How To Ensure a Vibrant Online Community

October 16, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

I just finished rereading this important deck by Rachel Happe of The Community Roundtable, originally posted in 2011 and am reminded how much every single concept in the deck is as true today as it was then. Frankly, I am disappointed that, with so much quality information out there, people are still making major mistakes and setting unrealistic expectations of what an online Community will do for them and their organizations. There are hundreds of examples of people doing it right and when you look at Rachel’s well presented points, you may wonder, why are people still flailing, and failing?

Community is a group of people with unique shared values, behaviors and artifacts

My experience is in talking to people interesting in adding a Community, they fail to understand how to optimize for shared values and behaviors, in fact many times, they think that the Community is all about pushing content and getting people to talk, rather than helping them discover, uncover and celebrate the unique shared values and the diversity of behaviors and experiences that make up the collection of people involved. Whether it is 50 or 50,000 – considering these basic fundamentals gets lost.

Things that define Community: a common interest or context, a sense of shared purpose or fate and common set of needs.

I would argue that in the beginning of an online community design, these concepts are discussed, yet soon fall to the wayside as the tactical deployment, design and launch of the community takes center stage. When a community is floundering, I look to see if the common interest or context is still clear, is it clear to new members, how is the sense of shared purpose communicated and is it still relevant six months or a year later – and has it been reviewed, probably not. The solution is simple. Look at the slides from The Community Roundtable, see how easy it seems to do it right – yet, why are so many communities having an identity crisis when, at one point, they actually discussed these critical design decisions, yet somehow have failed to realize any benefit from those decisions. You may not think about community all the time like we do, however, when you do, please make sure you consider that there really are only a few secrets to building a vibrant community according to The Community Roundtable, then ask yourself are you doing all of them to the best of your ability?

Observe Your Audience
Keep a Regular Schedule
Be Welcoming
Provide a Guide
Be Valuable
Be a Connector
Bring Catnip
Have Rules
Lead from the Back
Encourage Your Cheeseheads
Ride The Waves
Don’t Ignore
Be Multi-model
Protect the Fish

I could easily write a paragraph about each of the above. Look at the slides and see the images she chose to illustrate each concept and use your imagination. How do you relate to each concept? Could you be doing better? If you don’t have a community now, how would you address each of these ideas in your own organization. Even if you think you are doing a great job now, review the slides to see if you could be doing even better. The Community Roundtable is an amazing resource for those of us who provide platforms and for those that take care of the thousands of people that populate them. We thank them for their generosity in publishing these materials, then frequently reminding us that something published two years ago is relevant, timely and a perfect thing to share with our readers. Thank you.

Are private communities worth the effort?

October 2, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

David Nour, of the Nour Group asked us to comment on a post in the ASAE – The Center for Association Leadership internal discussion area. The post, titled: We Terminated Our Private Community – Was It the Right Decision? was from an Association that had abandoned their private community (not one of ours) and moved over to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. They complained about the effort to maintain the community and asked for comments from others. There were several that spoke to the need to have a clear purpose and resources dedicated to ongoing engagement. David, who runs one of our communities at http://renetworks.intronetworks.com is a noted speaker, author and growth consultant in the field of Relationship Economics, crafted a great response to the post, which with his permission, I have reposted here.

“The overall social strategy needs to be revisited annually, including the desired strategic outcomes from a private community. It works to elevate perceived member exclusivity, benefits (based on different membership levels), thriving discussion groups & forums, sharing of best practices from best practitioners, making relevant member connections before, during, and after events, and most importantly, touching them with value-add throughout the year and not just at your annual meeting.

The challenge for many associations who have deployed private communities in the past has been the flawed assumptions of a) build it & they will come – without consistently creating unique value propositions of why should members care or participate, b) funding it with the necessary resources (human, capital, time & effort) to nurture it, and c) monetize it with sponsorships, content curation, or infusion of thought leadership! You build anything on a sand trap and neglect it and it will “fail.” Conversely, if you learn from what didn’t work, segment your members based on their needs, modularize your capabilities (including a private community) toward those needs, anticipating their future needs (fantastic use of a private community), rewarding staff for win/win interactions, and transforming their touch points to smart ones so you can continue to learn from their behavior, is the receipt for making an online community succeed! We’ve had ours for the past 3 years, it has 1,500 active participants and we’re continuing to invest in nurturing it with a refresh of the strategy in 2014.” David, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. If you would like to talk to us about how a private social network could improve your organization, click the Contact Us button and we will have a conversation.

