SocialFresh 2015: Power of Community Building workshop

POWER OF COMMUNITY BUILDING

PresentersMatt Knell, About.com, @matthewknellSavannah Peterson, Speck Design, @savissavvyMatt Singley, singley + mackie, @mattsingley

Why are YOU here?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

What is community?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Com•mun•it•y[kuh-myoo-ni-tee]

n. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists

- via Dictionary.com

COMMUNITY BUILDING

WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS, 1943: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

GOOD COMMUNITIES... COMMUNITY BUILDING

A place (real or virtual) where people gather to share thoughts about something.

Where people make connections, in ways that are good and bad.

Greater than the sum of it’s individuals

A living, breathing thing

COMMUNITY IS... COMMUNITY BUILDING

“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” — Henrik Ibsen, “A Enemy of The People”, 1882

COMMUNITY BUILDING

“Your Facebook Page”

The cesspool of the Internet

A problem to be solved

A place to sell people things (unless they’ve explicitly stated that it’s ok)

COMMUNITY IS NOT... COMMUNITY BUILDING

“I’ve got a great community over on my Facebook page.”— Unnamed social marketer

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Build people up

Tear people down

Help people

Hurt people

Drive genuine change

COMMUNITY CAN... COMMUNITY BUILDING

Anywhere where people are given a voice.

In places you least expect

In places you don’t necessarily want it to exist.

COMMUNITY CAN EXIST...

COMMUNITY BUILDING

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”— Cesar Chavez

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Today.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Why create a community?What kinds of communities are there?What are some of the risks with community?How can you get started with community?How can you keep your community healthy?What community platforms exist for you to build with?

TODAY’S KEY THEMES COMMUNITY BUILDING

Why build a community?It’s hard but #FeelsMatter

COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Community helps you build something even greater than what you set out to do

• Let the community shape your product, this will empower their evangelism

• Overcoming obstacles is an emotional journey

You Can Do It! (Together)

Your community is your first defensible asset.n. Frankly, without community, your product/brand is nothing.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community is your brand’s heartbeat.

Your community managers read the pulse best.

Community can be the unicorn you ride into the sunset. Go along for the ride.

Why Community First? COMMUNITY BUILDING

“Pay your community managers like you pay your developers.”— Anil Dash, next to me at dinner one time

COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNITY BUILDING

#Shapeways Roadtrip

What kinds of communities are there?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

PURPOSE

MATTERS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Different kinds of communities have different goals, issues, risks, rewards and motivations, and ways of offering feedback.

But above all, communities need to have a sense of purpose to grow and succeed.

Important: The purpose of a community can evolve from the one of its creator to one based on the desires of its members.

WHY DOES IT MATTER? COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Lifestyle Communities• Creator Communities • Superfan Communities• Support Communities • Professional Communities• Commenter Communities• IRL Communities

TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Unifier: Shared cultural, physical, emotional, or location based attributes.

Core purpose: Validation, advice and support.

Two things to look out for:1. Keeping the conversations on topic.2. Allowing for varied opinions.

LIFESTYLE COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNITY BUILDING

AARP -http://community.aarp.com

COMMUNITY BUILDING

CafeMom-http://www.cafemom.com

Unifier:People who are users / advocates of a product or service.

Core purpose: Sharing ideas and thoughts to make products, or make products better.

Things to look out for:1. Members who help others contribute. 2. Losing control of the general direction of progress.

CREATOR COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNITY BUILDING

LEGO IDEAS - http://ideas.lego.com

COMMUNITY BUILDING

UBUNTU - http://community.ubuntu.com

Unifier:Passion and fandom for a particular movie/fan/music band/product/concept.

Core purpose:Facilitating this fandom!

Two things to look out for:1. People who dominate conversation and bully others.2. Lifespan of fandom!

SUPERFAN COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNITY BUILDING

SIMPSONS WIKIA - http://community.ubuntu.com

COMMUNITY BUILDING

CRYSTAL PEPSI FB PAGE - https://www.facebook.com/BringBackCrystalPepsi

SUPPORT COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY BUILDING

Unifier: People who need help with a product, service or concept.

