The Ultimate Guide to Community Management In today's highly digital and connected society, it's funny to think people can still feel disconnected from others. With so many people who communicate online, behind screens, this connected world can actually feel rather lonely at times. This goes for personal relationships as well as business relationships — specifically between brands and their customers as well as brands and their employees. So, what is it that has people feeling a disconnect from others and the companies they do business with? A lack of community. A community provides people with a feeling of belonging and a network of other people they can connect with based on their shared interests and/ or characteristics. And that's why so many brands today are beginning to invest in the creation of communities for their customers, employees, and fans — as part of a process called community management. Businesses build communities — or implement community management tactics at their companies — to build authentic relationships among their external audience (their customers, fans, and followers) and their internal audience (employees, vendors, partners, and team members). When businesses invest in community management, they transition from an everyday brand to a human brand — one that cares deeply about the people who support them, work for them, and interact with them. What is the purpose of community management? Community management has become increasingly popular and recognized by all types of businesses — however, it's still largely undefined. So, what makes it...

The Best Forum Software for Creating an Online Community in 2021 Forums provide the opportunity to build an online community that allows your audience to connect in a place where they know their interests are shared. This sense of connectedness is more important than ever in a time where more work, communication, and socialization is being done online.  Online communities are particularly beneficial for businesses because they allow customers to interact with each other in a smaller circle than they could via social media, which increases engagement and brand affinity. For instance, let's say one of your customers has a very unique problem with your product or service, and posts about it on your forum. That post is much easier to find than it would be on social media, where millions of users are talking about a million different things. Even better, maybe another forum user has faced that same problem and can answer their question before your service reps even see it. There is an incredible amount of value in reaching and building your community using a forum. Here, we're going to explore the best forum software to get you started. 1. WordPress (With Plugin) Price: Free (plus the cost of hosting) Using a multi-purpose platform like a CMS to power your online community allows you access to many different software options in the form of plugins and applications. For instance, you might use the bbPress plugin to create multisite forums, and maintain them from one...