CASE STUDY: How Do You Connect the most Connected Educators in the Nation?

September 5, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

The National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, calls for applying the advanced technologies used in our daily personal and professional lives to our entire education system to improve student learning, accelerate and scale up the adoption of effective practices, and use data and information for continuous improvement.

Watch Tutorial Videos created for edConnectr’s users. Created by @snbeach and @MarkSylvester

The 2010 National Education Technology Plan demonstrates the importance of educators becoming more connected to resources, tools, colleagues, experts, and learning activities, both within and beyond schools. Participation in online communities of practice is a key way educators connect. Robust online participation contributes both to individual excellence and to the vitality of the profession as a whole. The Connected Online Communities of Practice project has stewarded a scalable, sustainable ecology of online communities in education to improve teacher and leader effectiveness, enhance student learning and increase productivity. [Read more…]

An Introduction To Content Marketing [Infographic]

September 5, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

Direct access to various forms of media: print, video, audio, all available instantly (or if not, it’s just a short buffer away.) Consumers have grown accustomed to media on-demand. Be it a YouTube Channel, a Vine profile, or maybe even a Facebook page, the citizens of the online world are connected content consumers, curators, and producers. The relative ease of access has reshaped expectations around how customers can and should interact with companies, which is why it is best that you learn the basics of content marketing. On one level or another your customers expect high-quality content and depending on your industry they may even demand it! For a great kickstart to content marketing please continue below for a wonderful infographic provided by Dendrite Park. [Read more…]

Government And Social Media An Infographic

August 21, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

It’s no surprise that a country founded on the principle “of the people, by the people, for the people” would embrace social media in such a big way. MPADegree.org has put together a very interesting infographic that illustrates the penetration of social media in the realm of Government public service within the United States and abroad.

How Is Social Media Being Used By The Government? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Back on April 20, 2007, then U.S. Senator Barack Obama sent his first-ever tweet. A little over six months later, he was elected president. Of course, it took a little more work than that simple (and, with hindsight, somewhat cock-eyed) tweet, but Obama’s savvy use of social networks to spur interest in his run for the U.S. presidency was absolutely a pivotal part of his campaign, and in the last five years social media has become a key component of the political messaging system, playing an important role in everything from defusing riots, forecasting elections and emergency response. [Read more…]

The Social Customer Service Era: 10 Simple Steps [Infographic]

August 20, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

Recently on the introNetworks Blog, we talked about a few ways the social enterprise can prosper. One of the items on the list recommended a flattening of the organizational hierarchy as a means of promoting co-value creation and collaboration. Continuing along those same lines, the social customer service field has been dramatically flattened in recent years as well. The space social customer service representatives currently occupy is among the people; the customers. Your customers. A modern CS department is a Social Customer Service Department, and it is a living breathing entity, adding authenticity to the overall customer experience. Not only does this empower customers, it benefits the enterprise, many social customer service tools also offer un-paralleled access to customer demographic and behavioral data. introNetworks is keenly aware of this shifting trend and in response we’ve implemented a live chat feature on our site powered by Olark. Please, feel free to stop by for a chat! The era of the social customer service era is already upon on us, to help outline this, here are ten steps in infographic form.

10 Steps For Brilliant Social Customer Service
In less than a decade social media has changed the world and helped to reshape brands and businesses of all shapes and sizes across almost every industry throughout the globe, but it’s been particularly beneficial as a consumer service tool – both for firms and their customers. Indeed, brands that don’t offer help via their Twitter or Facebook profiles, or are too slow to respond or ignore/mismanage customer complaints altogether, are quickly (and often ruthlessly) called to task. So what makes a good social customer support team? This infographic from Sentiment Metrics and Our Social Times offers 10 steps for brilliant social customer service.

[Click here for the original article]

The Social Era: A Lesson In Social Business Terminology

August 14, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

The internet is a jargon-creating machine. New terms pop-up all the time, just last week we looked at one of our new favorites, Datafication. But what about the terms you hear in social media streams everyday, like: Social Media, Enterprise 2.0, Social Business (1.0), CrowdSourcing / Open Innovation, Social Business (2.0), or even the newly coined “Social Era.” While all of these might seem pretty obvious, when placed next to each other you’re able to identify subtle but important differences in these words. Knowing the etymology behind these internet terms will help you have a more precise conversation in the “Social Era.” Nilofer Merchant is a writer for the Harvard Business Review and author of the book 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era. This article excerpt will help you understand the nuances within these social business terms.

