Communities 101 2-planning and launching communities 16 nov2010

Communities 101 – Planning and Launching Communities #2 in a series of community enablement deliverables Version 4-0 Contact: Bill Chamberlin, Principle Consultant, Market Insights

About This Community Enablement Series
This series was developed by the Market Insights Social Insights Practice team to assist community managers in launching and sustaining successful online communities.
Deliverables in the Community 101 Series
Introduction to Communities
Planning and Launching Communities
Growing and Sustaining Communities
Monitoring the Health of Communities
Ten Tips for Leaders Using Connections
How YOU Can Leverage Communities

Community Are Powerful Tools, As Long As You Put Members’ Needs First.
- Forrester, 2008

Planning and Launching Communities

Four critical elements in developing a successful community
It’s not all about the social networking technology platform
Capabilities
Create a content repository
Connect members to content
Identify most valued content
Methodologies
Community templates
Community education offerings
Daily/weekly community leadership activities
Relationships
Easy for members to form new relationships
Linkages with other communities
People
Community Leader is passionate
Exec Sponsor is committed and models collaborative behavior
Members share a common interest
Management System
Secure resources & funding
Form a Community Council & establish a Community Charter
Establish cadence of meetings
Manage to a balanced scorecard
Create sense & respond capability
People Technology Process Knowledge
Technology
Rich Member profiles
Simple to use social collaboration platform
Community Leader Tools
Platform measures value, participation, and reputation of membership

Before you start, make sure you are launching the community that has a chance to be successful. Developing a launch plan for a community is similar to developing a launch plan for a new product or service ….or even a new company
Should You Even Launch A Community?
Is there a sense of energy and passion around the community topic or domain?
Is there a recognized need that the community can meet, thus providing value to the members and their organizations?
Is management aware of the potential value, utility, and benefits to members? To the organization?
Is there top-level sponsorship?
Can potential members be identified?
Is there an existing sense of community among potential members?
Is there a significant or critical issue facing the potential community membership that knowledge sharing can positively impact?
Are there resources (i.e., money, people, technology) to support the community?
Best Practices
Leader Is Passionate and Very Active
Establish Clear Goals and Purpose
Needs of Members Comes First
SME Talent Assigned to Council
Management Has Committed Time, Resources, and Funding
Make it Social & Communal
Worst Practices
Starting With Technology
As Part of a Marketing “Campaign”
Focus on Value to Organization Only
Mixing Business / Consumer Motives
Wrong Focus: Metrics vs. Business Measures

Use an Implementation Checklist when planning to launch a community Sample Community Launch Implementation Checklist Who? Activity Description When? Document why the community is needed What are the main issues and why will a community help solve those issues? Create a business case What are the potential benefits to individuals, to the organization? Where will value be created? What will be the necessary investment in resources (people, process, technology, and knlwledge management capabilities) Identify an initial community leader The community leader is a critical decision. The leader must be passionate about the community domain and the potential value of the community. Community leaders should be assigned full time during the planning and launch phases. Define the scope of the community Where will the community focus its efforts? What organizations? What will be the demographics of the membership? Recruit a core team of community council members The council members should be selected to represent various segments within the demographics of the community. World class communities have a very active and involved community council. Assign roles The community leader can’t do it all alone, Volunteers should assist with the various community roles. Document core community activities and processes What will be the regular events? What will be a typical agenda for those events? How will the community make progress in between events? What are the processes and activities needed to grow the membership? Who wil do those activities? Develop a Knowledge Management Plan What types of deliverable content will the community share and collaborate on? Will there be community calendars, profiles, forums, etc? Develop a Technology Platform plan What collaboration and networking tools will the community have access to? How will training be conducted? What are the future technology requirements for the community. Document the Community Charter The charter will be a document that provides a description of the community mission and the major elements (people, process, technology, and knowledge). Inventory and post existing content First impressions are important. There should be some existing content that provides immediate value to members signing up for the community. Document a 90 day Launch Plan The 90 day Launch Plan provides a list of tasks to be completed from the actual launch day through the first 90 days of the community to ensure a successful start of the community. Hold Pre-Launch Review Meeting The sponsor, community leader, and the community council should meet to review and approve the community charter, the PPTK elements (People, Process, Technology, and Knowledge) and the 90 day Launch Plan. Launch the Community Implement the 90day Launch Plan

