Post on 24-Jan-2015
description
Building a Successful Online Community
Derek Rice
@derekjrice
There is no one-size-fits-all method for building and growing a successful online community.
What is an Online Community?
� More than a message board
� Decentralized platforms that facilitate conversation
Platforms
Platforms
Tip: If you try to establish your presence in too many places, you can quickly wear yourself thin. Review several to find what works best for you.
One Client’s Community
Platforms
Tip: Use your platforms to complement each other, and you’ll build deeper relationships with your audience.
An Online Community IS
� A messaging channel
� Conversational
� Community-driven
� Interactive
� Customer service
� An opportunity to build one-to-one relationships
� Free research
An Online Community IS NOT
� Traditional marketing
� Advertising
� A billboard
� Formal
� Self-centered
� Sales-driven
Why Do I Need an Online
Community?
� Build trust, which in turn helps build brand recognition, loyalty and affinity
� Obtain a deeper understanding of your audience’s needs and wants
� Create one-to-one relationships with customers and prospects
� It’s what people want and expect
What Makes You Act?
Who Do We Trust?
Tip: Trust
� Your online community is your opportunity build relationships and trust with your members.
� When you provide information to them, they become your best allies by passing it along to others who trust them.
� Through social media, they may passing it to hundreds of people.
“The Participatory Web”
People use the web to:
� Browse
� Interact
� Personalize
� Talk about and connect with what and who they’re browsing
� Share those interactions and experiences with others
Characteristics of an Unhealthy
Community
� No response to member questions or posts
� Arguments dwarf other participation
� Members are leaving – and announcing their departure
� Spam
� No clear purpose
� Tumbleweeds
Characteristics of a Healthy
Community
� Active discussion
� Interesting, relevant content and conversation
� Attracts and retains the right kind of people
� No spam
� Respect and civility
� Clear purpose
� Provides value for members
So how do you get there?
Step 1: Determine Your Goals
Goals
� What is the purpose of your community?
� What do you want your community accomplish?
� What’s more important to you: qualitative or quantitative results?
Goals
Client example:
� Develop an active community that is interested in sleep and sleep issues
� Build awareness of new product
� Targeted communication to specific areas
� Gain entry into large warehouse chain through demonstrated sales
Step 2: Management
Management
Your manager is:
� The party host
� An active and high-profile community member
� Accountable to everyone
� Company
� Community
� The “voice” of your brand
� Sets the tone for the community
� Becomes your brand’s online persona
Management
Your manager should be:� Friendly (the Golden Rule)
� Patient
� Creative
� Proactive
� Fun
� Articulate
� An excellent writer
� Knowledgeable about your brand
Management
Find the best fit
� Will you rely one person or multiple people?
Management
Find the best fit
� Do you want a “face” behind the brand, or will your manager act as the brand itself?
Management
Considerations
� Time-consuming
� Can be a full-time job, at least in the beginning
� Community may eventually take some of the load, but may not
� Creating a page or profile takes days, but success takes time – and hard work
� Time-sensitive
� Online community members expect responses in hours (or less)
Step 3: Listening
Listening
Research
� Before jumping in, gather information
Listening
Find out if people are talking about:
� Your company
� Your competition
� Your industry
� Other factors that impact your business
Listening
Who’s doing the talking?
� They may be interested in your company, product or industry (your target audience)
� Your target audience may not be who you think they are
� Helps define and refine your target audience
Listening
What are people saying?
� Figure out what the most popular topics are
� This is what your audience is interested in
� Helps you determine your messaging
Listening Tools
Google AlertsGoogle.com/alerts
Listening Tools
Twitter searchtwitter.com
Listening Tools
search.twitter.com
Listening Tools
Listening Tools
Socialmention.com
Listening Tools
Tip: Listening
Tip: Compiling listening results can be as simple as a checklist, as involved as a Word document where individual conversations are catalogued, or anything in-between.
Tip: Listening
Listening is a continual process
Step 4: Identifying Influencers
Influencers
As you identify your audience, also identify influencers
� Recognizable
� Greater than average reach or impact through word of mouth in a relevant marketplace
� Their opinions matter to others
� Engaged in conversations with hundreds or thousands of people
Influencers
Why influencers?
� When they talk, people listen
� They may talk about you
� More people will join your community
Influencers
Influencers
An influencer doesn’t have to be a celebrity:
� Industry bloggers
� Trade publications
� Local personalities
Influencers
Industry-specific influencers
Identifying Influencers
Blog Search Tool – Technorati.com
Identifying Influencers
Where do you find information that’s relevant to your industry or niche?
These are some of your influencers
They’re talking to your influencers.
They’re talking about your influencers.
Step 4: Developing Content
Content
Create a messaging toolbox:
� Key words
� Key messages
� Protocol
� Engaging
� Responding
� Escalating
Content
Content drives participation and growth
The Content Loop
Good content = return visits = word of mouth = new members = more content (community-generated)
Content
The right kind of content:
� Is high-quality, relevant to community
� Addresses members’ interests
� Sparks discussion
� Provides a sense of purpose and direction
� Establishes your company as an expert in your field
� Positions your company as a valuable resource
Tip: Content
Start by focusing on a small number of topics that speak to your community members’ shared interests. You can build on
these topics later, using your community as a guide.