Core purpose: Getting users the answers they need to solve their problems.

Two things to look out for:1. What to do when their question can't be answered? 2. How much scale can you handle?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

@JETBLUE ON TWITTER - http://twitter.com/jetblue

COMMUNITY BUILDING

APPLE SUPPORT FORUM -http://support.apple.com

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Unifier: People who need help related to their industry, job or career.

Core purpose: Helping users improve, advance or find a career.

Two things to look out for:1. How do you make their work look good? 2. Are people finding work or making successful connections?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

BEHANCE - http://behance.net

COMMUNITY BUILDING

CLOUDPEEPS - http://cloudpeeps.com

COMMUNITY BUILDING

STACKOVERFLOW -http://www.stackoverflow.com

COMMENTER COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Unifier: People who comment on content from a particular site.

Core purpose: Allowing users to feedback on content and offer their opinions.

Two things to look out for:1. Trolls. 2. Still trolls.

NYTIMES - http://www.nytimes.com

IRL COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY BUILDING

Unifier: People who take their online connection offline and meet people in the real world!

Core purpose: Allowing people to develop their relationships in person.

Two things to look out for:1. People’s personalities offline are very different than online.2. Repeating the in-person opportunities can help drive the

magic.

s

GOOGLE LOCAL GUIDES – http://www.google.com/local/guides

MEETUP – http://www.meetup.com/cmmeetup

Which one suits your business best?

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Risks and Rewards

THE BIG PAYOFF COMMUNITY BUILDING

The best communities govern themselves. It is both terrifying and liberating.

RISKS COMMUNITY BUILDING

• You aren’t empowered/enabled

• The community knows more than you

• Private communities form• You lose control

REWARDS COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Be a hero (to the community and your boss)

• Develop advocates• You don’t need to be in

control

ABOUT INFLUENCERS COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community members with big influence and high passion. Everybody wants them.

It’s not that easy.

What and where is your community now?Figure out what you’re working with

COMMUNITY BUILDING

“Who is your community talking to when they’re not talking to you?”— Savannah Peterson, in Matthew Knell’s class more than once

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community comes in all shapes and sizes –sometimes it’s easy to spot, and some you have to hunt for.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Create marketing personas through user research.

Start with the people to whom your brand/product provide the most value to.

Prepare to be delightfully wrong about who you thought would benefit from you the most.

Target your community COMMUNITY BUILDING

Who to Invite

INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING

A good community leader develops environment. A great community leader develops advocates.

INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Existing customers or fans• Outliers• Fans of the competition

HOW TO INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Be distinctive• Make it easy• Care. Don’t just say it,

show it• Incentivize

AFTER THE INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING

Step 1: Communicate and EnableStep 2: See Step 1

BUILDING ADVOCATES COMMUNITY BUILDING

Infl

uen

ce

Passion

InfluencerAdvertiser

OrCelebrity

PotentialCustomers

CommunityAdvocates

Trolls

How to get started with your community

COMMUNITY BUILDING

• How important is community to my business?• What should a user get out of my community?• How and how much do I want my users to interact with each

other and me?• What level of support can I offer? • How much should the conversation about my community be

structured?• How much can I pay to support this process?

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK COMMUNITY BUILDING

HOST IT OR BORROW IT COMMUNITY BUILDING

Factor to consider Host it yourself on your servers

Host it with someone else

Speed to market Slower Quicker

Developer expertise Immediate to Expert None to Limited

Design control Complete Limited

User privacy / data concerns

Your terms Governed by the platform

Management Tools More customized Limited

Cost Hosting + software Software

• Forums• Wikis• Customer support tools• Q&A tools• Blogs• Comments• Social Networks• Enterprise Social Platform

TOP PLATFORMS COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Number of supported members • Users / bandwidth• Upload ability• User permission levels• Moderation controls• Version control

KEY PLATFORM FEATURES

COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Forums allow “threads” of conversation that are defined by the community and it’s moderators.

