Which Community Management course is right for me?
Which community management course should you take? It depends.
What kind of community are you building? Who are the leaders and influencers in your industry? What kind of community are the course providers focusing on?
Are you a member of a professional group of community practitioners? If so, what are they saying? What are their recommendations? How are they learning themselves?
What is your learning style? Do you like learning on your own, or via cohort-based group classes?
You can learn about Community Management from these books. There are free resources online to learn about Community Building. From articles, blogs, playbooks, Youtube tutorials, to Twitter threads.
If you have a budget for a training course, I recommend you take one.
Learn various strategies and frameworks.
Look at your community issues from a different perspective and gain clarity.
Build a network of support from your classmates.
Tuition ranges from $495 to $3,500. Please review the course links for updated information. I have taken 2.5 community courses so far and can recommend them all. Courses from Jono Bacon, Rosie Sherry and some from The Community Roundtable.
I have reviewed the curriculum of all the courses I listed previously.
Most of them say who their target audience is. So review them and find out which one resonates with you.
In general, if your company was in existence in 2010-ish then check out the pioneering CM courses from The Community Roundtable (established 2009) and Feverbee (~2010).
If you are in the new creator economy, then review the newer courses that were born in 2020/2021.The above advice is for individuals. If you are a company that is struggling with community issues and need to catch up. Yes, of course, get your CM training for your community team. And consider investing in community coaches or consultants so you can build fast and smart with these experienced partners.