Content & Editorial

Content Types

• Blogs

• Social media posts

• Podcasts

• Competitions

• Campaigns

• Webinars

• Demos

• Q&A sessions

• Surveys.

• Reviews/previews.

• Classifieds.

  • Jobs. A community might have regular content about jobs within the sector and people on the move within that organization’s sector.

  • Buying/Selling. The content might also include members who are trading items in the community

• Promotions and advertisements. A community may periodically offer a promotion for members that is paid for by the advertiser or the organization. An article can then cover the winner’s experiences.

• Interviews. Interviews should be a regular feature to shine an immediate spotlight upon members of the community. These interviews may be with either members of the community, those from the organization, or VIPs from within the community’s ecosystem.

• Analysis. in-depth analysis on relevant issues within the community.

• Stories/articles. Major sources of articles are stories about members of the community and information articles on an interesting topic. Stories might involve how members became interested in the community, what other members think of the subjects and their achievements. Articles can concern any topic that the community might have an interest in.

• Thoughts. Members of the community, the community manager or people within the organization may write thought posts on their passions. This should rotate between different people to sustain a high level of interest. Members who contribute consistently good ideas should be invited to provide a weekly column for the community.

• Predictions. The community manager or others may create prediction posts about an upcoming topic. Or, better, the community manager may ask 10 to 20 community members to make predictions on a topical relevant issue.

• Statements from the community. An online community must assert itself within its ecosystem. It needs both its members and other individuals within the ecosystem to appreciate its rising status as an influential player. One popular source of content, therefore, will be regular statements from the community on topical issues. These should be quickly written by a small group and put to the community for feedback within a few hours. This content should then be submitted to media publications in the sector.

Editorial Calendar

• Sit down and brainstorm enough content ideas.

• Create an Editorial Calendar that maps out the next twelve weeks (three months). This calendar should provide a place to track when the content should be delivered, when it is published, and who is assigned to produces.

• Pay close attention to any critical awareness gap (people learning what your product/community is), skills gap (how to get involved) or knowledge gaps.

Community Newspaper

• Creates a narrative for the community to allow members to follow what’s happening.

• Provides a reason for members to visit the community every day or frequently.

• Develops a sense of community among members.

  • Members get to learn more about other people like them.

• Establishes a social order among the community and highlights the top members.

• Subtly influences the community by emphasizing activities that you wish to encourage.

  • If you want more members participating in a specific discussion, you can write content about that discussion.

Recognition Criteria

• Excellent contribution.

  • A user who makes an outstanding contribution to the community should be featured.

• Number of contributions.

• Veteran members.

• Expertise in a specific area.

• Newcomers.

• Subjective.

  • It is also useful for the community manager to have both subjective and ad-hoc reasons for giving attention to members. For example, the community manager might decide to spotlight a member with a unique personality or in a remarkable circumstance.

Community News

• Latest events. Organized both inside and outside of the community, these events can include challenges, competitions, online live-chats, offline meet-ups and broader events taking place within the ecosystem.

• New members. News posts might be used to welcome new members and help convert these members into regular participants.

• Latest/most popular discussions.

• Member contributions.

• News about members.

• Update on a relevant issue. If the community is fundraising or participating in a specific cause, it should provide regular updates to members of the community.