What We Talk About When We Talk About “Social”
Sometimes it helps to see distinctions side by side:

Term Origin Implication

Social Media Chris Shipley and ClueTrain Manifesto Moving marketing from a monologue to a dialogue.

Enterprise 2.0 Andrew McAfee Tools can speed information flow and tear down siloes.

Social Business (1.0) Mohammed Yunus Make profits and meaning (at the same time). (Also referred to as Social Innovation or Social Entrepreneurship.)

CrowdSourcing / Open Innovation Jeff Howe / Henry Chesborough Leverage others to create value for you.

Social Business (2.0) Peter Kim (and Dachis organization) By being more connected, (i.e. using social tools), a company can generate greater value to all its constituents.

Social Era Nilofer Merchant Connected individuals can now do what once only large centralized organizations could do, which changes organizational structures and individual power.

In some cases, we’re talking about tools. In others, we’re talking about how the marketplace economy changes. And, in some ways we’re talking how the organization changes. When we use the terms interchangeably, confusion is prevalent and meaning is lost. Unless you’re talking about marketing specifically, don’t use the term “Social Media.” The electric light bulb wasn’t a new kind of candle. Not to mention, CEOs and boards think of “social media” as the stuff their marketing team drives. If you are discussing ways social tools can be applied to all parts of a value chain, “social business” is probably the term you are looking for, although there’s still plenty of confusion with social enterprise. If you are describing a reconstitution of work and institutions, then use Social Era. No term is ever complete. Each of us are building on each others’ ideas as we collectively grapple with understanding and decoding what is happening, and what we think it means. We are all seeking clarity but are limited by our own understanding, our vantage, and by, of course, the examples we witness. But this is not about semantics. When we focus on tools alone, I think we’re making a mistake. It’s geek chic, it’s even interesting, but it’s not talking about what is possible. The bigger point is that major changes are afoot that change value creation, the meaning of work, and the structures for our institutions. When we conflate the tools with the outcomes, I think we risk meaning and impact. When we all use more precise language, each of us will find that people understand our meaning, and more clearly see the light.

[Click here for the entire article]

Photo Credit: swisscan via cc

Establishing A Social Culture With Your Social Enterprise

August 13, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

Vala Afshar makes the case that choosing the proper social enterprise technology, should come after a company’s culture has been firmly established, and that there is a willingness in participants to embrace a new model around social collaboration and co-value creation. Read that again. The social enterprise is a much more complicated animal than most social endeavors. In this article you’ll find a few important pieces to the new social enterprise model Mr. Afshar outlines. The success of these programs requires a high sense of pragmatic optimism, a flatter business hierarchy, participation from the C-level down, fostering the best ideas independent of title, integration of social tools to CRM products, healthy competition (i.e. Gamification,) ensuring a safe environment for accountability and the flow of suggestions, and finally an appreciation for innovation and iteration. Only after establishing some of these tenets will a social enterprise really begin to shine. Vala Afshar is a writer from InformationWeek and co-author of the book The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence.

