Internal staff & training

Hi there,

I don't have a best practice, per se, so I'll give you my gut answer.

#1 — I think assigning staff to one or more categories is a good idea in general. In practice, it may not be easy to do, in part because members don't always post their comments in the correct group. If you have someone responsible for moving threads to the correct categories, you could then assign staff to a particular category. This shouldn't be a heavy lift. If it is hard, I'd consider looking at the categories you have and reevaluating whether their "mission" is clear to members.

#2 — The easiest way I can think of to track whether your staff is participating in the community is to assign each member specific dates, such as odd or even days. So, Joe participates in the community on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc., while Joanne participates on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc. That may be too hard to track, so alternating weeks is another idea.

Play to their strengths. If someone is good at generating content, let them do that more often than answering questions.

Whatever you do, make sure that your expectations are clearly defined and that your staff has the time and support they need to meet those expectations. Your staff may not make the community a priority if their guidelines read something like, "Staff will answer questions in the community to the best of their ability."

As you create these guidelines, reassure your staff that the load should lighten as members start to participate more often and "take ownership" of the community.

That's what I've got. Let me know if you have questions or clarification.