Building a community is easy. The hard part? Keeping participants happy and engaged. According to Socious, the real challenge for closed communities might be giving them something worth their time. That and more in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Keep your competitors away: Are your members a part of a closed community? Don’t let them get away! Socious’ Joshua Paul has a great list of suggestions, but the key one? Get results for your customers. He explains: “The ability to tie the support, access to experts, and information in your online community to how your customers succeed in using your solution and, in turn, meeting their business objectives is the glue that keeps customers in your community.”

The LinkedIn strategy: In a roundup of social tools for building association membership, consultant Steve Drake explains how he managed to help build a strategy for one association using LinkedIn. “The committee wanted a ‘list’ of key people to reach,” he says. “While the committee debated, I did a quick LinkedIn search and discovered more than 4,000 people with that exact title.”

Trust your audience: Jeff Hurt of Velvet Chainsaw argues, in his post about presenter-attendee agreements, that texting or typing are totally cool during presentations, and ideas counter to that are antiquated. “You’re an adult and we trust you. If you need to use the restroom, don’t wait for a break. Feel free to leave the room. If you need to take a call, please do so in the hallway. We understand that your business is important and continues whether you are in the office or not.”

Maybe you don’t need a “rock star”: According to Inc. magazine’s Eric V. Holtzclaw, having a team member who doesn’t eat and sleep thinking about their job is vastly underrated. “True rock stars are probably working on their own thing on the side anyway,” Holtzclaw says, “and your company is either a training ground or a temporary paycheck. On the other hand, hiring that individual who wants a ‘job,’ gives you a degree of stability and predictability.” Plus, as anyone who’s seen an episode of Behind the Music can attest, the betrayals — and later, the apologies — can get awkward.

Do you need a rock star on your staff, or are you better off with someone who’s more consistent and loyal? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

(TMG archive photo)