pages.  The chat saw 752 tweets and discussed if they were going to create a page or not, what they thought hosting them would look like, and if there is enough engagement to justify adding another platform to busy schedules.  [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 11/2: Do Numbers Tell the Whole Story?

by on 2012.01.16

All of us have to report some kind of activity to those either higher up or in different departments at our companies.   However, there aren’t consistent community metrics, or standard methods that CMs are using at the moment.   After a lively debate, below are some of the best and most common answer. Q1. What kind [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 10/26 Optimizing Shareable Content

by on 2012.01.12

As community managers we’re usually knee deep in some kind of content.  It could be blog posts, content on social networks, or within bookmarking/community sities like Reddit & Digg.  Either way, we have to make sure that content gets seen and interacted with by our community members.  So the best of the best got together [...]

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10/12 – #Cmgrchat Community Contests

by on 2012.01.04

One of the best ways to get engagement out of your community is to offer up some form of a contest.  There are hundreds of different ways to do this, and there are obviously best practices at work by some of the best.   However, before you start any contest of any kind, make sure [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 9/21: Community Privacy

by on 2012.01.03

Privacy restrictions ultimately depend on the type of community and whether or not a community is a part of a regulated industry. In which case, higher privacy standards are mandatory. Although many community managers disagree on privacy policies and communities, most agree on matters of personal privacy and protecting their identities in social networks. What [...]

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#Cmgrchat – 9/14: Are You Smothering Your Community?

by on 2012.01.02

When managing a community, how do you know how involved to be?   When do you jump in or stay out?  How do you know who are your most influential users?  Even the most experienced of community managers will tell you that it’s all how well you know your community and that there is a [...]

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9/7: #Cmgrchat: Community with Google Docs and Gmail

by on 2011.12.13

In a special edition of #CmgrChat we had two incredible guests stop by and tell us how they do community at Google.   Teresa Wu, Community Manager for Google Docs and Sarah Price, Community Manager for Gmail, joined us for our one year anniversary of #cmgrchat to talk about how one of the biggest brands [...]

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#CmgrChat – 8/31: To Outsource or Not to Outsource?

by on 2011.12.12

The idea of outsourcing community manager responsibilities evoked some strong responses in this #CmgrChat. Community Managers are often pulled in a number of directions, which may or may not fall under their actual job descriptions.  The job title has grown to become very broad and encompasses roles like social media, SEO and web analysis. From time to time, [...]

8/24 – Community Workspaces & Workflows

by on 2011.11.28

Everyone has a different way of doing things.  Are some better than others?  Are Community Managers carefree spirits that need to work at home  to avoid distractions or in the office socializing with everyone?  Are both of those questions wrong?   We found out how most people are working and prefer to work in this [...]

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8/24 – Community Workspaces and Workflows

by on 2011.11.09

Everyone has a different work style and prefers to set up their spaces differently.   Should we assume that community managers being social in nature want a social office atmosphere as well?  Do online social professionals actually prefer to work alone?  This chat dives into all of those questions and figuring out best workspace and workflows [...]

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8/17 – When Communities Attack

by on 2011.11.05

Communities often times aren’t always puppy dogs and rainbows as any seasoned community manager knows.  People occasionally get fed up, have issues, band together, and revolt.   A good community manager will be able to use their arsenal of skills to head off any good attack. This week’s chat was also co-piloted by the amazing [...]

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Introducing TCM’s Monthly Community Manager Spotlight!

by on 2011.10.26

Want to get to know community managers a little bit better?   Are you curious what other CM’s toughest struggles are? What about their favorite resources? Or just want a peek into what their daily work-life is like?  In an effort to offer deeper dives into what Community Managers do to make their communities run so [...]

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8/3 #Cmgrchat: Community & Advertising

by on 2011.09.13

Advertising.  It’s everywhere.  And over the years we’ve had to get more creative about how we advertise online.  As community managers are we immune?  Is advertising part of our responsibility?  Are there interesting ways to advertise to communities that make more sense?   Afterall, community managers are also users so we have a unique view [...]

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7/27 #Cmgrchat: Community & Social Good

by on 2011.09.07

Social good/social capitalism. It all boils down to organizations and corporations furthering a social mission and executing on plans to help others. The following is a thoughtful chat about social efforts, including whom to follow so you can stay up-to-date. It’s not to be missed! ______ Q1. Besides the obvious, what are the most compelling [...]

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7/20 #Cmgrchat: Community Meetups

by on 2011.08.31

One of the most important aspects of community management is taking the online, offline.  Building relationships on line is only the start of it.  Enabling your community to meet in person does so many things to help your cause.  Members meet other members, you find your biggest advocates, and you strengthen the community ties around [...]

