Author: Eric Tracz
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Understanding ‘Active Lurking’ in Communities and Why It’s So Valuable
A lot of online communities invest time, money, and resources in reducing the number of “lurkers” in their midst. These parasitic members who consume what they want but never contribute in return—who needs ‘em! One survey found that 30% of online community managers consider lurkers an obstacle. But are they really? Is it possible that…
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How to Conduct Community Member Interviews
When it comes to community management, finding your purpose, or increasing value for your members, we often talk about interviewing members. These interviews are such powerful sources of insight that we believe they can help you surmount virtually any challenge the community faces.
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How to Improve Retention After Onboarding Is Complete
We talked previously about how to onboard and integrate new members into your community. The main focus was on making them comfortable:
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Product Communities VS Support Communities—What’s the Difference?
At first glance, it’s natural to believe that there is no difference between support and product communities—after all, aren’t all communities built around product discussions and supporting members? The distinction is a subtle one: while service communities are about creating a great place to be, product communities are more about creating a great resource for…
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Changing Your Community’s Purpose or Direction—Without Losing Your Members?
We’ve written before about how to identify and define your community’s purpose—but what if you decide to change course or head in a new direction?
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Understanding the “90-9-1″ Rule and How to Optimize It
It is generally accepted that there are 3 categories of users within online communities: The 1%—Extremely active users who contribute the vast majority of content, answers, and activity. The 9%—All other casual or occasional contributors. The 90%—The ‘lurkers’ who only consume content (or don’t log in at all) and never contribute directly.
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Community Management: How the Hell Do I Stay on Top of Everything?
With a little reading online, you might think that running a successful online community—the kind that skyrockets customer retention and helps long-term sales—is the easiest thing in the world. A guaranteed overnight success!
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Key Metrics for Monitoring the Success of Your Community
There are hundreds of different user and community metrics you could monitor, and many different ways to do it. For this post, we’re going to look at some specific metrics which can help you understand your community at different stages of its life, and also your members on their journey from ‘newly registered’ to community…
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How to Deal With Community Trolls and Rule Breakers
Life is good. Your community is enjoying bountiful and engaging discussions, you’re all growing as people and professionals, and there’s a tangible mutual respect that envelopes the entire community. And then the trolls rear their ugly heads.
