Digital Community Leaders - Rebecca Marshburn
This week on the Digital Community Leaders Podcast, we are joined by seasoned community leader and head of community at Common Room, Rebecca Marshburn. Rebecca heads up Common Room's Uncommon Community, and has a range of experience working at brands such as Amazon Web Services and Airbnb.
Rebecca was kind enough to read through our recent project, the Digital Community Leaders Survey Report, and bring her key takeaways and insights to the podcast.
Keeping on Top of Admin as a CM
In the fast-paced realm of community management, staying on top of administrative tasks is a common challenge, as revealed in the report. A striking statistic indicated that 41% of community managers see time spent on admin as a significant hurdle for the coming year.
The discussion emphasises the need for community managers to strike a balance between being actively engaged in the community, and working on the community to ensure it works seamlessly.
Rebecca highlighted the potential of automation, citing practical examples like using AI to monitor member activity, detect inactivity, and prompt proactive engagement.
The data highlights the importance of leveraging technology to streamline routine tasks, allowing community managers to focus on more important areas of the community, so that they can foster a thriving digital ecosystem.
“There's a threshold where, if there's 10 people, you can keep them in your head. If there's 50, you can keep most of it in your head. But if there's a hundred... this is too much to hold in my head.”
Gathering Feedback from Community Members
Rebecca spoke about the crucial role of member feedback for community managers. Emphasising the Community Promoter Score, Rebecca discussed the strategy of widening engagement and then inviting members to provide feedback in varying levels of involvement.
This approach not only demonstrates a CM's commitment to listening, but also accommodates members' preferences for participation, whether through a quick click or a more in-depth contribution.
This also highlighted the significance of measurable metrics, such as engagement rates, as benchmarks for community satisfaction.
Sharing feedback publicly is a transparent way of fostering a sense of collaboration, allowing the community to actively contribute to the decision-making process and ensuring that improvements align with their evolving needs.
The idea of this collaborative and accommodating feedback approach underpins the iterative nature of community management, where continuous feedback loops serve as a guide for adapting to the ever-changing dynamics of online communities.
“I always want to like keep that door open. I trust that community members know that my DM door is always open, but I also need to exemplify that and show that.”
Rebecca brought forward some excellent points extracted from the report, and our discussion led to some thought-provoking ideas.
Be sure to check out the full episode, which is available now across all platforms, including a video version on YouTube!
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