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#Cmgrchat 7/13 Dying Networks

by on 2011.08.17

“You’re a dying social network if Rupert Murdoch is interested in buying you,” joked Prash Sabharwal, during this more light-hearted installation of #cmgrchat. Despite cracks, chat participants take a [semi-]serious look at what constitutes a dying network and how to prepare communities for transition. ***** Q1) What are the telltale signs of a “dying network” [...]

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#CmgrChat 7/6 How to Use Niche Sites

by on 2011.07.20

Many community managers monitor social media properties other than Facebook and twitter. And many are jumping right onto the Google+ bandwagon! This conversation examines just how community managers are able to successfully manage all roads that lead to engagement. ****** Q1. What platforms are you using/looking at for your audience? How do you make the determination [...]

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#CmgrChat 6/29 The Evolution of Community Management

by on 2011.07.06

Esteemed guest Blaise Grimes-Viort put it best in this chat when he said, “People interacting with a brand and not each other is not a community in my mind.” Although the hiring of “community managers” has really taken off in the past couple of years, and businesses as well as their customers are more excited [...]

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#CmgrChat 6/22 How to Become a Community Manager

by on 2011.06.29

From veterans to novices, this chat offers good advice on how to enter community management. Evan Hamilton, of the B2B app UserVoice, suggested that the new term for community manager ought to be Chief Happiness Officer (despite the “slightly awkward” acronym). Regardless of job title or description, job seekers and aspiring hopefuls can learn a lot [...]

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#CmgrChat 6/8 – Demystifying the Cloud

by on 2011.06.22

Collaborating on the cloud is becoming more and more the norm. When #cmgrchat held this discussion, it turns out that a lot of CMs already use the same cloud services. In reading the digest, however, you’ll probably learn about something new. Multi-platforms apps, especially those offering local + cloud options, are preferred and leading the [...]

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#CmgrChat 6/1 – How to Plan for Summer

by on 2011.06.06

From Israel to Australia, the west coast to Chicago to the south, this week’s chat welcomed community managers far and wide. This discussion dives right into summer, from organizing to reading lists. Fun, right? Aside from viewing book recommendations on Hunch, or checking out the #Cmgrchat Reading List, there are some really great recommendations below! [...]

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#CmgrChat 5/25 – When Too Much Isn’t Enough: Competition & Jealousy

by on 2011.06.01

This chat coincided with BlogWorld – Eastern Conference, NY. For myself, BlogWorld was one of the few places where everyone knew what it meant to be a community manager. As one #cmgrchat participant put it, community management can feel “Sisyphean” at times. This digests dives into the competitive nature of the role and what community [...]

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#CmgrChat 5/18 – SEO, Link Building, & Blogger Outreach

by on 2011.05.20

Co-moderators Jenn Pedde and Alexa Scordato clocked 686 tweets at this week’s #cmgrchat. The topic was a hot one: SEO, Linkbuilding, and Blogger Outreach and that certainly brought a lot of visitors, including new grads. In the spirit of the popular “+1″ and algorithms –don’t let that word scare you– this digest was done a [...]

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#CmgrChat 4/20 – Building Community: Twitter

by on 2011.05.09

This week’s chat continued our Building Community series and focused on Twitter.  It’s always good to brush up on the basics for you seasoned pros, and great to hear some new ideas from all those using twitter in their various fields. ______ Q1 Is your goal always to increase followers? What other goals/priorities do you [...]

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#CmgrChat 4/13 – Building Community: Facebook

by on 2011.04.13

We’ve had an interesting time trying to put together these digests.  As you may or may not know, wthashtag.com is no longer so in creating a digest from the transcript has been nothing short of a task.  Luckily Janet from OneForty suggested RowFeeder and it now creates a google doc of all the tweets.  So [...]

#CmgrChat 4/6 – Designing Engagement

by on 2011.04.06

Sharing the right content at the right time is a challenge for anyone that uses social media. So is offering the right rewards for people who participate and engage. It all really depends on the community. This week’s #cmgrchat echoes a lot of what Jennita Lopez of SEOmoz recently posted, which is — as CM, you [...]

#CmgrChat 3/16 – Trolls and Troublemakers

by on 2011.03.16

Way back when #CmgrChat started in September we discussed the topic of negativity in a community.  This week we dived a little deeper into it, and discussed Trolls and Trouble-Makers.  We had 416 tweets by 102 people and it was a very interesting and thought provoking discussion. The topic was also suggested by @BlaiseGV and [...]

#CmgrChat 2/23 – Books

by on 2011.02.23

Get ready because your list of books is about to get much longer.  This week we had a great discussion in 547 Tweets with 82 people about books and how they’ve helped our careers as community managers.  There are some great, topical titles that have crossed our desks over the past few years, and we [...]

