online communities: how to encourage involvement

Online communities: encouraging involvement

Tiffany St James

(On Twitter, Linked In,

Slideshare, Facebook, Skype..)

tiffany@stimulationltd.co.uk

Source: xkcd.com

Community engagement benefits

• Connecting with like-minded individuals

• Peer to peer recommendations

• Resourses, resourses, resources

• Stimulating the debate of your most interest

• Engaging with people in the their spaces

• eCRM

• Data collation

• Product testing

• Informing business, brand, product strategy

• The financial worth of ‘Likes’

Community of interest

Source: http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/forums/ Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Community of action

Source: http://fairtradetowns.ning.com/ Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Community of place

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Community of practice

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Community of circumstance

Source: http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Types of online community

Led by individuals

Led by organisations

Content

oriented

Conversation

oriented

Magazine off-shoots

Fan forums Hyperlocal

sites

Customer forums

Community blogs

Campaign communities

Big group forums

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Risks of online engagement

• Stakeholders' unfamiliarity with format

• Lack of buy-in from proprietors

• Absence of standards, strategy,

measures

• IT limitations

• Elasticity of time and place

• Low levels of efficacy and trust

UM Social media Wave 5

http://bit.ly/g8JspN

So What?

Trust in communications has changed

http://slidesha.re/ekbc0

n

Smart Mobs: Democracy in action?

bit.ly/gKArcx

nyti.ms/e5P1Ul

gawker.com/5733816/

What can we learn from BP?

The truth will out

http://bit.ly/eERbxb

What can we learn from WikiLeaks?

Social For Good

The power of the individual

bethkanter.org

Online to offline action: DoSomething.org

Big businesses are using it for good

refresheverything.com

..and connecting like minded-individuals nikerunning.nike.com

What does this mean for me?

Should you throw a party or join one?

Identifying relevant communities

Choosing which communities

No of Posts

and Topics

Date of last post

in the main thread

Structure and

Management

Contact details for

the moderator

Members List

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Cost of ownership considerations

• Hosting and maintenance

• Usabilility: IA + interface design + code

• User experience: useability+design+content

• But what is the real cost of not engaging...

Set an objective

Listening

Audience insight,

understanding views

Buzz generation

Stimulating discussion,

encouraging sharing

Discussion & Response

Driving take-up,

asking for feedback

Co-production

Working with a community

to produce a resource

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Rule of participation inequality

Rule: Jakob Nielsen

Source: bit.ly/ggRqCW

Wikipedia for example:

99.8, 0.2, 0.003

Creators: Maintain, promote, reward

Commentators:

Lurkers:

Strangers:

Managing communities

Increase interactivity

Co-creation

Progressive

disclosure

Increase engagement

SEO

Widgets and Virals

Reward interactivity

Build in Status

Personally interact

Ask questions

Develop a partnership strategy

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Continual optimisation

Source: UK Government GCN/COI Interactive Services

Measures of success - KPIs

Outputs

How many visits, referrals, subscribers, loyalty,

web analytics, bounce rates

Outtakes

Message and experience for user satisfaction,

measuring change of attitude

Outcomes

Action - what do you want the user to do?

Source: UK Govt COI Interactive services

Developing and exit strategy

Exit options

• Unpublish

• Cease

• Remove engagement

• Transparent

• Hand back

Risks

• Suspicion

• Leadership

• Reputation

• Resentment

• Direction

Actions

• Timing

• Transparent

• Brief Press

• Redirect

Evaluate

• Monitor

• All social media

• Response strategy

Source: Helpfultechnology.com

Source: UK Govt COI Interactive services

5 things to watch out for

1 Build it and they will come

2 Too too strict

3 Conflict: Moderator and/or participants

4 Too complex

5 Neglect

Code of conduct

• Be credible

• Be consistent

• Be transparent

• Be relevant

• Be an ambassador for

your organisation

Are you ready?

1 Are you listening?

2 Do ALL employees understand the risks?

3 Rapid response?

4 Strategy in place?

5 Had crisis training?

6 Clear on the roles and responsibilities

7 Top down and bottom up strategies

Thank You!

Tiffany St James

tiffany@stimulationltd.co.uk

Twitter:@tiffanystjames

Slideshare.net/tiffanystjames