The Historian

This was a great chat, with lots of good comments and ideas.

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 you’re aware of the Terms of Service (TOS) of the platform you’re using if you’re doing it on an unowned property (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

10/12 – #Cmgrchat Community Contests « The Community Manager

For a new Community Manager to successfully manage established online communities, it first requires a good understanding of online channels related to the community – and that’s not just social media – but includes any community websites that are relevant to your community’s purpose. For example, a community manager will have often have accounts on the well known social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google+, but will also monitor popular websites, discussion boards, blogs and channels related to his or her new community. They might also set up tracking and alerts for relevant keywords, which will once again be related to the community’s interests. They will always keep in mind the importance of listening and monitoring what is being said within these other communities.

When an online community manager is comfortable, they should begin to engage in these conversations, perhaps starting with replying to posts, providing feedback, and from there, creating content of their own. And with a solid understanding of the needs of their community, diving into conversations will be both meaningful and fruitful. 

Can you think of anything else they might need to be aware of?

Facebook has a new security feature called “Profile Review” so that when you are tagged in a photo or a post, you’ll will get to approve it before it shows on your wall or news feed. Unapproved tagged posts and photos will appear in a new section called “Pending posts.”

This really should be the default, instead of an opt-in feature.

Here’s how to activate Profile Review:

1. Go to Account> Privacy Settings.
2. Next to “How Tags Work” click “Edit Settings”.
3. In the “How Tags Work” pop-up, click “Edit” next to “Profile Review”.
4. In the next pop-up, click “Turn on Profile Review”.

Click the image for a better view.

I haven’t had much desire to write lately, I suspect it is the busyness of the season. I know some of you are waiting for me to continue with the “My Acclaim” stories, but I’m just not sure what I want to write about next, though it will most likely be Project Top Secret.

The challenges of 2010 are still near. My holiday shopping has been minimal and where I usually make great efforts to find those odd, unusual and fun gifts; I’ve instead opted for the simple and easy.

I am looking forward to 2011 and a New Year with a fresh mental restart.

This year has been rough… but it is starting to turn around. So, I just want to say thanks to everyone who has been there for me or tried to help in whatever way they could.

I do appreciate it.

I will get back to the “My Acclaim” Posts soon. I’m actually finding it difficult to know what to write next, but I think it will be about Project Top Secret, though I was really only involved early on. I them might talk more specifically about the weird things we did for the 2Moons launch. After that, I’m not sure.

But again, thanks to all of my Twitter followers, Facebook friends and everyone else.