Online Community Management For Dummies [Paperback]

Deborah Ng (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2011 | Series: For Dummies

Learn to manage, grow, and communicate with your online community

Online community management is a growing profession and companies are investing in online communities in order to gain consumer insights into products and to test new products. An effective and dedicated community manager is essential to engage and manage a successful online consumer community. This straightforward-but-fun guide shows you how to effectively manage, grow, and communicate with your online community. Clear coverage shares tips for dealing with customers and fans through Twitter, Facebook, forums, and blogs.

A practical approach shows you how to ensure that visitors to your site are satisfied, kept happy, and return. You'll explore the various types of online communities and benefit from learning an assortment of tips and tools that will help you stand out above the competition, attract more visitors and gain the attention of potential advertisers and investors.

• Aims at providing community managers the information they need to get a handle on their online communities and make them successful
• Addresses the role of the community manager, the core community management tasks, and how to create an online community
• Highlights ways to build relationships within your community, evaluate return on investment, and handle and respond to criticism
• Offers advice for establishing policies and transparency and encouraging community interaction

Online Community Management For Dummies is the ideal introductory guide for making sure that visitors to your site have a good experience and return for more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learn to manage your online community to boost your business and build your brand

Online communities are the neighborhoods of the Internet, where different personalities who share a common interest can learn, discuss, and interact. It's up to you, as the community manager, to guide, monitor, respond to, and assess the activities of your community to benefit your company and build loyalty. It's a big job, and here's how to do it!

• Compare and choose — decide on the type of social community your business needs

• Hat dance — learn to be a leader, advocate, editor, brand evangelist, referee, liaison, and problem solver

• Gotta have rules — establish guidelines that encourage quality participation

• Meet the group — find innovative ways to learn about members and solicit their input

• Listen and share — pay attention to comments, participate in discussions, and follow through on solving problems

• Build traffic — make your site irresistible with valuable content and use quality keywords for high search rankings

• Study the stats — install the right programs to monitor your community and let the results guide your strategy

• Go offline — use speaking engagements, conferences, and fun events to draw new members

Open the book and find:

• What you need to know about online communities

• Ways to sell your community's value to the boss

• How to handle difficult members

• Tips for growing your community

• Why you should visit other communities

• How to use what you learn

• Ten things every community manager should do

• More resources for community managers

Learn to:

• Identify core tasks for community managers

• Build and maintain positive relationships within your online community

• Establish policies and transparency

• Manage comments, respond to criticism, and evaluate ROI

About the Author

Deborah Ng is a professional blogger, community manager, and social media enthusiast who grew her little writing blog into the number one online community for freelance writers before selling in 2010. She's the former community manager for several online brands, and when she's not sharing on one of the social networks, she can be found in her current role as Conference Director for BlogWorld and New Media Expo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (November 29, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118099176
• ISBN-13: 978-1118099179
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deborah Ng is a professional blogger, freelance writer, community manager and social media enthusiast who grew her little writing blog into the number one online community for freelance writers before selling in 2010. When she's not oversharing on the social networks she can be found in her current role as Conference Director for BlogWorld & New Media Expo.