• The most widely used type of community platform.

Most useful for: • Topics that have a wide array of subtopics• Offering users maximum flexibility to subdivide conversations.

Host it yourself: phpBB, Vanilla Forums, nodeBB, vBulletinHost it with someone else: ForumHost. ProBoards/Forums.net

FORUMS COMMUNITY BUILDING

SLICKDEALS.NET – http://www.slickdeals.net

• Wikis allow collaborative editing of documents between multiple users.

• Popular amongst fan sites and software and open-source development communities.

Most useful for: • Communities with strong needs to document things.

Host it yourself: MediaWiki, UserPress, WikiWikiWebHost it with someone else: WikiSpaces, Wikia

WIKIS COMMUNITY BUILDING

RASPBERRY PI - https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/setup/

• Support software focuses on managing issues with software or products.

• Typically user to company without a lot of support from other users.

Most useful for: • Communities that have products that need support.

Host it yourself: Contact us formsHost it with someone else: Zendesk, Desk.com, FreshDesk

SUPPORT SOFTWARE COMMUNITY BUILDING

SPROUT SOCIAL HELP CENTER via Zendesk

• Q&A software is a more structured community focused on answering user questions.

• Often users to have users help each other.

Most useful for: • Communities with strong reference needs for documentation.

Host it yourself: Askbot, OSQAHost it with someone else: Get Satisfaction, Zendesk, AnswerHub

Q&A SOFTWARE COMMUNITY BUILDING

ASK FEDORA - https://ask.fedoraproject.org

• Allow users to contribute long-form content written in an editorial or narrative style.

Most useful for: • Communities with regular news and updates.• Communities with strong influencer voices.

Host it yourself: WordPress, b2Evolution, GhostHost it with someone else: WordPress, Blogger, Medium, Squarespace, Tumblr

BLOGS COMMUNITY BUILDING

Cisco Diversity Blog - http://blogs.cisco.com/diversity/

• Allow users to contribute short-form content written in response to another piece of content.

Most useful for: • Communities with active voices who are motivated to contribute

by content.

Host it yourself: WordPress Comments, Home built systemsHost it with someone else: Livefyre, Disqus, Facebook Comments, Google+ Comments

COMMENTS COMMUNITY BUILDING

WSJ - http://www.wsj.com

• Allows you to create content / engage with your company wherever they live.

Most useful for: • Communities who have a widely distributed user base.

Host it with someone else: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Instagram, YouTube, Vine

SOCIAL NETWORKS COMMUNITY BUILDING

SOCIAL NETWORKS COMMUNITY BUILDING

Network Best For Chance for brand content?

Content lifespan per post?

Engagement chance?

Search

Facebook Mass market Good Medium Good Poor

Twitter Real-time Good Very Short Good Good

Pinterest Visual topics Good Long Limited Good

Reddit Niche topics Limited Medium Don't Good

Instagram Photos / videos Good Short Good Improving

YouTube Long-form Video Good Long Good Good

Vine Youth Good Short Limited Limited

• Combine many of these platform into a single piece of software.

Most useful for: • Large communities who want to offer more than one platform.

Host it yourself: BuddyPressHost it with someone else: Jive Software, Confluence, Ning, Communifire

ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORKS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNIFIRE FOR ABOUT.COM

• Most platforms will allow you an email “welcome message” as part of user sign up.

• Tailor the message to be as personal as possible.• Add links to “Getting started” and “Rules of the community”

documentation.• Pair new members with old members who are moderators /

leaders in your community, or community managers.• Be prepared to answer questions.• Keep an eye on them to see if they continue to contribute.

NAILING THE WELCOME COMMUNITY BUILDING

Guidelines and Moderation

RULES COMMUNITY BUILDING

When establishing community rules, be clear, be intentional and be quickto enforce them.

