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Have you noticed experts don't tend to contribute great content to brand communities anymore?
The strategies we're using to engage experts in communities are often ridiculously out of date.
This leads to a lot of empty knowledge bases/galleries etc...
Let's fix this..
#CMGR
The strategies we're using to engage experts in communities are often ridiculously out of date.
This leads to a lot of empty knowledge bases/galleries etc...
Let's fix this..
#CMGR
1 - Identify who the experts are.
A lot of strategies seem to regard 'experts' as some homogenous group. In our experience, three groups contribute most knowledge
1) Partners/consultants
2) Company veterans
3) Senior-execs / VIPs
A lot of strategies seem to regard 'experts' as some homogenous group. In our experience, three groups contribute most knowledge
1) Partners/consultants
2) Company veterans
3) Senior-execs / VIPs
2 - Offer them what they really want.
1) Partners/consultants - want to build an audience, reputation, and relationships.
2) Company veterans - want external recognition to build internal support.
3) VIPs - want respect of their peers.
1) Partners/consultants - want to build an audience, reputation, and relationships.
2) Company veterans - want external recognition to build internal support.
3) VIPs - want respect of their peers.
1 - A community doesn't grow just because it's a great community. It grows when you attract more visitors than you're losing.
I'm going to share tactics and techniques which seem to be working best in 2022 (and when I'd suggest using each).
#CMGR
I'm going to share tactics and techniques which seem to be working best in 2022 (and when I'd suggest using each).
#CMGR
2 - First, the channels you use depend upon community type. i.e. it doesn't make sense to individually invite people to a support community. But it certainly does for peer groups.
Prioritise channels with biggest source of growth (notice the difference in influence too!)
Prioritise channels with biggest source of growth (notice the difference in influence too!)
3 - Let's go through these:
Search (great for support)
> Remove/archive old content.
> Match tags to what people search for.
> Target keywords with resources.
> Reduce orphan pages.
> Rewrite post titles
> Merge duplicate posts.
> Improve site load speed (esp. mobile)
Search (great for support)
> Remove/archive old content.
> Match tags to what people search for.
> Target keywords with resources.
> Reduce orphan pages.
> Rewrite post titles
> Merge duplicate posts.
> Improve site load speed (esp. mobile)
I've been astounded over the past year how few organisations (even the very largest) have done any sort of user testing of their community experience.
My team has spent countless hours watching people browse community sites live. Here's a few handy things we've learned:
#CMGR
My team has spent countless hours watching people browse community sites live. Here's a few handy things we've learned:
#CMGR
1 - Majority of members don't read more than a few words of any homepage. They jump to find a single word or phrase.
2 - Members REALLY struggle to find responses to posts they've made in the past. They forget the category and can't find it. Really frustrating for them.
2 - Members REALLY struggle to find responses to posts they've made in the past. They forget the category and can't find it. Really frustrating for them.
3 - Members often switch to a different site rather than spending just 5 to 10 seconds trying to get your SSO / two factor auth to work.
1 - I want to share some data from a client we worked with last year where we did something that I think was a little clever to definitively prove the incredible value of their community.
But first, some background....
#CMGR
But first, some background....
#CMGR
2 - The client was a mature community in the tech sector. Despite the community's size and scale, the community team had been downsized the previous year and their budget was being squeezed each year because they couldn't clearly prove the value of the community.
3 - Yes, they had used the call deflection templates you can find online, but the senior execs simply didn't believe the metrics were real (I've never believed them either tbh).
It's almost impossible to prove if someone a) got an answer and b) would've called support).
It's almost impossible to prove if someone a) got an answer and b) would've called support).
1- Ever wondered what happens if you don't hire (or don't replace) a community manager?
For the past 3 years, the FeverBee community has served as a fascinating (and unintentional experiment).
Here's the data...
#CMGR
For the past 3 years, the FeverBee community has served as a fascinating (and unintentional experiment).
Here's the data...
#CMGR
2 - Back in July 2017, my colleague @ILOVETHEHAWK left her role managing the FeverBee community to take up an incredible new opportunity @discourse. For various reasons (time/money), I didn't replace her.
I removed spam/replied to a few questions, but that's been about it.
I removed spam/replied to a few questions, but that's been about it.
3 - Let’s start with the number of visitors. Things didn’t really change much at first. In fact, the number of visitors continued to increase significantly for the following year. The reason for this is simple; the community was still attracting growing levels of search traffic.
1 - Why bother hiring a community consultant/strategist?
Can't you just do the work yourself?
Maybe, but then why haven't you done it already?
You didn't have the time, skillset, resources, or it was never a priority.
#CMGR
Can't you just do the work yourself?
Maybe, but then why haven't you done it already?
You didn't have the time, skillset, resources, or it was never a priority.
#CMGR
2 - As a result, many #CMGR folks are so busy 'doing the work' they don't realise their communities often aren't making anywhere near the progress they should be making.
They often fall far behind best practices, struggle to gain internal support, and disappoint members.
