grow your community for member benefit & business value by mark yolton

Grow Your Community for Member Benefit & Business Value:

Ten Tips!

Mark Yolton | Communities & Social Media | SAP Marketing February 15, 2012

© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2

Social Media Social Networks Communities

Social Media – tools, technologies,

and platforms ...

Social Networking (v) – the activity

users engage in ...

Social Networks – formed by

members who share an affinity or

interest ...

Communities – well-defined online

social networks that develop stronger

ties, vibrant engagement, longer-term

relationships, and cultural norms …


SAP Community Network (SCN) The Social Network for SAP Professionals


Broader Community Engagement Model Reach from Inside Out; Pull to the Core

*”Participate” sites are examples only

=

Participate

Orchestrate

Host

Bloomberg

ZD Net Financial

Times

HBR

Forbes.com

WSJ

TechCrunch Influencers

++

.com


A Multi-Year Journey Continuous Growth and Expansion

2003 2005 2009 2011

Launch:

SAP

Developer

Network

100K

Members

Forums

Blogs 1M

Forum

Posts

2007

Launch:

BPX

Add

Wikis

1M

Members

Rebrand:

SCN

Launch:

Business

Objects

Community

University

Alliances

Community

Launch:

EcoHub

App Store

Career

Center

2.8M Members

1.5M UMV

65,000+

Contributors /

year

~1M Newsletter

Subscribers

SAP Idea Place

New SCN* (*Q1 2012)

Launch:

Code

Exchange


Ten Tips to Grow Your Community

Diagram: Jen Evans on MarketingProfs


1. Sharpen the Focus

Avoid “everyone

“everywhere”

Target an audience

segment

One key task or portion

of the entire journey

A distinct demographic

A single product area

One un-met need

One kernel of unique &

differentiated value

… Which they can get

from no one and

nowhere else


2. Think Small

Offer unique value

Unusual, additive, one-of-a-kind

Content

Connectedness

Insight

Get service and support

Share their experiences

An outlet to vent

Offer inbound ideas and

suggestions


3. Build to Critical Mass

There’s power in numbers

“Big Enough” to

generate and sustain

conversations over time

Depth and diversity of

views

Aggregate vs. splinter

thru sub-segmentation

Later break-off sub-topics

as they grow and bulge

Reach across to adjacent

communities or similar

interests


4. Get Newbies Productive Quickly

One chance at a first

impression

Capture their attention

quickly or lose them

(forever)

Welcoming

First steps

Habit-forming reminders

(push)

“Butt”

Curve: Kathy Sierra


5. Create Your Community Culture

Enlist members to

define the boundaries

Quality standards

Expectations of behavior

Appropriate content and

topics

Good taste

Value

Rely on community to

patrol, self-police, alert

Provide enforcement


6. Make it Easy

Build ease-of-sharing and

collaboration into your

platform and experience

Remove barriers

Set the tone for acceptance

Encourage active

engagement and

connectedness

What: update, share, ask,

answer, comment, connect,

vote, upload, attend …


7. Get Personal

Humanize: communities

are people

Think less about

accounts or companies –

even be careful with

personas

Photos, stories,

lighthearted, playful

Coffee Corners – an

outlet for off-topic,

ranting, sidebars

Make it possible for

members to control and

customize their

experience


8. Activate the Core

1 – 9 – 90

Focus attention on the

active, engaged,

influential core members

(The 1%)

Enable Encourage

Identify Leverage

Advantage Champion

Give them more:

access, content, control,

authority, recognition,

voice, influence


9. Embrace the Quirks of Human Behavior

Pop psychology +

sociology + anthropology

+ social economics

Motivations: money,

power, prestige, impact …

Public praise, recognition,

leader boards, spotlights,

access, influence, inner

circle

Light touch moderation =

patience, forgiveness

Thankfulness goes a long

way…


10. Fail Forward Fast

Favor action over analysis

Learn by doing: experiment

Constantly adjust and

course-correct

Seek and listen for

feedback from members

Mitigate risk through a

series of smaller moves

vs. big leaps

Ask forgiveness, not

permission


Ten Tips to Grow Your Community

1. Sharpen the focus

2. Think small

3. Build to critical mass

4. Get newbies productive fast

5. Create your own culture

6. Make it easy

7. Get personal

8. Activate the core

9. Embrace human motivations

10. Fail forward fast

Thank You!

Contact information:

Mark Yolton | SVP

Communities & Social Media

[email protected]

T: 650-687-4656

mailto:[email protected]

grow your community for member benefit & business value by mark yolton

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