Social Tools Don’t Make You A Social Business
We found there are a number of specific markers that accompany and validate the social transformation progress. Business leaders should keep in mind that the purpose of collaboration is to improve execution velocity and delight customers. It is important to demonstrate to all constituents the ability to drive sustainable growth and bolster customer loyalty and commitment, as a result of collaboration. — Pragmatic optimism: A social business defaults to “yes” and then rationalizes to the desired disposition. A bias for action with a positive mindset leads to an agile and change-embracing culture. There is no safety in the status quo. Optimism is often fueled by teamwork and collaboration. — Minimal layers: A social business is flat, versus the traditional hierarchical business structure. The distance between an individual contributor and the CEO is but a few layers. In a social business, there is a direct line of communication between entry-level employees and senior management. — Leadership by example: In a social business, all leaders and executives are socially engaged. If your CXOs are not social, your business is not social. Ask a social business executive, “Who is the smartest person in the room?” and she will answer: the room. Social executives are accessible, active listeners and connectors of the business, always seeking the best and fastest path toward progress and growth. — The best ideas win, independent of titles: In a social business, ideas and information flow horizontally, vertically, from the bottom and from the top; throughout the business. Ideas are like sounds, and they should be heard through the seams of the social fabric. In the absence of sound, ideas die. The most damaging syndrome is the HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion) syndrome, whereby all the decisions are ultimately dictated by the biggest title. The best ideas must win. That’s the biggest benefit of being social. — Social and business process integration: Social businesses have integrated social channels into their business processes and workflows. This means integrating social media networks into CRM solutions. Social CRM is often the first sign of social business adoption, aimed at increased visibility and execution velocity. Adoption of social media is a great first step but a truly social business is one that integrates social networks and all of its contact channels into a single relationship management framework. — Adoption of gaming techniques: In a social business, internal competition is welcomed. This means social businesses embrace gamification to drive employee, customer and business partner engagements. Gaming concepts, packaged into an overall CRM strategy, can unlock the full potential of the organization. — Safe environment: In a social business, an idea or red flag from anyone can reach the CEO directly, without a middle man and without repercussion. The environment is safe and collaborative, where failures are viewed as part of the learning experience. That said, the agile business adopts a “try it, fix it, try it again” iterative improvement philosophy. — Shared accountability: Social businesses share complete interdepartmental performance metrics as a means to foster collaboration. Social businesses extend performance metrics to customers and partners with connection to both people and products. — Reflective and iterative: A social business continually challenges existing assumptions and communicates a desire for mid-course corrections or pivots in advance of execution. In a highly collaborative business, experiments are welcomed; innovation is not about better sameness. — Social people and social products: Every information source in the ecosystem should be used to help employees make better, more-informed decisions. Information sources include people and products/machines. The network social graph of an advanced social business includes both people and products. In the near future, wearable products, sensor technology and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication will include social channels. In summary, a social business is much more than a business that uses social media. Social collaboration success is more a cultural and philosophical achievement than technology adoption. Collaboration is hard work but it doesn’t have to be complex work. In fact, collaboration can simply start with four words: What do you think?

[Click here for the entire article]

Photo Credit: aquopshilton via cc

5 Devastating Mistakes That Lead To Online Community Failure

August 8, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

Is this you? Your team is getting ready to invest in a Business Social Network. You realize that this platform has the potential to become a major asset for your enterprise, and you want to set your Network apart from competitors’. You know all of the buzzwords. You know that you’re going to have to:

Engage Employees
Engage Partners
Engage Vendors
Engage Customers

You know that you’re going to have to provide an environment that holds consistent value for your community; one that keeps them coming back in, and you know that you’re going to need to continue feeding new and relevant content into your Business Social Network. It’s a lot to think about, and it seems like a lot to manage. In fact, building a Business Social Network can seem very overwhelming at first. That’s okay though, don’t worry so much about that.

We’ve been there. We know what you’re facing and we know how to help.

As we’ve built, launched and grown almost 400 online communities to date and observed the industry of online communities grow over the last ten years, we’ve learned a thing or two along the way. We’ve seen what works, what doesn’t and what the consistent trends are that spell success, and what the consistent trends are that spell failure. We have collated some of our learning and here, we’ll present to you the pitfalls we’ve observed over the years in order to save you from doing the same. Whether you become a client of ours some day or not, we care about you and don’t want you to make these mistakes! Simply fill out the form below to download our resource guide, entitled: 5 Devastating Mistakes That Can Lead To Online Community Failure.

Save your Platform from Failure – 5 Ways To Foster Social Purpose

August 8, 2013 by Mark Sylvester

Is your social enterprise apparatus purpose -built?

According to Gartner, most social enterprises fail due to a lack of purpose. Our own experience over the past decade tells us that the other biggest reason for the failure of social enterprises is a lack of proper planning and bad network management. In this article from Social Enterprise Times you’ll find a great list of how social enterprises overcome potential failings of purpose. The list focuses on spurring participant magnetism, establishing a community draw, creating organizational value, fostering a low community risk, and promoting organizational evolution to help maintain a sense of purpose in your social enterprise. For a breakdown of each of these characteristics please continue reading below.

Why The Vast Majority Of Enterprise Social Collaboration Initiatives Fail
[Read more…]