RULES COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Establishing the Rules• Communicating the Rules• Enforcing the Rules

MODERATION COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Know How Channels Function

• Stay Consistent• Educate the C-Suite

MODERATION COMMUNITY BUILDING

To block or not toblock…that isthe question.

-Hamlet,Community Manager

MODERATION COMMUNITY BUILDING

Leve

l of

Ab

use

Likelihood to Re-Offend

Actions to Take

BlockEngage

Privately

EngagePublicly

Hide or Ignore

Community care and feedingCommunities eat, sh*t and breed too.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNITY BUILDING

“Community Management is really f*cking personal; it’s about humans helping other humans.”— Savannah Peterson, on medium May 2015

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community posts should be inspiring, educational and applicable.People want to learn and relate.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

s

#SWPaws: Cutest downtime ever

- Ecommerce platform affected on December 20th

- 19 Hours of Downtime

- No clear estimated time of repair for hours

COMMUNITY BUILDING

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community has $$ value.The ROI is their continued evangelism and return business.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

People who fully leverage your brand have 50x the lifetime value of those who don’t.Your VIPs are worth investing in.

COMMUNITY BUILDING

NPS is a reasonable indicator and satiates the data-heads at work.

Track the un-trackable by defining your own sentiment scale in addition to those provided by platforms.

Remember that case studies have value too.

Defining Feelings COMMUNITY BUILDING

• IRL Activations

• Community Showcases

• Strategic Geo-targeting

• Forum Management

• Educational Content

• Newsletter/Blog

• Customer Support

• Brand Exposure

• Community Amplification

• Marketing

• Evangelist Empowerment

• Niche Identification

Community Outreach

Social Media

Event Planning

Core Engagement

Sample Team

COMMUNITY BUILDING

You think you know but you have no idea. Adapt.

Your community should generate a significant amount of your content. Aim for at least 50/50.

Ask your community what drives them. For many, recognition and visibility through your brand is inspiring.

Community driven content

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Common Pitfalls(CHC and CYA)

THRIVE AND SURVIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING

Create healthy communities and cover your ass.

THRIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Be patient. Healthy communities take time to develop

• Be giving. Enable your community• Be generous. Reward your users

SURVIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Know how to measure it• Keep your legal team in-the-

know• Educate your boss…gently• Don’t take it personally. “It” is

the horrible stuff you will read

REMEMBER…

Your Community is

ALIVE

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Your Community is

SMART

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Your Community is

FUN

COMMUNITY BUILDING

Drink Your Own

Kool-Aid

COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Matthew Knell, @matthewknell• Savannah Peterson, @savissavvy• Matt Singley, @mattsingley

Thank you! COMMUNITY BUILDING

Appendix: Some of our favorite community tools

COMMUNITY BUILDING

• Buffer*• Edgar• Oktopost• Sprout Social• Tweetdeck* (Twitter only)• Viraltag (Pinterest)• Tailwind (Pinterest)

SOCIAL PUBLISHING TOOLS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• SocialMention*• Topsy*• Google Alerts• Mention• Sysomos• Crimson Hexagon

SOCIAL LISTENING TOOLS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• Sparkcentral• Sleek• Sprout Social• Tweetdeck* (Twitter only)• Zendesk

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT TOOLS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• Trello*• Asana*• CoSchedule (for WordPress blogs)*• Slack*• Hipchat*• Confluence

TEAM PLANNING / TASKING TOOLS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• IFTTT by IF*• Zapier*

AUTOMATION TOOLS COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• Simply Measured• Quintly• Google Analytics (real-time)• Parse.ly• Chartbeat• Bit.ly• SimilarWeb

SOCIAL ANALYTICS COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• BuzzSumo• FollowerWonk (from Moz)• PeerIndex• Bambu (from Sprout Social)

INFLUENCER TOOLS COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version

• Canva*• Picmonkey*• GIPHY CAM*• Pixelmator (for Mac OS / iOS Only)

IMAGE TOOLS COMMUNITY BUILDING

* Offers free version