Content
People are looking for:
� Useful information on a topic they find interesting or attractive
� Engagement in experiences to improve their personal or professional life
� Examples: How to improve job performance or be a better parent
Content
They are not looking for:
� Information on how to buy more of your product
� Calls to action
� Communication that’s mostly brand-specific
Content
Ask yourself:
� What value am I bringing to my community?
� Why would my community members care?
� What kind of conversation could this generate?
Content
Sources for finding content:
� Google Alerts (set up during Listening)
� Blogs
� News outlets
� The web
� Community members
� Influencers
Tip: Content
YOU can be the best sourceof the valuable content you share with your community.
Messaging
Getting it rightFinding the balance between
self-interest and providing
value in your messaging
Tip: Content
Whatever content you share with your community, keep it bite-sized. This makes for a quick read and it can easily be passed on to others.
Content
Before launching, quietly build your online presence (social networking, blog, etc.) and seed those channels with content
� Helps with attraction
� Nobody wants to be the first
� Nobody wants to join a barren or inactive community (which isn’t a community at all)
Step 5: Launch
Launch
� Activate your channels
� Reach out to the audience and influencers you identified during the listening process
� Invite them to join your community
� Members select themselves based on common interests
Launch
Questions to consider before launching:� Where will you communicate with your
community?� Use those tools and platforms you’ve identified as the best fit for you
� When will you communicate?� Experiment to find the days and times when your community is most active
� How often will you communicate?� Experiment, knowing the community will help you find a balance between too much and too little
Tip: Launch
Remember: You’re inviting people to join and participate in your community, and an effective
invitation does not include a sales pitch.
Step 6: Engaging
Engaging
� Engagement is a way to promote your community and attract new members
� Communities are driven by relationship building, not by the sales cycle� Communicate with people as members or potential members, not as prospects
� People seek out those communities that share their interests
� Allow your community to be a platform for open, honest conversation
Engaging
Participate
� Ask open-ended, thought-provoking questions
� Conduct polls
� Offer incentives
� Contests
� Reward good content and/or participation
� Join in others’ conversations
� Provide thoughtful, expert answers to questions
� Become a trusted friend
Engaging
Engaging influencers� Re-tweet something they’ve said on
Twitter (add an interesting comment)
� Post on their Facebook wall or tag in one of your wall posts
� Comment on a blog post
� Comment on YouTube video
� Mention them in a blog post
� Link to their website or blog
� Be memorable!
Engaging
� Participate in your community at least once a day
� Use more than one of the platforms you’ve decided to use
� Make your participation constant and consistent
� Participation doesn’t have to be starting a conversation
� Don’t drown out everyone else
Ongoing: Responding
Responding
Why respond?
� Community is about two-way interaction
� People want to know they matter.
� Immediacy is key: respond quickly to complaints, endorsements or any kind of mentions.
� A response, especially a fast response, will build or strengthen trust
Tip: Responding
Rule of thumb:
� Work day: respond within 1 hour
� Overnight/weekends: respond within 12 hours
� Do your best
Responding
Negative feedback
� Find a balance between moderating (reactive) and managing (proactive)
� Often the best course of action is no action
� Know when (if ever) to delete a post
� If you must respond, avoid being defensive
� Respond kindly, as quickly as possible
Responding
Seize the opportunity to turn this:
Responding
Into this:
Ongoing: Monitoring
Monitoring
� Use your listening tools and tactics as you continue to monitor and participate in the conversation
� Use aggregation tools like TweetDeck, Seesmic, RSS feeds and email alerts for instant notification of updates to your community.
Monitoring Tools
Example:
TweetDeck� Allows you to
monitor:� Twitter
� Others
� Updates regularly, automatically
Tip: Change
� Tools, services and networks are constantly evolving, which means your community will evolve too
� Expect and be prepared for change, especially community-driven change
� If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to ask the community what they’d like to see
The Family Handyman
Website� Interesting,
informative content
� Forum
� Advice blog
� Social networking logos link to profiles
� Newsletter signup
� “My Project Binder”to personalize experience
� Magazine subscription info
The Family Handyman
Twitter� Engaging content
� Directs traffic to Facebook, website, forum, blog
� Regular schedule –at least once a day
The Family Handyman
Facebook� Engaging content
� Active discussion and participation
� Community
� Family Handyman
� Link to website prominent
� Posts direct traffic to forums, blog
The Family Handyman
E-Newsletters� Interesting content
� Articles link to website
� Specific links to blog and forum included in every issue
� Recognition for community members
� Social networking logos link to profiles
� Magazine subscription info
Homework
ASAP
� Identify your manager
� Set up your listening tools
Homework
7-14 days
� Gather and compile information
� Identify your audience and influencers
� Set up at least a Facebook page and/or Twitter account
� Seed your platforms with content
� Determine your messaging and content
Homework
14 days on
� Launch
� Follow
� Invite members
� Engage
� Respond as much as possible
� Make the time!
Homework
30 days
� Evaluate your efforts
� Change what needs to be changed
Contact
Derek Rice
derekrice@gmail.com
derekrice.wordpress.com
twitter.com/derekjrice
linkedin.com/in/derekrice