Learn how to develop and motivate your community moderators with clear expectations, training and support, recognition and reward, encouragement and empowerment, and protection and care.

Let your community leaders test and try new ways to engage, encourage conversations and build the community. Let them try new formats, and new features and encourage more interactions with partners, sponsors and experts in the group. Not all ideas will pan out, but when they do, it could be great!

How do you train and reward community moderators?

Community moderators are the backbone of any online platform that relies on user-generated content. They help maintain the quality, safety, and engagement of your community by enforcing rules, resolving conflicts, and providing feedback. But how do you train and reward them for their valuable work? In this article, you'll learn some best practices for developing and motivating your community moderators.

1 Define your expectations

Before you recruit or assign community moderators, you need to have a clear vision of what you want them to do and how you want them to do it. This means creating a detailed moderator handbook that outlines your community guidelines, your moderation policies, your escalation procedures, and your communication channels. You also need to define the roles and responsibilities of your moderators, such as how much time they should spend moderating, what tools they should use, and what actions they can take. Having clear expectations will help your moderators understand their scope and goals, and avoid confusion or inconsistency.

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Mike Vannelli

Creative Director @ thinkenvy.com
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Preparing community moderators takes nurturing, like mentoring a rookie team with potential. Set expectations then give creative freedom to find their voice. Offer ongoing feedback and training as challenges arise. Recognize their expanding impact at team huddles. Surprise standouts with swag or rewards for milestones. This coaching ensures they can support the community to achieve collective goals. Now grab that clipboard, rally up your rookie squad, and let’s build all-star mods! 🥇

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Dorien Morin

Social Media Strategist | Content Creator | Organic Specialist | Content Marketer | International Keynote Speaker | Certified Agile Marketer |🎙 #StrategyTalks
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When you define your expectations, involve experienced communication moderators in this process. Facebook has a community management certification that might be helpful to you or someone on your team to get!

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Abdul Qadeer

Social Media Marketing Specialist | Blockchain Community Manager | Shopify Enthusiast | Content Strategist
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Community is everything from web2 to web3 projects. A good management of platform and support team could unite your community and keep them stick to your project.

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2 Provide training and support

Once you have your expectations set, you need to provide your moderators with the necessary training and support to perform their tasks effectively and confidently. This may include online courses, webinars, workshops, manuals, or mentorship programs that cover topics such as moderation techniques, conflict resolution, community engagement, and mental health. You should also create a supportive environment where your moderators can ask questions, share experiences, and receive feedback from you and their peers. This will help them learn from each other, improve their skills, and cope with the challenges of moderation.

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Lauren Lorraine Jones

CCO The Lauren Lorraine Brand. Shoes. Fine Jewelry. Author. WWE Diva, Expendables Actress, Barker’s Beauty on The Price is Right. Investor. Multi-Family Properties. Real Estate.
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Training and rewarding community moderators involves providing comprehensive guidance on moderation guidelines, policies, and best practices. Training programs should cover conflict resolution, effective communication, and handling sensitive topics. Recognition and rewards can include shout-outs, badges, exclusive access, or opportunities for growth. Regular feedback, support, and fostering a positive community culture are essential for motivating and retaining moderators.

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3 Recognize and reward

One of the most important ways to motivate and retain your moderators is to recognize and reward their contributions and achievements. This can be done in various ways, such as public praise, badges, certificates, bonuses, gifts, or opportunities for growth. You should also track and measure the impact of your moderators on your community, such as the number of posts moderated, the quality of content, the level of engagement, or the satisfaction of users. This will help you identify and appreciate the value of your moderators, and also provide them with feedback and guidance for improvement.

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Dorien Morin

Social Media Strategist | Content Creator | Organic Specialist | Content Marketer | International Keynote Speaker | Certified Agile Marketer |🎙 #StrategyTalks
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Top Tip: By recognizing and rewarding your community moderators, it will motivate them to do more and will send signals to the community not only that the group is managed well, but that you care. Caring is so important when leading a community!

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4 Encourage and empower

Another way to inspire and engage your moderators is to encourage and empower them to take ownership and initiative in your community. This means giving them some autonomy and flexibility in how they moderate, allowing them to suggest and implement ideas, and involving them in decision-making processes. You should also foster a sense of community and belonging among your moderators, by creating a dedicated space for them to interact, socialize, and collaborate. This will help them feel valued and trusted, and also strengthen their commitment and loyalty to your community.

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Dorien Morin

Social Media Strategist | Content Creator | Organic Specialist | Content Marketer | International Keynote Speaker | Certified Agile Marketer |🎙 #StrategyTalks
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Let your community leaders test and try new ways to engage, encourage conversations and build the community. Let them try new formats, and new features and encourage more interactions with partners, sponsors and experts in the group. Not all ideas will pan out, but when they do, it could be great!

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Shola Akinrolie

Senior Manager, Developer Program, Arm || Global Community Strategist || Product/Developer Marketing Manager || #ai #web3 #blockchain #computing | 10x Developer Relations & Rockstar Project Manager 🥷
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Add a Tier level attached with rewards to the Moderators program. This will inspire the Moderators to contribute more as great rewards are attached to every Tier and will also amplify the program with proper structuring and ability to track the Moderators progress with data metrics. Data insights makes the rewarding better and help the Moderators to do perform better. PS: Surprise them with random and thoughtful rewards.

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5 Protect and care

Finally, you need to protect and care for your moderators' well-being and safety, as moderation can be a stressful and demanding job. This means providing them with the appropriate tools and resources to deal with harmful or abusive content, such as filters, flags, reports, or support teams. You should also offer them access to counseling, coaching, or wellness programs that can help them cope with the emotional and mental impact of moderation. You should also respect their boundaries and limitations, by ensuring that they have reasonable workloads, schedules, and breaks. This will help them avoid burnout, fatigue, or trauma, and also improve their performance and satisfaction.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Som Nath D.

Normal Human with Exceptional Potential ❝Top Social Media Voice❞[in] [1.5M+Views/mo] Multi-Talented Creative | Director of Viral Content | Sr. Analyst & Adviser | Open to Permanent Remote Opportunities
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- Engage them professionally. - Pay them industry standard. - Create Global Team. - Possibly give them lifetime WFH opportunity.

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How do you train and reward community moderators?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your expectations

2 Provide training and support

3 Recognize and reward

4 Encourage and empower

5 Protect and care

6 Here’s what else to consider

Social Media

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How do you train and reward community moderators?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define your expectations

2 Provide training and support

3 Recognize and reward

4 Encourage and empower

5 Protect and care

6 Here’s what else to consider

Social Media

Rate this article

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