Five tips to becoming a better online community moderator
- Open Up: Post something new about yourself every few days… something strange, something funny, a picture of your new haircut, a diagram of your rearranged office, a relevant workplace moment. However, make sure you pay attention to #5 below.
- Stay Singular: Resist the urge to load each discussion with too many questions. Try to only ask 1 or 2 related questions in a post. Also, before you publish your post, ask yourself if you could answer the question easily. If not, then edit. Remember, most people only answer the first and/or last thing you ask.
- Incorporate the Outside: Each week search for articles/blogs/news stories on the web related to the topic of your community. Then share the link and ask people to weigh in with their feedback. This is a great way to get a read on trends, current events and keep your community lively.
- Force Yourself to Iterate: Each week try to incorporate an activity that draws from the learnings of the previous week. Follow your poll with a related discussion, or summarize previous comments and post a deeper discussion on the summarized themes. This shows people you are really listening and gets you to that next level of understanding that your client needs.
- Know Your Audience: How serious is your audience? Too much fun/quirky content may not make sense for B2B, more mature audiences, and for more serious communities. There are a lot of ways to build community without resorting to “soft” content.