online community strategy framework
DESCRIPTION
Online Community Strategic Framework and Best Practices. Web 2.0 Sites, Social Sites, Online Community Sites... call it what you want, this framework will provide you with an approach that works for engaging your customers and nurturing your prospects.TRANSCRIPT
ONLINE COMMUNITY STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
Ensuring an engaged online community
COMMUNITY STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
BUSINESS GOALS
SOCIAL MEDIA
LANDSCAPE
MEMBER NEEDS
COMMUNITY STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
BUSINESS GOALS
SOCIAL MEDIA
LANDSCAPE
MEMBER NEEDS
LAUNCH PLAN
1. Content Plan
2. Event Plan
3. Promotion/Outreach Plan
4. Member-to-Member Interaction
COMMUNITY STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
BUSINESS GOALS
SOCIAL MEDIA
LANDSCAPE
MEMBER NEEDS
LAUNCH PLAN
1. Content Plan
2. Event Plan
3. Promotion/Outreach Plan
4. Member-to-Member Interaction
METRICS/ROI
COMMUNITY STRATEGY FRAMEWORK
1) Business Goal
What is your business objective? Boil it down to one sentence that gets to the core of your objective.
Increase Sales Increase Brand Awareness Decrease Cost of Customer Service Co-creation of New Products Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader Better Search Results Provide Additional Information Educate Customers Enable Customers to Collaborate and Share Knowledge
King Research, June 2007
1- Business Goal (communities need a reason)
1) Business GoalThe business goal of PD 360 was to raise student achievement . They accomplished a lift of 11.3% improvement in student achievement through an online learning community for teachers with on demand professional development .
1) Business Goal
…know who you are, what type of online community would you be?
2) Social Media Landscape
What is Social Media Anyway?From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
2) Social Media LandscapeWhat does social media look like? Where are your customers having conversations?
Online Customer Communities
2) Social Media Landscape
How is your brand or the competition’s brand represented in the social ecosystem, where are there gaps, and what is your plan to position your brand accordingly?
Search for Brand Mention Blog Pulse Technorati Delicious Google Blog Search
Monitor Activity Levels Facebook MySpace YouTube Ning Flickr LinkedIn
Competitive Analysis and Tracking
2) Social Media Landscape
2) Social Media Landscape
2) Social Media Landscape
2) Social Media Landscape
2) Social Media Landscape
LEARN
3) Member Needs Analysis Share Knowledge: Explore
ideas and participate in one-on-one private discussions or public group threads. Access actionable experienced-based solutions from like minds
Connect With Peers: Network with one another to find exactly the individual you need who shares your passion. Combat isolation, share emotions and experience a sense of camaraderie.
Access Tools: find resources that allow you to do your job better, shorten decision times, decrease risk
Need for confiden
tiality
Burning need to share
information
INTERVIEW OR SURVEY MEMBERS
Gain insight on their specific needs.
What member types or personas exist?
Predict their needs. Do their needs vary? What are they looking for? How do they like to interact? How willing are they to share
openly? Do they want exposure? Do they want to influence
others? Do they want to shape the
industry? Are they time crunched?
3) Member Needs Analysis (profile your audience)
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3) Member Needs Analysis
CUSTOMIZE YOUR ENGAGEMENT MODEL
Announce new members in a group
Invite members in a group to read relevant articles and comment
Invite members to participate in relevant webcasts or teleconferences
3) Member Needs Analysis
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Member Needs Analysis Business Exec
IT Professional
Consultant
Vendor
Other Professional
DEMOGRAPHIC
Career Level
Role
Areas of Interest
Geographic Location
College
Gender
Groups/Associations/Honors/Awards
NEEDS and SKILLS
Knowledge transfer
Leverage the experience of others
Collaborate on information and ideas
Implement BPM faster and learn from peers
Other
WILLINGNESS TO CONTRIBUTE
Comment or Rate (blog, wiki, chat, content)
Contribute content (blog, group docs, wiki, chat)
Speak (teleconference, webcast)
Lead or Chair (group, blog, wiki)
Collaborate (group, wiki)
ENGAGEMENT PREFERENCE
Chat
Post or Comment or Rate
Collaborate via wiki
Read content
Attend or lead teleconferences
Join or lead group
Private meetings with other members
Face to face events
CONCERNS
Trust or risk of online permanent record
Lack of time
4) Engagement Model
What will you publish? Where will you publish? How often will you publish?