They often fall far behind best practices, struggle to gain internal support, and disappoint members.
3 - Often they keep doing the same activities over and over again without any idea if a) they are the right activities and b) if they are actually working.
A consultant should be the catalyst that gets your community unstuck by facilitating a strategy/developing new processes.
A consultant should be the catalyst that gets your community unstuck by facilitating a strategy/developing new processes.
1- A while back I worked with a director of community who had a simple policy; on any night out she would always pick up the food/drinks tab for company's IT team.
This wasn't cheap. It frequently ran into several hundred dollars.
#CMGR
This wasn't cheap. It frequently ran into several hundred dollars.
#CMGR
2 - But she felt it was a bargain.
It meant she could call in favours when she needed to.
It meant she could get her priorities on their agenda.
It meant she could often make progress when so many other departments were stuck waiting for updates on their systems.
It meant she could call in favours when she needed to.
It meant she could get her priorities on their agenda.
It meant she could often make progress when so many other departments were stuck waiting for updates on their systems.
3 - And it paid off too. It paid off in her hitting her performance goals, her community growing, and her community gradually getting more prominence when the roadmap is set for the IT team.
In almost every client survey I do, members rank 'making friends', 'events', and 'building a reputation' as the LEAST important factors to them.
Top are 'finding information', 'quick answers to questions', and sometimes 'product reviews/what to buy/use'. #CMGR
Top are 'finding information', 'quick answers to questions', and sometimes 'product reviews/what to buy/use'. #CMGR
How do we reconcile that with the idea that we work in community?
Or with building a sense of community? Or with the literature that shows the importance of brands providing a sense of belonging?
Or with building a sense of community? Or with the literature that shows the importance of brands providing a sense of belonging?
My belief is the surveys are accurate. The majority of people in a brand community only want to solve the information needs they have right now.
Right now every community strategist should be preparing for the coming recession. If the pandemic is the earthquake, the recession will be the tsunami for us. This means planning for a sharp and sudden drop in your budget.
A few example scenarios: #CMGR
A few example scenarios: #CMGR
Scenario 1: A budget cut of 25%.
Smaller team - thus closing ideation, events/activities, and slower speed of moderation/post approval. Likely small drop in participation. No more budget for platform development, staff training, event attendance etc...
Smaller team - thus closing ideation, events/activities, and slower speed of moderation/post approval. Likely small drop in participation. No more budget for platform development, staff training, event attendance etc...
Scenario 2: A budget cut of 50%
Community team cut in half. No time for events, ideation, platform updates, member giveaways, or rewards for MVP program. Slower moderation. No ability to fix technical bugs. Sig. drop in participation and satisfaction.
Community team cut in half. No time for events, ideation, platform updates, member giveaways, or rewards for MVP program. Slower moderation. No ability to fix technical bugs. Sig. drop in participation and satisfaction.
1 - Recently scraped a huge dataset from 35 mature customer communities to analyze which factors are statistically significant predictors of community retention (i.e. members making a 2nd, 10th, and 50th post etc..)
Based upon this I've got a theory we might not like. #CMGR
Based upon this I've got a theory we might not like. #CMGR
2. Only two variables were statistically significant.
First, whether the user's first post was to start a thread or reply to an existing one. Members who started a thread tended to stick around for a little longer than those who replied to an existing one.
First, whether the user's first post was to start a thread or reply to an existing one. Members who started a thread tended to stick around for a little longer than those who replied to an existing one.
3. Second, and by far the biggest, was the community itself.
The retention rate varied a lot by community. Which suggests there was something about the community itself which drove retention.
So I've compared the onboarding and of the highest and lowest. Almost no difference.
The retention rate varied a lot by community. Which suggests there was something about the community itself which drove retention.
So I've compared the onboarding and of the highest and lowest. Almost no difference.
We recently completed our selection and contractual negotiation process for a community platform vendor. This is a topic that I get asked about quite a bit given my professional history. So let’s talk about it. #cmgr 1/
A little context: I grew up (literally) on community platforms. I used them obsessively as a nerdy little kid in the 90’s, worked for Lithium/@Khoros for a decade, and have gone through the vendor selection process at two organizations wtih big plans around community. /2
Given my tenure at @Khoros, the immediate reaction may be that I’m biased and this thread is just my way of pumping their tires. I’m going to focus on best practices and process that I think works well for most organizations. I’ll save my opinions on vendors for another time. 3/
One month into the new gig and our community strategy is nearly complete. I’m not going to share the actual strategy, but I can talk about the components in an effort to help anyone out there trying to put one together. Here we go. #cmgr 1/
Before you even think about forming a strategy, you have to LISTEN. Meet as many people as you can, attend as many meetings as you can take, dig into the minutia, don’t stop until your brain can’t accept any more information. Everything you learn will inform the strategy. 2/
Get the data. Every audience and organization is different. Yes, you have a lot of experience and know what you’re doing, but don’t make the mistake of trying to fit your square peg strategy into a round hole community. Your real value is knowing when to tailor to the audience 3/
