What creates an amazing gaming experience? Is it the amount of pixels and detail in a game? Is it the ever expansive world without boundaries or never ending quests? Those are the things that attract people to a virtual world. What sustains an online virtual world is community. A community that thrives, engages and shares extends a game’s life cycle far beyond its ability to visually impress.
Day in and day out, the community manager strengthens the value of online communities by responding to the needs and desires of community members. They sweep up the messes, tame abusive users, empower the advocates, and pave the way for the perpetual game style to continue its life cycle.
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There’s one fact that all successful forum owners will immediately agree upon: Forums require moderation. The success of a forum relies on the quality of content contributed by the community. User retention suffers when inappropriate or irrelevant content is posted. Plus, this type of content creates poor search engine results which hinders new user acquisition. Moderation is essential to ensure the long term health and growth of forums.
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#CMAD is over. Or is it?
If you’re not listening to your user/consumer, you're talking to much.
There are so many takeaways from this year’s Community Manager Appreciation Day, it can be a little overwhelming for anyone. With so many community managers taking part and contributing, it reflects on the direction which businesses are moving within the digital age. But it doesn’t stop there. The last century door to door sales model is dead. Businesses recognize the need to engage with their users, and with that, comes the role of the community manager.
Here are three takeaways/contributors Inversoft thought should be placed in the spotlight.
We appreciate and thank every community manager for what you provide to the online community. Have a great year!
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Inversoft is happy to present a thought provoking piece by leading community engagement guru Joi Podgorny.
Joi, a member of Smart Bomb Interactive, oversees the day to day community management operations for National Geographic's, Animal Jam. Animal Jam is an exciting online virtual world where kids become animals while learning and engaging with others. Animal Jam is a well known leader in the child safety arena, allowing not only kids, but parents to engage and share in the experience.
Joi Podgorny - A Community Manager's View on Parents Online Engagement
Joi's extensive history and track record with children's games consists of Carmen Sandiego, Moshi Monsters, Highlights for Children and many more.
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It struck me when speaking with community managers at the Online Community Unconference last month that top executives still don’t truly appreciate the value of their communities. They also don’t fully grasp the vitality of the community management role. The reasons for this disconnect are numerous, complex and challenging. But there is hope! Community managers can overcome management resistance with patience, persistence and most importantly: data.
Resistance
Management is naturally risk averse, especially in more established companies. Executives are measured by numbers and they like to see neat correlations between the initiatives they undertake and real business outcomes. That’s why they (we) are obsessed with numbers like ROI. The numbers help illuminate that they’re doing the right things. When something works they’ll do more of it; when it doesn’t, they usually won’t.
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