Best of all, community managers are feeling more empowered and valued than ever. Their hard work has proved that community is an integral part of creating and maintaining the success of a brand.

All the sessions were informative and powerful. I personally enjoyed a presentation by @JetSetMeister from AirBnB that discussed the importance of building a strong community strategy based on metrics and data. This can be a challenge. There’s no single magical metric that works for everyone. The wonderful thing is that we – both as an industry and as community managers – can collaborate to find which metrics matter to us.

There were so many great insights that we’d never be able to share them all, but here are seven of our favourite takeaways from CMX West.

• Community management is its own discipline with its own business objectives.
  
  

  “This is not a fluffy, nebulous strategy anymore. #Community is something professionals do for a living!” Preach it, @DavidSpinks #CMXSummit

  — CMX (@CMX) October 15, 2015

• Communities are all about building a movement around your cause which is essentially your brand in action.
  
  

  Don’t market to someone, build a community and momentum around a movement. #CMXSummit — Melanie (@MelanieAt) October 15, 2015

• The best communities are backed by a plan. Do it for your success with measureable, attainable, time-bound goals.
  
  

  Build an engaged community, figure out how to harness that engagement to drive outcomes important to your biz. @JetSetMeister #CMXSummit — Amy Muller (@AmyLolaM)

• Metrics Matter – especially if you want to get more budget, grow your team and demonstrate your effort’s value to executive management.
  
  

  @CarterGee a2: unquantified efforts end up being the 1st things cut when a company falls into a crunch. metrics => job security #CMXSummit — Melanie (@MelanieAt) October 15, 2015

• Treat everyone with respect, even those who can do nothing for you. Common sense and basic humanity but an important reminder.

My fave quote of all time, which I say often: “true measure of a person is how they treat someone who can do nothing for them.” #CMXSummit

— Maria Ogneva (@themaria) October 15, 2015

• Actions and repetition are what make a brand strong.
  
  

  How to make a brand strong? Through repetition of behavior – it’s not about words, but actions. CMs should lead with behaviors #CMXSummit

  — Maria Ogneva (@themaria) October 15, 2015

• Everyone in your community matters.  
  
  

  Focus on individual actions. Every action matters. Every person matters in your community. @adamwerbach#CMXSummit

  — CMX (@CMX) October 15, 2015

Were you at the event? What were your favorite take aways from the sessions? Share it in the comments below.