Beginners’ guide to community management

Community management is all about relationships. It requires a great deal of emotional intelligence, empathy, and intuition to understand the actions and intentions of your community members, most of whom you’ve never even met in person! The best way to set yourself up for successful management is to understand the individuals in your community and how they interact with each other. And the best way to do that is to be an active participant in your community. Not only does that allow you to consistently set the example for the culture you’re striving to create, but it also gives you direct insight into the needs, personalities, and communication styles of your members. With that base of knowledge, you will be better equipped to guide the conversation in ways that prevent or defuse conflict. 

You will also need to create a robust set of policies for your community, and you need to communicate them from the outset. Think of policies as the blueprint for handling problems when they arise. In order to cover all the bases, your policies will need to walk a fine line between being clear about expectations and punishments while also leaving you enough room to handle unique situations and avoid loopholes. Policies should not just point out illegal actions. They should also very clearly dictate and define legal yet unacceptable behaviors. While those will vary from community to community, some examples might be bullying, encouraging harm, sexual harassment, and glamorizing eating disorders. Explicitly state your own authority in your policies as well, using statements like “This is not a definitive list,” and “We have the authority to address any issues we encounter.” That way, you have a written policy to fall back on if a member claims that they didn’t violate any specific rules. 

The quality of your community depends on how well you enforce your policies. Good policy enforcement means reacting quickly and consistently when problems arise. Being present and reacting to a problem in the moment is far better than noticing and addressing a problem after the fact. This is because bad behavior tends to snowball, and it’s much easier to maintain a good culture than it is to correct a culture after it’s already been derailed by bad behavior. Enforce your rules firmly. Hand out punishment without reservation or qualification, and try to do so as privately as possible. Swiftly and quietly handling problems behind the scenes both keeps your community safe and allows your members to dedicate their time and attention to what matters to them. 

As you consistently participate, set the example for good behavior, and enforce your rules, your members will learn what is expected of them and follow suit. This tends to create a self-sustaining culture in which the people who deeply care about the community not only understand your expectations but also help enforce your policies and maintain order. But even if you do an incredible job of building a self-sustaining culture of good behavior, there will always be the occasional bad actor trying to stir up drama — and, far more often than that, there will be the well-meaning folks whose behavior pushes the boundaries of acceptability in ways that could negatively impact your culture over time. 

All of this is to say… Community management is A LOT of work! It’s time-consuming and emotionally demanding. When your community is new, it might be small enough that you have the bandwidth to be present and engage with most, if not all, that goes on within it. But at some point, as your community grows, the number of interactions in your community will far outstrip what you can be present for. And if your community is international, there will be members in other time zones having interactions while you are sleeping. Unfortunately, the potential for bad behavior won’t sleep when you do! That’s why it’s important to assemble a team of people you trust to help you moderate your community. In fact, it’s dangerous not to! Because if bad behavior goes unnoticed in your community for too long, it’s far too easy for it to spoil the culture you worked so hard to establish. 

Grow your team of moderators from within your community. Look for active members who have good people skills, are good at defusing conflict, and have already made a habit of reinforcing your rules. Make them feel valued. Tell them which of their qualities and behaviors you appreciate, and ask them if they’d be interested in moderating your community in a more formal capacity. Most of your moderators will start as volunteers and stay that way. According to a study asking moderators if they’d like to be paid, most said no. They worried that getting paid for the job would take something they did for enjoyment and turn it into a chore. However, some moderators are unofficially compensated for their labor. Regardless of how you structure the role, it is crucial to recruit moderators who share your values and genuinely love your community. With the right team of moderators by your side, your community will be safe from harm, and you’ll be less prone to burnout.