The first Communities of the Month program for August is now well underway.

We hope the six Communities selected are enjoying the extra support they are receiving.

The emphasis for the program, for the six main communities and those receiving @booming support, is very much to build community strength with a view to achieving increasing self-sufficiency.

We are now starting the application process for September.

The format will be much the same. Six communities will be selected for the full @steemcurator01 support package, and another 30 will be chosen to receive the @booming votes.

We look forward to reading your applications.

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How To Apply

Applications are invited from Community Leaders (Admin / Owner / Founder) who would like their Communities to be considered for selection as a ‘Community of the Month’.

Please refer to last month’s post for full details but applications should cover as many of these elements as possible...

• Community Purpose

• Community Team

• Community Curation Account

• Plagiarism & Abuse

• Engagement & Commenting

• Plans & Updates

• Promotion

• Anything Else

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Among the most important of these is Community Purpose.

We really want to see Communities that have a unique and well defined focus.

They should have a strong USP (Unique Selling Point).

For Country / Regional Communities that will be about the country or region.

For Subject Communities make sure the subject(s) you intend to cover are clear and specific, and ideally unique on Steem.

The key question to ask is…

• Does your community have a strong enough message to attract people to Steem?

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A second factor we are giving increasing importance to is Community Retention.

This is most obviously measured by the percentage of Active Posters out of Total Subscribers.

If a community has 10,000 Subscribers but only 100 Active Posters that is not so good.

It would be better to have 1000 Subscribers and 300 Active Posters.

Community age is of course an important factor, but particularly for communities formed in the last 12 months 10% should be a target minimum.

For reference, Country Rep @toufiq777 has recently added the percentage to his list of communities…

• List of Communities according to Subscribers and Active posters

@papi.mati also includes the Subscriber and Active Poster figures in his Communities list…

• 2nd List of active communities - July 2021

A community may not be able to remove inactive Subscribers, but it should do all it can to keep its current members engaged and active in the community.

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The third factor that we are particularly looking at is External Promotion.

We see Communities as an important route for recruitment to Steem.

If people with a particular interest - be it knitting, electrical repairs, or vegetarian cookery - could be attracted to Steem by a strong, vibrant and focused community covering their area of interest that would be ideal.

We are keen therefore to hear about your plans to promote your community to the outside world.

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Application posts can be in any language.

Applications should be made by 11.59pm UTC on Saturday, August 21st.

All communities are welcome to apply - including those already selected for August.

Please drop a link to your application post in the comments below and include the tag #communities-202109 (in the first five tags).

The communities selected as the ‘Communities of the Month’ for September will be announced before the end of August.

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For more information about the Communities of the Month Support Program please read the previous posts…

• Steemit Community Guidelines

• The Communities of the Month Support Program

• The Communities of the Month Support Program - August Winners

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This ‘Communities of the Month’ program will be evolving month by month.

We are keen to monitor its effectiveness, so we would suggest the communities selected monitor and report on their progress.

The key data would be Subscribers, Active Posters, Community Account Steem Power (own and delegated) and ideally some indication of external recruitment.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you

The Steemit Team