A Community Charter Template should be documented prior to launch
Name: (The name of the Community, i.e., Developer Community, Customer User Group)
Target Member Demographics: (List the characteristics of the members that the community is hoping to attract)
Purpose/Intent: (What is the purpose/intent of the community?, i.e., Skill Building, Listening.)
Domain: (What is/are the topic(s) of interest that best supports the community ’ s purpose)
Assigned Roles: (Identify by name the individuals who are filling roles.)
Sponsor:
Leader:
Council Members:
Critical Business Issues: ( Identify the critical business issues faced by the community.)
Collaboration Platform (List the primary collaboration tools/platform that will be used.)
Resources Required: (Identify the resources required to support the community, i.e., existing resources that are available, required contractor support, and content that needs to be developed.)
Measures of Success: (List measures of success.)
The community charter includes an articulation of the mission, vision, goals, and member norms and agreements. Sample Community Charter

Different people and processes are required to launch and sustain vibrant communities The Community Leader is the most critical person. They typically takes on most if not all of the additional community responsibilities. Primary Community Roles Role Description Exec Sponsor Serves as the group’s champion, internally and externally. Is able to envision the value of the community over time to both the members as well as the organization. Community Leader Plays the most critical role in the community's success by energizing the sharing process and providing continuous nourishment for the community. Communicates a sense of passion and guides the community towards its goals through consulting, connecting, facilitating, helping, guiding Community Council Advises community leader in launching and sustaining the community. Frequently takes on additional roles as listed below. Community Members Without these there is no community; the essence of a community is its members. Contributes and extracts value via content, programs, and social/professional network

Different people and processes are required to launch and sustain vibrant communities The Community Leader is the most critical person. They typically takes on most if not all of the additional community responsibilities. Additional Activities Required For A Successful Community Role Description of Activities Social Media Manager Manages the communities presence in the social media Meeting Facilitation Schedules and facilitates meetings. Ensures meetings stay focused on goals of the community. Subject Matter Expertise Shares knowledge and experience. Ensures the community continues to seek out new and innovative solutions and methods. Relationship Management Builds relationships between the members to strengthen the overall community. Knowledge Management Organizes the community knowledge. Ensures all members have access to content created or referenced by the community. Analysis Analyzes the community content and membership network to identify and extract value. Technology Management Ensures that the community platform and tools supports the goals and objectives of the community.

The Community Leader is a Member Champion
Interacts with members
Leads community:
Member advocate
Community evangelist
Creates editorial content
Harvests market insights
Balances the needs of the community with organizational objectives
Skills required:
Strong online communication skills
Approachable and conversational
Has the ability to relate to members online and offline
Comfortable with Web 2.0 and social media tools
Key Activities
Promotes community
Encourages participation & discussion
Connects members with each other
Produces deliverables
Reports community metrics
Monitors & responds
Communicates news
Organizes events
Surveys for needs

Forrester has identified four tenets of the Community Manager Forrester: “Online Community Best Practices” by Jeremiah Owyang, Feb, 2008 Description of Core Activities Community Advocate The community manager’s primary role is to represent the members of the community. They must listen, monitor, and respond to requests and conversations, both within the community platform and in email. Brand Evangelist Community manager promotes events, products, and upgrades using traditional marketing tactics as well as being part of conversations within the community. The community manager must first earn and maintain trust. Facilitator Defines, plans, and executes content strategy. Uses forums, blogs, podcasts, and other tools to create content. Mediates disputes: Encourages advocates and deals with — or when necessary removes — detractors. Works with corporate stakeholders to identify content, plan updates, publish, and follow-up. Research and Development Contributor Gathers the requirements of the community and presents to product teams. Plans and analyzes results of surveys or focus groups. Facilitates relationships between product teams and customers.

