community building: finding your way

WebAchievers, LLCMarketing Services for the Social Era

Community BuildingFinding Your Way in the Journey

WHY COMMUNITY MATTERS

2WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

“No one gets out of here without finding their own way, but you can't do it alone...”

Listen to your Dad

“You need community.” — Martin Sheen

PEOPLE NEED COMMUNITY

3WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

CHRISTIAN’S STORY

4WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

HOW A WRITER FOUND SUCCESS THROUGH COMMUNITY

5WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Network

Work HardLand Freelance Work

FREEPAID

Strike a Balance

Establish a Base

http://whatwouldtotowatch.com/

Get a Great Job!

Find Your Voice

CHRISTIAN’S TOP TEN TIPS

6WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Silly stuff gets trafficHelp out Attend meetups

“Click”

Engage your audience

Your Name

Promote yourselfBuild community

Write good headlines

Experiment with media

Post frequently

Use rich keywords

Do a Barrel Roll

WHAT IS COMMUNITY?

A group of people with a shared interest who interact and get to know each other better over time.

7WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

HOW DO COMMUNITIES FORM?

8WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

By Accident 5304 Followers

Organically600,000 downloads

6100+ forum

members

By Design

800 Million Active Users

20 Million Apps

Installed Day

5 BAD REASONS TO BUILD A COMMUNITY

9WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Money Low Effort

Executive

Blog!

Novelty Ego

Power

NO ZOMBIES!

10WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

10+ GOOD REASONS TO BUILD A COMMUNITY

11WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Fill A Niche Innovate

Help Others Give Back

Share Collaborate

Learn Make an Honest Living

Have Fun Find Your Way

Compete (Your Reason)

LIFE STAGES OF A VIBRANT COMMUNITY

12WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Conception MaturityAdolescence

Seed

Feed

Weed

Get guidance from sponsors and people invested in goals

• What are the big trends?

• Who can speak to issues and opportunities facing the community?

Group and prioritize the resulting list of topics and people

Conduct interviews

• Listen generously!

REACHING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY ESSENTIALS

Community building blocks are the same• Identity• Belonging• Connectedness• Social capital• Caring for the whole

SELECT TOOLS FOR THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

Focus on the building blocks — identity, belonging, connectedness

Leverage social media where it makes sense Survey the landscape — look at competitors Focus on requirements, but be prepared to wear many hats• Design• User Experience• Copy Writing• Web Marketing• Usability and User Acceptance• Project Management

GET CONNECTED AND STAY CONNECTED

16WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Communityblogwebsite

meetups

webinars

Social Networking

email

Podcasts

TO BRAND OR NOT TO BRAND?

Do you possess brand equity? Protect the brand. • Trademarked names of products and technologies• Logos, colors, shapes

No or little brand equity? • Build the community first• Let your member’s needs dictate choices

BUILD THE COMMUNITY PLAN

Audience definition — primary, secondary, tertiary

Content — taxonomies that define topics and relationships

Data sources

Moderators

Working Groups

Steering Committees

Editorial Calendar

ESTABLISH A SOCIAL PROOF

Follow people and adoption patterns

Implement structures and processes that spur interest and growth

Leverage sponsors and existing community base

Roll up your sleeves — this is hard work!

• Create interesting profiles for your “starter” members

• Start discussion threads, write blog posts, set up wiki pages

• Get people interested and excited, and ask for their participation

MARKET THE COMMUNITY

Market within the organization and externally

Outbound marketing is alive and well

Leverage communication channels and customer touch points

• eNewsletters

• Email Signatures

• Webinars

Tap into existing systems used for digital marketing — SEO, CRM, SEM

MEASURE AND REPORT

Be sure to tell the stories Unsolicited member praise or

criticism is gold Don’t fixate on activity — it is not

the only measure of impact Perceptions matter — be persistent,

talk up the community at every opportunity

Enlist champions — people who believe and can convert others

The most useful feedback is rooted in truth. Be open and avoid defensive postures.

LESSONS LEARNED

Manage expectations early and often

Delivering high value content is critical

Embrace your role as a cheerleader

Expect course corrections, sometimes mid-stream

Guard your time and attention with vigilance

Be courageous and take risks

Leverage will get you to your goal faster and with less effort

LEARN MORE ABOUT COMMUNITIES

23WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

e-Mint: Association of Online Community Professionalshttp://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/e-mint/

Managing Social Mediahttp://www.linkedin.com/groups/Managing-Social-Media-1173397

The Community Roundtablehttp://community-roundtable.com/

CommunityChathttps://twitter.com/cmtychatFridays 1-2pm EST

WE CAN HELP YOU BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY

Strategy Design User Experience Training Community Management Media Production Writing Editing Project Management Social Media Web Development Speaking

24WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

Contact Us: Lou OrdoricaPresident, WebAchievers LLClou@web-achiever.comhttp://web-achiever.com@lordorica

WebAchievers, LLCMarketing Services for the Social Era

THANK YOU

25WebAchievers LLC | Community Building

25

lou@web-achiever.com@lordoricaweb-achiever.com