Communication is key in community management, as it plays a very important role in building, maintaining, and boosting community engagement and growth.
Effective communication strategies facilitate a harmonious environment where members feel valued, understood, and connected.
After all, people have different communication styles, so you must take this into consideration if you want to grow a thriving community.
Here are the main reasons why communication is critical in community management.
Helps to build trust and transparency
Open and honest communication—whether between members or between community managers and members—helps to build trust. Transparency about decisions, changes, or any other issues that arise within the community also fosters a sense of security and reliability.
Your community members will more likely trust you if you’re honest with them every step of the way. This could be as simple as letting them know about a new rule or coming clean about a mistake you made.
Boosts engagement
Solid communication also leads to better engagement, since it encourages active participation from community members.
Things like engaging content, regular updates, and interactive discussions can help people to feel included and involved, which leads to a more vibrant and dynamic community.
Tytti Hyysalo, Community Manager at The Alliance, also says that “you need to know your community and the members to know how much is too much communication”—while she refers mainly to automated messages, this is another thing you’ll want to factor in. After all, you don’t want to appear spammy.
Improves conflict resolution
No community is immune to disagreements or conflicts. Good communication is essential for resolving these conflicts in a way that respects everyone involved (and the overall community).
On top of this, conflict resolution needs to be constructive and align with your community values and guidelines—without effective communication, it’d be next to impossible to settle arguments or issues and ensure a positive outcome.
It’s also worth mentioning that conflict resolution also helps to maintain an inclusive and welcoming environment, which is necessary if you want to continue growing your community.
Provides a channel for feedback
Getting feedback is such an important thing, whether your community is still small or has thousands of members. Feedback allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t in the community, as well as areas for improvement.
Communication gives you a channel for feedback from your community members, allowing you to understand their needs, preferences, and concerns. Feedback like this is invaluable for making key, informed decisions that meet your community goals and interests and also address member pain points.
Enhances your messaging
Clear and concise communication ensures that important information is effectively propagated to all community members, which includes updates, events, rules, and any changes within the community.
It helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and understand your messages clearly, so there’s no misunderstanding.
Encourages diversity and inclusion
Another reason why good communication is crucial in community management is that it can help you to promote diversity and inclusion by ensuring all community members feel welcomed, valued, and understood, regardless of their background or points of view.
Helps with community growth
Community managers work hard to grow their communities, and good communication can go a long way. After all, it plays a pivotal role in attracting new members and retaining existing ones, which contributes to the growth and sustainability of the community.
You can highlight success stories, members' contributions, and the community’s value proposition, which can draw interest and engagement from a wider audience.
Allows you to build relationships
At its core, community management is about fostering relationships among members, as well as between members and community managers. So, communication is the foundation of these relationships, since it helps you create a sense of belonging and of being connected.
Fosters collaboration
Effective communication is also incredibly important when trying to facilitate collaboration among community members. This can lead to more innovative projects, solutions, ideas, and more.
Facilitates learning
Communities can be used as learning platforms as well, where effective communication ensures that knowledge is accurately shared and understood.
Part of belonging to a community is being able to share ideas and know-how, and many people join communities to learn from their peers, who may be in a different stage of their career, possess unique expertise, etc.
Manages expectations
Another thing that’s important to mention—and consider as a community manager—is managing people’s expectations. What do community members expect from your community? Will they be disappointed or, on the other hand, be mind blown at what you have to offer?
Good communication can help you manage expectations about what your community can do, as well as its limitations.
Great to share successes
As mentioned, community members love to learn from one another, and what better way to achieve this than with success stories? Highlighting achievements and sharing successes can inspire members and showcase the impact of the community at the same time.
Promotes events
As community managers, you’re likely to be busy with a myriad of activities, including events. Having clear communication allows you to promote these events and up your chances of ensuring successful turnouts.
Improves reputation
The way communication is handled reflects on the community’s reputation as well. It influences the way people look at your community and, therefore, how attractive it is to potential new members.
In short
Good communication is vital across all aspects of community management, as it can make your life 1,000x easier and even help you grow and maintain your community.
Another important thing to consider is that different people communicate differently, so what might work for some may not work for others—make sure you understand who makes up your community and how they like to communicate.
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