#CmgrChat 2/16 – Conferences

by on 2011.02.16

With SXSWi just around the corner, we decided to tackle the topic of conferences – everything that goes along with the pre, during, and post activities.  What was most interesting to me, was all the little tips all of these seasoned community manager conference goers had!  A fun idea to host a Community Manager conference [...]

#CmgrChat 2/2/11 – Health & Wellness

by on 2011.02.02

We had a pretty great chat this week about a community manager’s health & wellness routine.  A lot of us spend an absurd amount of time in front of the computer and sitting on our butts and are always connected.  We work crazy hours, and we eat bad foods because we’re always on the go [...]

#CmgrChat 1/19/11 – Klout & Online Influence

by on 2011.01.19

Influence was a huge buzz word in 2010 and there’s no reason why it won’t continue to be a huge topic of conversation in 2011.   Measuring influence is not an easy task whether it takes place online or off and there is one company out there attempting to do its best and give all of [...]

#CmgrChat 12/8: Transitions & Leaving a Community

by on 2010.12.08

The “Community Manager” role as we know it today hasn’t been around very long.  Most of us in our positions have only been in them a short period of time so the idea of leaving one behind wasn’t on the minds of many in the chat today.  However, it’s always good to keep in mind [...]

#CmgrChat 12/1 – Taking Time Away from the Community

by on 2010.12.01

We are all married to our jobs as community managers and that’s part of the fun!  We like being connected and involved with our work, but every so often we like to take breaks, go on vacations, or leave for the holidays.  We had a pretty great discussion Wednesday with 670 tweets and 87 participants, [...]

#CmgrChat 11/10 – Handling SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

by on 2010.11.10

SEO.   It’s an art, not a science.   Search engines like Google and Yahoo are looking for specific keywords and that’s who you’re trying to please.  As community managers oftentimes this job lies on us.  We had 418 tweets and 78 participants, which to me, means that a lot of people were listening in for the [...]

#CmgrChat 11/3 – Metrics & Measurement

by on 2010.11.03

Our topic this week was Metrics and in an area that’s always difficult to figure out, this provided a lot of resources and help to make sure we’re all getting closer to figuring out that ROI.   We had 457 tweets from 66 participants and a lot of great info. Also make sure to follow the [...]

#CmgrChat 10/27 – Blogging & Community (Part II)

by on 2010.10.27

This discussion was so good that we actually had to break it up into two parts.  The second installment on Wednesday’s chat about Blogging & Community saw 703 Tweets and 82 participants! Make sure to follow the @CmgrChat Twitter Account and join the Linked In group as well! ** Do you want your personal blog [...]

#CmgrChat 10/20 – Blogging & Community (Part I)

by on 2010.10.20

This discussion was so good that we actually have to break it up into two parts.  Wednesday’s chat about Blogging & Community saw 613 Tweets and 92 participants! We’ll be continuing the discussion on Wednesday at 2pm EST, so you probably won’t want to miss that. Make sure to follow the @CmgrChat Twitter Account and [...]

#CmgrChat 10/13 – Daily Tasks

by on 2010.10.13

Another great chat for the books with 652 Tweets and 82 participants! We learned a few weeks ago that defining the role of a community manager is difficult because the objectives of the position vary from company to company.   We had no idea how many answers we’d get when we ask how people defined [...]

#CmgrChat 10/6 – Keeping Up With Technology

by on 2010.10.06

Well, Wednesday’s chat was interesting, to say the least.  We did see 629 tweets from 94 contributors in an hour, and there were a lot of shared resources during that time. One lesson I think we all learned is professionalism.  There are good and bad ways to approach a situation.  If you have a problem [...]

#CmgrChat 9/29 – Social Media Policies

by on 2010.09.29

Had a pretty great discussion surrounding Social Media Policies in Wednesday’s chat.  We saw 862 tweets from 126 contributors in an hour, which knocked out last week’s record topping crowd.   It is really nice to see this community growing, so thank you to all that participate. One item of note before we get into the [...]

#CmgrChat 9/15 – Defining the Role of Community Managers

by on 2010.09.16

For round two the topic was discussing the roles that community managers play and how they get there with 565 tweets, 76 contributors.   Pretty interesting to hear so many common themes amongst community managers, and how the job just kind of gets created since it’s so new. You can find the full transcript of [...]

The First #CmgrChat Digest – 9/8/10 (Time Mgmt)

by on 2010.09.09

David Spinks put it the best when he said this week: “So many community managers…what took us so damn long to start a twitter chat? It’s like…what we do.” And it’s true – this started as an idea last month and Kelly and I both thought someone somewhere would come out and say, “Don’t worry [...]

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