FreshNetworks Blog

FreshNetworks and e-mint last hosted a community manager meet-up in our very own Holborn last night, and it was great to hook up and talk shop (and other stuff) with some really interesting social media professionals.

Community managers were well-represented, but we also hosted a couple of curious print journalists, CEOs of exciting new start-ups wanting to learn about UGC and social media integration and product managers.

The wine flowed and the nachos and snacks went down easily (a little too easily in my case) and even the shyest attendees were circulating and meeting new friends and contacts.

Hosting meet-ups like this is an essential part of promoting community management, collaborative working and helping bring people together to share experiences and knowledge in an informal, relaxed setting.

The nature of social media work means that a higher proportion than in most professions are home-workers, which is fantastic, but missing out on water cooler conversations and the novelty of looking someone in the eye when you’re discussing the impact of iPhone apps, out-of-hours moderation or greater broadband penetration in all socio-economic groups is a welcome treat.

We’re planning on running a similar event in a few months time, and will be arranging a speaker and tweaking the organisation on the basis of feedback – in this modern world, good old paper nametags are still a requisite we’ve learned.

If you attended, would like to attend or are interested in speaking at our next event, please do drop us a line.

It’s almost Spring and time for another Online Community Manager meet-up in London, in association with e-mint, the Association of Online Community Professionals. The event we organised in November was well attended with a great bunch of online community managers, social media strategists (and many other job titles) getting together for a few drinks and a chat.

At FreshNetworks we know that good community management is critical. We’ve worked with clients who have launched communities without them, and whilst they may be able to drive traffic to the site, they lack the kind of real engagement and direction you get from a community with that good party host in place. The more communities that organisations and brands launch, the more important this kind of role becomes.

We need to capture best practice and share ideas; debate and discuss terms and techniques; and work together to make sure we help promote and improve the quality of online communities. And the best way to do this is for us all to share and learn from each other.

Whilst there’s no point changing a winning formula, we are adding a speaker into the Spring event. We can’t say too much about who it is just yet, but we’re excited already. We’re also sponsoring the location and will put some money behind the bar to pay for what should be a fair few drinks and snacks before the tab runs out.

It would be great to get as many people who are interested in community management as possible along. Come for the whole evening or just pop in to say hello.

When is it happening? Wednesday 15th April from 6.30pm

Whereabouts? The Square Pig, 30-32 Proctor Street, Holborn, London, WC1R 4QG (we’ll be downstairs) map

How do I sign up? Just click below or go to the Eventbrite page

What else do I need to know? We’re using the Twitter hash tag #emint

Whilst we may use different language and names, we know that the role of a Community Manager as a good  party host is critical to the success of any online community. It’s a growing and developing job role and with the increase in branded communities the number of people doing it is increasing all the time.

At FreshNetworks we know that community management is critical. We’ve worked with clients who have launched communities without them, and whilst they may be able to drive traffic to the site, they lack the kind of real engagement and direction you get from a community with that good party host in place. The more communities brand launch, the more important this kind of role becomes. We need to capture best practice and share ideas; debate and discuss terms and techniques; and work together to make sure we help promote and improve the quality of online communities.

We want to be involved in this and thought a good first step would be to get a few people who work in this area together for drinks. So we’ve partnered with e-mint, the Association of Online Community Professionals, to organise a meet-up in London this week. We’re sponsoring the location and will put some money behind the bar to pay for what should be a fair few drinks and snacks before the tab runs out.

It would be great to get as many people who are interested in community management as possible along. Come for the whole evening or just pop in to say hello.

If you can’t come but want to be kept up to date on other events we’re running as part of our efforts in promoting community management, let me know. Otherwise see you on Thursday:

Time: from 6.30/7pm

Location: The Square Pig, 30-32 Proctor Street, Holborn, London, WC1R 4QG (we’ll be downstairs) map

Subscribe to updates from the FreshNetworks Blog