Introduction to Online Community Management

Welcome to the first part of this course, where you'll learn what Online Community Management is and what the role involves.

Let's get started! In this video, Kirstie will give a definition of Online Community Management, and explain what the main responsibilities of an Online Community Manager are. You will find the supporting notes and exercise for this video in your workbook on page 1.

Welcome to the second video of Part 1 of this course! Here, Elisa will talk all about the differences between Moderation and Management - a key distinction to make in order to understand the basics of Online Community Management. You can find the accompanying notes and exercise on page 2 of your workbook.

In this video, Kirstie will go into the day-to-day tasks of an OCM and what to prioritise with limited capacity. Find the relevant notes and exercises on pages 3 - 4 of the workbook.

In this video, Elisa will show you what a community platform looks like, which features are usually available, and which metrics you should focus on to understand how your community is doing. Find the relevant notes and exercises on pages 5 -6 of your workbook.

Once you've finished this video you have reached the end of Part 1. There is just one more thing you need to do - complete the quiz on page 7 of the workbook. This is designed to check what you've learned in this part before you go on to the next one.

In this video, Toby will talk about Welcome Messages, a powerful tool to build relationships with your community members.

You will find the supporting notes and exercises on pages 8 - 9 in your workbook.

In this video, Kirstie will talk about Highly Engaged Members or HeMs and why they are so important in your community. Find the relevant notes and exercise on page 10 of your workbook.

Peer to Peer help is a vital component of a thriving community - Toby will tell you all about it in this video. Have a look at page 11 of the workbook, where you will find notes and an exercise for this video.

Once you've finished this video you've completed Part 2 of the course! You just have one more thing to do - the quiz on page 12 of the workbook to see what you've learned.

In this video, Elisa explains how to handle difficult situations such as unpopular changes, PR issues, and outages.

Find the relevant notes and exercise on page 13 of the workbook.

Toby explains in this video the different methods of dealing with difficult members and conflicts in the community. Find the supporting notes and exercise on page 14 of the workbook.

In this last video, Kirstie explains how you would escalate bugs or technical issues, highlights the differences between ad hoc and specific feedback, and explains why closing the loop is key.

On page 15 of the workbook, you can find the relevant notes and exercise.

Once you've finished this video, you just have the final quiz to do in order to complete the course - find it on page 16 - and then you're done!

To finish off the course we just wanted to share with you the biggest things we've learned over our years of working in online communities.

Thanks for participating in this course, we really hope you enjoyed it and can implement some of what you've learned in your role as an Online Community Manager.