Driving Success - 8 Competencies
to Socializing Your Organization
Rachel Happe

Who I am
Rachel Happe
The Community Roundtable
@rhappe and @TheCR
Background: PRTM, IDe, Bitpass, IDC, Mzinga
Skills:Analysis, Management, Operational Strategy, Facilitation,
Communication, Community Strategy, Coaching
Domain Expertise: Internet trends, Social Media,
Communities, Market Analysis, New Product Development
Interests: People, Cooking, Sailing, Hiking, Maine

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dey/2918626312/

The Market is Changing… How Will
Organizations Change?

Community Maturity Model TM

1. STRATEGY

You Need An Engaged Network
Having a passive constituent base
is no longer enough
Investors
Customers
Employees Partners
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/1804295568/

Alignment
Customer Brand
Perspective Messaging
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73937087@N00/422507353/

Expectations – Reality = Satisfaction

What To Do
• Acknowledge and articulate who you are as
a organization
– The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
• Align how you talk about your company and
products with what customers think about you
• Think of customers as marketing partners
• Determine how socially-enabled your
constituents are
• Identify the drivers that will help you build a
network

2. LEADERSHIP

Be Transparent
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22971881@N02/3104553057/in/set-72157611215947198/

Be Authentic
Photo by T.McEnroe

Be Modest

Distributed
Lead from the Back
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mclxi/388392114/

What You Need To Do
• Practice conversational and facilitated
communications internally
• Take small steps toward transparency
• Experience self-organizing environments –
developer communities, India, Wikipedia,
user groups
• War game radically different communications
cultures – using games like BafaBafa

3. CULTURE

Tone
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jspad/142160659/

Informed
Communication Mode
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwanja/3169447879/

Powerful
Feeling of Power/Control
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gargi/2483623130/

What You Need To Do
• Listen/Ask/Measure how
communications and decisions are made
• Translate between groups
• Be as responsive to various constituents
in their own modality
• Encourage and reward change
• Set expectations clearly

4. COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

Who Are Your Cheeseheads?

Bring Catnip
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheila_steele/161726592/

Ride The Waves
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tk_five_0/2279894817/

Don’t Ignore
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfchenier/2409726404/

What You Need To Do
• Build a mission that attracts passionate fans
• Offer rewards and recognition to encourage
‘good’ behaviors
• Ride the wave of community interest rather
than trying to start waves
• Don’t ignore problems – address
immediately even if you don’t have the
answer

5. CONTENT &
PROGRAMMING

Be Notable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandemia/1286794844/

Schedule
Keep A Regular Schedule
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vidiot/61484953/

Text
Be Multi-Modal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cecilanne_r-s/3541646602/

Image
Be Valuable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfakheri/2815755503/

What You Need To Do
• Attract attention
• Create a schedule of events that have a
cadence
• Develop content in different modalities –
text, images, video; synchronous &
asynchronous
• Focus on value – build content that will be
contextual and relevant to your audience

6. POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Have Rules
http://www.flickr.com/photos/strandloper/1385105547/

Take Calculated Risks
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cibergaita/62123585/

Protect Your Base
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/3107809174/sizes/l/

What You Need To Do
• Define expected culture through rules.
Be Firm
• Articulate and plan for the risks but
remember too, risks make things fun &
worthwhile
• Define the constituent groups for whom
you are responsible and how – both legally
and ethically – and what will harm them

7. TOOLS

Find Good Tools http://www.flickr.com/photos/docman/36125185/

What You Need To Do
• Understand where tools can help - not
everything requires or has a tool that can
help
• Evaluate which investments have higher
payoff – those that streamline repetitive or
expensive tasks
• Understand tool externalities – tools don’t
work in a vacuum. How do they work with
existing processes and people?

8. METRICS & MEASUREMENT

Measure http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/286709039/

Account & Reconcile
http://www.flickr.com/photos/captkodak/272746539/

What You Need To Do
• Know where you want to go- measurement is not all that
useful if you don’t know what success looks like
• Understand data influencers – if you don’t know how to
change a measurement or its cost, it is also not all that useful
• Keep it simple – the easier it is for everyone to understand,
the better. Three clear metrics are better than 20.
• Develop accounting standards – what are your priorities
and values and how well does your budget reflect them?
• Don’t forget your common sense. Measurement is one
guide post to good decision making, not the sole factor.
Resource: http://www.thesocialorganization.com/social-media-metrics.html

Community Maturity Model TM

Thank You
@rhappe& @TheCR
rachel@community-roundtable.com
www.community-roundtable.com