10 Commandments of Community Management (2011)

of Community Management

The Ten Commandments

Friday, March 4, 2011

What is community?


-shared interest-shared ownership-shared value.

Meaningful Communities have three things in common:


1Know your special purpose

COMMANDMENT ONE


What does it meeeannn??We mean that you have a core set of values or even just one core value or mission that your whole company is bought in on and that you embody so fully it emanates out to your customers. It's the thing that makes you not just another widget creator or bag seller or software company or service provider. It's your reason for existence beyond just making money.

It's from companies like this that communities emerge or are at least more easily created.


Now you know and knowing is half the battle...

EmbodyIf knowing is half the battle, If knowing is half the battle, then the other half is embodying your special purpose. It starts at the very top, the CEO embodies the companies special purpose and every employee is empowered to do their jobs in a way that supports this.


Breeding trust


2Establish a Social Contract

COMMANDMENT TWO


http://www.ccpact.com






Define your social norms in writing - or just edit ours >>>

http://getsatisfaction.com/community_guidelines

This is where you are explicit about your social contract. On Get Satisfaction we have provided an explicit social contract for you. However, you are welcome to add to it for your own customer community so that it meets your specific community's needs.

Define your social norms in writing






Enforce your rules

Enforce your rules


Lead By Example


3Set clear expectations

COMMANDMENT THREE


What’s the purpose of the community? What should customers expect? For some companies, Community is a core support channel; for others, it may be peripheral. Whatever the case, be sure you set your expectations clearly for both your customers and your internal team.

Define your relationship with your community.

Mogo explicitly states that they want to hear from their customers. In fact, their tagline is “Ask Us Anything!”


“Need help trouble shooting....”


Zero Ambiguity


Establish an internal policy for responseEstablish an internal policy for response


Evolve your policy as the community grows


One Caveat


Co-Creation

Resolution

Brand Equity / Loyalty: Advocate identification

Broad Participation: More than just Ideation

Service and Support / Consumer Relations

It’s really hard to start here

Levels of Community Value


4Cast a wide net

COMMANDMENT FOUR


Weave Community Throughout the User Experience

Weave Community Throughout the User Experience


Bonnaroo puts Community (“Ask Gary Chardonnay”) on their homepage, on a dedicated community page, and inside their Facebook fan page.


Procter & Gamble’s eStore provides a Community Widget on every page of the site. Not just the home page.


Don’t go it alone.


Avoid the echo chamber by fostering diversity


5Create productive outcomes

COMMANDMENT FIVE


They don’t like loose ends. They need resolution. Make sure your community is structured in a way that doesn’t leave customers “hanging.”

People need closure.


These all “resolve”- Questions get Answered- Ideas get accepted / rejected- Problems get solved- Praise gets Acknowledged


Tide does a great job of acknowledging a customer idea; then other customers pitch in to help create an alternative solution.


Sorry shouldn’t be the hardest

word Friday, March 4, 2011

Let your customers know they had an impact


6Make it personal

COMMANDMENT SIX


Discourage Anonymity


Use your real name and

voice


People hate JarGon.

http://getsatisfaction.com/jargon






7Be a bridge

COMMANDMENT SEVEN


Community Managers are on the front lines of the Company/Customer relationship. Your job is to be the bridge between both parties to ensure that each is receiving value. Don’t forget, for a Community to be effective, there must be shared value.To each side, you represent the other. This represents challenges and opportunities. It's often a contradiction and you must learn to embrace the contradiction.


Ombudsman(noun) An appointed official whose duty is to investigate complaints, generally on behalf of individuals such as consumers or taxpayers, against institutions such as companies and government departments.

We liken your role to that of an Ombudsman, except that you’re representing both sides simultaneously.


Sometimes Bridge = Mediator


Other times referee


or many other things.


Publicize Your Successes


8Don’t feed the animals

COMMANDMENT EIGHT


What’s a Troll, you ask?"An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion." (wikipedia)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_slang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_slang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_room

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_feed_the_trolls#cite_note-0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_feed_the_trolls#cite_note-0

Almost every successful community will attract trolls. Like Gremlins, it’s how you handle them that matters.


Respond slowly when “that guy” is being an ass


Learn to identify trolls.


The black hole of debate


9Measure the right things

COMMANDMENT NINE


What you measure changes depending on what stage you're

at as well as what kind of company you are.


Don’t put the cart before the horse


Qualitative metrics are important too.


But let’s face it, at some point your boss wants to see numbers.


Support Numbers


Traffic & Engagement

Numbers


Return on Investment


See these case studies and many more at:

www.getsatisfaction.com/success-stories


http://www.getsatisfaction.com/success-stories




1Assemble your Justice League

COMMANDMENT TEN

0Friday, March 4, 2011

Customer Question

First response is from a Customer

Champ


Know your archetypesand be good at identifying them


Define the right balance for your community


Empower your champions


Developing customer champions is not about hiring an army of free labor to do your work for you.

It’s about empowering your most passionate customers, and recognizing their contribution. Best of all, it works.

Read - http://blog.getsatisfaction.com/2011/02/02/torching-a-straw-man/


http://blog.getsatisfaction.com/2011/02/02/torching-a-straw-man/-




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10 Commandments of Community Management (2011)

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Transcript of 10 Commandments of Community Management (2011)