Balance (content, events, 1:1, outreach)
Integrate with traditional channels
4) Engagement Model
…strive to balance the elements
5) Engagement Plan TARGET GROUP
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Content
Article D
Group Discussion A
Blog PM
Wiki E
Etc. A
Events
Member-led meetings D
webinars and telecons, onsite A
Small group calls, intimate setting, like-minded peers PM
Webcasts E
Chat Session A
Member-to-Member Interactions
Member to member meeting D
Group discussion A
Blog PM
Wiki E
Chat A
Outreach
Newsletter D
Polls A
Surveys PM
Invites E
MISC
Misc PM
4) Engagement Model
…plan for active readers or ‘lurkers’
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, October 9, 2006
Make it easier to contribute. Netflix lets users rate movies by clicking a star ratingMake participation a side effect. For example, Amazon's "people who bought this book, bought these other books”Edit, don't create. Let users build their contributions by modifying existing templates rather than creating newReward — but don't over-reward — participants. Don't give too much to the most active participants, or you'll simply encourage them to dominate the system even more. Promote quality contributors. Give extra prominence to good contributions
4) Engagement Model
…promote quality contributors and create ways to spotlight good contributions
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4) Engagement Model
…active and relevant moderation engages members
30% of moderation is active involveme
nt
1) Plan touch point cycles
2) Plan your trigger points
3) Plan for private and semi-private communication
70% of moderati
on is behind
the scenes
4) Engagement Model 3 Key Factors to Creating Community Atmosphere1. Quality, up to date content2. Clear objective value3. Strong moderation and facilitation
The Host’s Role in Establishing Culture4. Recognize positive participation5. Solicit and respond to member feedback6. Communicate with members
Takeaways7. Value statement8. Clear code of conduct9. Open lines of communication10. Host plays a visible role11. User experience/feature set tailored to audience12. Content – quality, relevant and up to date13. Acknowledge positive contribution14. Create welcoming culture. A welcomed member is more likely to come back,
contribute and tell others
4) Engagement Model
…a moderator is instrumental in creating the culture
Establish Rules
Create Guidelines for Contributing
Be Prepared to be a Bouncer at Times
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Recruit a Variety of Hosts
Editorial Board
Frequent Contributors
Former Speakers
Affinity Group Chairs
4) Engagement Model…build your bench of hosts or “creators”
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4) Engagement Model…create awareness by highlighting members and promote/invite using traditional channels
CIO Magazine has a monthly column highlighting interviews with their community members. This is a great way to drive membership and promote your community. Drive traffic from traditional channels to your community. Some members might want exposure.
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4) Engagement Model…facilitate ways for introductions
Member profiles reflect interests, activities and needs
New members need a place to introduce themselves
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4) Engagement Model …seed the community with events, content etc.
Communities thrive on connection Events offer members a chance to come together Online or offline, maintain variety, keep it fresh Leverage existing assets Monthly member-led webinars, save the recordings Target webinars for each affinity group, Q&A via discussions Local round table events Content, articles, research, white papers, podcasts
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4) Engagement ModelCommunities Need Ways for Attendees to Pitch In
Communities love to solve a problem
They want to help, your community will give them a chance
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4) Engagement Model Discover ways for attendees to pitch in, executives enjoy working together
15 CIOs worked in a collaborative environment for nine months to create the IT Value Matrix, advance the profession, and positively influence the next generation. Benchmarking Tool Marketing the Value of IT Study Running Start: How to Succeed in Your First 90 Days – collaborative project Career Path Model – started as knowledge center content, then webinar Business Continuity – started as knowledge center content, then webinar, then regional hosted event Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) playbook, a how-to guide and resource to help CIOs better manage the SOX compliance process
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4) Engagement Model …create multiple ways to participate
Chair an affinity group or task force Member-led webinars and teleconferences Small group calls, intimate setting, like-minded peers Collaborative projects and tools, showcase them at events Member-hosted regional events Annual meetings Get interviewed for publication Dedicated column in publication Member spotlights Awards Leadership Development: video series on leaders Develop a course taught by members Speakers Bureau – introduce members to exposure opportunities Newsletter – highlight new members, upcoming events, speaker opportunities Enable members to display a measure of their experience - provides context and builds trust
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5) Success Metrics/ROI
Unique Visitors New Member Registrations Page Views Retention/Attrition Member Loyalty Member Satisfaction Most Active Members Top Searches Message Posts Conversion Advertising Performance Influencer/Evangelism Identification Member Lifecycle First Time Contributors Content Rating Ratio: Unregistered to Registered Visitors Ratio: Page Views per Post Reputation Changes Ratio: Post per Thread Content Tagging
Comments per Blog Post Ratio: Searches Per Post Podcasts and Video (links, uploads) Member Blog Posts Size of Networks/Buddy Lists Sales Customer service tickets Cost savings for customer service Tech support tickets Cost savings for tech support Product feedback for R&D Product trial downloads Mentions on other sites Ratios of comments per post Forum posts answers Average response time Referrals to community Renewals and upsells Participation in online tools User complaints # of users leaving / deleting accounts Leads provided to partners
Build an ROI set based on your dimensions of value. Include a mix of qualitative and quantitative… you don’t need a laundry list like below. Pick a few relevant ones.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
Online Community Takeaways1. Trust and Respect
2. Moderation : critical to entice lurkers to participate3. Ecosystem: strive for balance (content, events, interaction, and
outreach)4. Profile: understand your groups, predict needs, and communicate
appropriately5. Create Atmosphere or Community Culture: provide forums for
group collaboration and small group interactions (chats, calls, member hosted events)
6. Plan: Goals, metrics, outcomes and monetization7. Organizational Buy-In: leverage corporate assets8. Share: communicate what you learn with the organization9. Variety: keep it interesting, fresh content on front page (news,
articles etc.)10. Heroes: pick heroes to benchmark your community against, not
necessarily in your industry
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Social Media Takeaways
Listen first Be respectful, human, considerate and
passionate What is in it for your customer? If nothing,
don’t bother. Community before commerce It is a cocktail party not a lecture Tolerate criticism Encourage personalities People congregate around relevance and
value
Do you feel socially fatigued?Bring it back to the basicsListen | Learn | Launch
1. LISTEN
2. LEARN
Thank you
Lauren DeLongwww.InnerCircleCommunities.com
Private | Trusted | Relevant207.752.7298