5 Common Community Management Challenges and How to Tackle Them
In my work with community leaders, I often hear the following:
“I don’t know how to attract members to my in-person event.”
“A community member’s negativity is discouraging others from participating.”
“Managing my community online is taking over my life!”
Do any of these sound familiar?
If so, you’re not alone. Community leaders play a crucial role in fostering vibrant spaces. They are responsible for engaging with community members, facilitating discussions, organizing events, addressing issues, and promoting a positive and inclusive environment. However, this role comes with its own set of challenges. This article explores five common hurdles and practical tips to overcome them.
1. Rules violation and negative behavior
Dealing with members who flout the rules or exhibit toxic behavior can be emotionally draining. It can include sharing content that is banned or toxic, negative behavior such as trolling, harassment, or heated arguments. Before jumping in, consider:
- Clear guidelines: Refer members to specific rules they’ve violated and explain why their behavior is inappropriate.
- Consistent enforcement: Stick to the rules and share them regularly to remind everyone of expectations. I discovered that it helps remind the members what the community is about and how they can contribute.
- Open communication: Organize a community meeting to discuss and refine the rules together. This fosters ownership and makes enforcement easier.
- Proactive planning: Establish enforcement strategies beforehand for different types of violations to ensure fair and swift action. Consider pre-made response templates for quicker reactions and turning off the fire when it’s still small.
Remember: A strong community policy with clear rules and enforcement strategies is key.
2. Event marketing
Attracting new members and motivating them to participate is an ongoing effort. Here’s what you can do:
- Know your audience: Understand who your ideal members are and what motivates them to join.
- Multi-channel marketing: Promote events across various platforms to reach new audiences.
- Encourage member invites: Provide members with brief invite templates to share with their networks. People are more likely to join when they know someone else who is attending. Moreover, if your members are willing to invite their networks, it means that they find value in the community.
- Highlight value: Showcase the benefits of your community to spark interest.
Want to learn more about attracting members and encourage them to participate?
3. Time management
Managing a community, especially an online one, often requires constant monitoring and engagement. Community managers may struggle with time management, as the role can be demanding and unpredictable, requiring attention outside of regular working hours. The emotional toll of managing conflicts and maintaining a high level of engagement can lead to burnout. Community managers need to practice self-care and have a support network in place.
Here’s how to stay on top:
- Plan ahead: Plan your week, schedule tasks, and block time for rest.
- Embrace teamwork: Delegate moderation tasks if you have a team.
- Automate tasks: Explore automation tools and AI features to streamline tasks while maintaining quality.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Check out my tips for managing your community during busy times
4. Content creation and curation
Keeping your community active and engaged requires consistent, valuable, relevant, and engaging content. Creating content strategy is a process that is worth its own article, but here are some ideas:
- Follow industry trends: Search for industry trends and the latest news relevant to your community. You can share your perspective or offer insights into how the news impacts the community.
- Ask your members to contribute: Encourage members to share experiences, stories, and insights to boost engagement and provide fresh content. This not only fosters engagement but also provides a steady stream of authentic content.
- Share informative resources: Offer practical how-to guides, video tutorials, and tips addressing common questions or challenges within your community.
Pro tip: Design a content strategy in advance. Decide what’s relevant and mix different content types to keep members engaged.
Would you like to ignite participation through unique events?
Here are 7 powerful events’ methods for engaging your community
5. Measuring success
Defining and measuring community success can be subjective. Community managers need to identify key metrics that reflect the community’s health and growth and communicate these metrics to stakeholders.
Here are a few steps you can apply to evaluate your community:
- Focus on relevant metrics: Set specific metrics aligned with your community goals. Avoid overwhelming yourself with too many. Limiting the number of metrics will help you stay focused and measure only what you need.
- Track consistently: Monitor key metrics over time to assess progress and identify areas for improvement. For example, you should track the number of members’ posts every month for at least three months to know if you’re hitting your metric or not. Consider revising the metric if you didn’t.
- Measure beyond numbers: For me, measuring the community’s success is not only about how many people attended the event and the new leads a member got, but also about the skills developed thanks to the community or the meaningful support they received. Consider surveys to measure behavior changes, skill development, and the supportive environment fostered by your community.
For further exploration: The SPACE model by CMX offers a valuable framework for evaluating community success.
Embrace the challenge and lead the community
Building a thriving community requires strategic thinking, interpersonal skills, adaptability, and creativity. By preparing for these common challenges, you can navigate them effectively and establish yourself as a trusted leader. Remember, managing a community is a journey, not a destination. The challenges may not disappear, but your experience and ability to tackle them will continue to grow.
Feeling stuck? I’ve been there. Let’s talk and brainstorm the right solution for you and your community.
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This article was initially published on LinkedIn on February 20, 2024.
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