Community platform tools can help members, collaborate, connect and build the community’s knowledgebase
Member profiles are critical for allowing members to connect to other individuals. Profiles help members find people they need, based on their expertise, shared content, projects, current responsibilities, and reputation.
Forums provide for discussions, ad hoc Q&A, and threaded conversation on topics of interest.
Blogs allow for members to present ideas / perspectives to the community members who can then comment and provide ratings for those blog entries.
News articles provide a means to keep membership current. These can be automated feeds or manual news articles authored by the community leader(s).
Wikis can allow community to create reference material. Members should be able to create wiki spaces, view changes across pages, and provide ratings and comments.
Content Sharing: Upload and share any type of content to share with community members. Tool should allow for version control and viewing downloads, comments and ratings.
Messaging or chat capability can allow for one-on-one conversation, etc.
Search Engine allow for searches across the entire community platform for content or experts
Member Homepage. Members should be able to customize and manage their homepage, viewing relevant social data aggregated across subscriptions, notifications and network of colleagues.

Understand what advanced community technology platform functions are available Description of Function Collaboration Tools
Menu approach, including Blogs, Wikis, Forums, News Feeds, File Sharing, Q&A, Chats, Messaging, Web Meetings, Polls/Surveys. All with tagging, rating and ranking capability.
Easy to collaborate anytime, anywhere, on any topic.
Social Networks
Easy to search for expertise in social networks
Present what’s important to the individual member and filter out the rest of the noise
Provides ability to map the networks within the community
Member Profiles
Rich profiles promote social interaction and adoption
Ease of updating personal status and ability to notify network is critical
Profiles allow members to choose what topics/members they are interested in following
Capability to embed feeds from other tools and social media into profiles (examples, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, etc)
Search engine makes finding experts and information on topics easier
Virtual / Remote Interaction
Tools such as webcam, videos and virtual worlds can enable live virtual events/meetings, and promote social interaction
Mobile access can empower customer-facing employees
Community Management
Provides advanced capabilities to launch, grow, and sustain the community, including insights dashboard, balanced scorecard, metrics, membership demographics and network analysis.
External Linkages
Embedded feeds from external communities and social networking tools provide information on topics and subject matter experts

Prior to launch, the Community Leader and Sponsor should agree on the budget
One-time costs
Labor
Launch Team
Other costs
Consulting startup fees
Community technology platform
Media creation for launch
Content creation for launch
Ongoing Monthly Costs
Labor
Community Leader
Community Council
IT Support & Administration
Subject Matter Experts
Marketing Personnel (for external communities)
Resources
Event costs (e.g. conference calls/webinars/meetings)
Content creation
Media creation (optional)
Advertising (optional)
Consulting services (as needed to sustain/grow community)
Outsourced services, including maintenance, monitoring, reporting, and alerting

Each stage has different requirements for success There are five stages in the lifecycle of a community Shape and rate of incline curve depends on successful execution of combination of People, Process, Technology and Knowledge Plan / Design Launch Create Value Sustain Harvest / Reengineer People
Secure committed sponsor and a passionate leader
Establish a community council
Attend “Community 101”
Invite Members
Sell / Market community
Establish community reputation
Sponsor models behavior
Leader creates energy and passion for the community
Subject Matter Experts submit content
Strengthen linkages with other communities
Identify and reward most active members
Rotate council members
Plan for next stage in evolution.
Secure new sponsor and / or community leader
Process
Create a community charter
Survey to understand un-served member needs
Secure appropriate resources
Establish event processes
Hold kickoff meeting
Conduct platform training
Establish feedback mechanism
Establish regular cadence of meetings / calls
Tag / Bookmark content
Push content links to community members
Promote collaboration
Advertise best of breed examples
Survey yearly to understand community value / requirements
Measure success against Community Maturity Model
Review community charter
Research community best practices
Innovate/transform
Re-launch community.
Technology
Document short-term and long-term platform requirements
Establish an online Platform
Import Profiles
Forums or Blogs are good community collaboration starters
Promote basic collaborative tools (file sharing, wikis, blogs, forums, etc).
Capture participation and reputation metrics
Experiment with advanced collaboration and network analysis tools
Improve platform based on community surveys.
Document new requirements for technology
Knowledge
Gather and inventory existing content
Post and tag existing content
Point members to existing content and forums
Capture best of breed practices and content
Identify and tag highest valued content and members
Identify, tag and recommend highest valued content and members
Extract value from knowledgebase and social tools
Business Value Time to Value

Communities 101 2-planning and launching communities 16 nov2010

by Bill Chamberlin on Nov 16, 2010

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Communities 101 2-planning and launching communities 16 nov2010 Presentation Transcript