Growing Successful Online Communities

Growing Successful
Online Communities
Angela Connor, SVP; Group Director - Media
April 4, 2014
CauseCamp
#CapstratSocial

© 2014 Capstrat LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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B2C
B2B
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Clients
Angela Connor @communitygirl #capstratsocial

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I pledge to be:
• Candid
• Insightful
• Passionate
• Helpful
• Funny
• Enlightening
AngelaConnor.com
aconnor@capstrat.com
What to Expect

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What I’ll Share Today
AGENDA TOPIC TIME
If you build it will they come? 10 minutes
Community: More than Facebook and Twitter 10 minutes
Guiding principles for brands today 10 minutes
Leveraging events to grow community 15 minutes
Discussion/Q&A 15 minutes

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…manage a FB brand page.
…manage a LinkedIn or Twitter account.
…manage a niche online community.
…have a content strategy.
…create milestones and measure
your success.
…have identified your target audience.
…consider yourself a community manager.
Raise your hand if you…

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Why Communities FailIf you build it,
will they
come?

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Every community is different

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And so is every platform

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So don’t take a cookie-cutter approach

© 2014 Capstrat, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
WHY COMMUNITIES FAIL

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Communities fail because…
Companies take them for granted
Limited resources
No community manager
No clear objective or reason for existing
No long-term strategy or metrics
Shiny object syndrome

THERE’S MORE THAN
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

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New communities still make headlines

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New Communities – More than Facebook and Twitter

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

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Guiding Principles
Focus on the members. It is a must that you have content that
draws people in and keeps them coming back. User-experience
is a key component.

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Guiding Principles
is a key component.
Provide value. Give participants information they can’t find
elsewhere. Educate them. Help solve their problems. Provide
insight on topics they care about.

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Guiding Principles
is a key component.
Provide value. Give participants information they can’t find
elsewhere. Educate them. Help solve their problems. Provide
insight on topics they care about.
Listen and respond. Be present. Find out what they like and
don’t like and do something about it. Be open. Ask for opinions
and feedback. Respect your members.

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Guiding Principles
Repurpose and remix. Existing content can be used and
reused. It will always be new to someone. Showcase user-
generated content. The well is never dry when you find ways to
breathe new life into archives and take a different approach.

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Guiding Principles
Make it easy for everyone. Membership is the goal but lurkers
matter. It could take months for a participant to actually join a
community. Provide some content that doesn’t require
membership and encourages conversion.

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Guiding Principles
Make it easy for everyone. Membership is the goal but lurkers
matter. It could take months for a participant to actually join a
community. Provide some content that doesn’t require
membership and encourages conversion.
Know what you want and why you’re there. If you don’t know
what you’d like from the community, the community won’t know
either, and you’ll never get it.

LEVERAGING EVENTS TO
GROW COMMUNITY

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Case Study: Carolina Biological Supply
Company

24Angela Connor @communitygirl #capstratsocial

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Goal Key Metric Key Target 8-Week
Average
Final Status
Drive
engagement
on Twitter
Twitter favorites,
retweets and
mentions
Increase
followers on
Twitter
New Twitter
followers
Expand reach
on Facebook
to connect with
teachers
unable to
attend the
conference
New Fans
Facebook Post
Reach
Leveraging events to grow community

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Average
Final Status
Drive
engagement
on Twitter
Twitter favorites,
retweets and
mentions
65 favorites,
retweets and
mentions from
April 10-15
Increase
followers on
Twitter
New Twitter
followers
60 new followers
from March 29 to
April 22
Expand reach
on Facebook
to connect with
teachers
unable to
attend the
conference
New Fans 175 new fans
from April 4-15
Facebook Post
Reach
Average of 1,750
reached for all
posts.

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Average
Final Status
Drive
engagement
on Twitter
Twitter favorites,
retweets and
mentions
65 favorites,
retweets and
mentions from
April 10-15
6 favorites,
retweets and
mentions
Increase
followers on
Twitter
New Twitter
followers
60 new followers
from March 29 to
April 22
10 new
followers
Expand reach
on Facebook
to connect with
teachers
unable to
attend the
conference
from April 4-15
71 new fans
Facebook Post
Reach
Average of 1,750
reached for all
posts.
1260 average
reach

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Average
Final Status
Drive
engagement
on Twitter
Twitter favorites,
retweets and
mentions
65 favorites,
retweets and
mentions from
April 10-15
6 favorites,
retweets and
mentions
52 favorites,
retweets and
mentions
Increase
followers on
Twitter
New Twitter
followers
60 new followers
from March 29 to
April 22
10 new
followers
60 new
followers
(baseline: 701)
Expand reach
on Facebook
to connect with
teachers
unable to
attend the
conference
from April 4-15
71 new fans 627 new fans
(baseline:
8050)
Facebook Post
Reach
Average of 1,750
reached for all
posts.
1260 average
reach
5503 average
reach

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Handling a community crisis in the making
Kristina Johnson took to
Facebook to share her
sister Kim Johnson
Smith’s breast cancer
story.
While researching the
case, Capstrat and the
client learned that her
sister was not a
BCBSNC customer.
Instead of focusing on
shedding the blame,
Capstrat helped our client
draft a final response that
was in compliance with
HIPAA regulations and
did not focus on the
inaccuracies or ask
Kristina Johnson to
remove the post .

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The father of a 12-year-old girl
launched a Facebook campaign
stating that Blue Cross had denied his
daughter’s treatment. In 48 hours,
there were more than 1,000 likes.
In three days, there were more than
4,000 tweets with the hashtag
#helpellen, with approximately 1.1
million impressions. Users took to
local news to spread the word.
Capstrat worked with our client to
identify the inaccuracies in the story
on social media and on news outlets.
We developed messages to address
inaccuracies and worked with the
entire company to expedite the claim
and resolve it quickly.
Handling a community crisis in the making

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The Community Manager’s Oath
I own this community.
It is my job to make it a living, breathing,
interesting and active community.
I will not be lazy.
I will appreciate my community’s uniqueness
and seek to connect and engage.
I will try and test new tactics. I will seek
input from the community and act on it when
possible.
If I find myself indifferent or disinterested
in the growth and success of the community,
I will pass the baton and move on.

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Thank you!
Angela Connor
Senior Vice President;Group Director
919-573-6307
AngelaConnor.com
LinkedIn.com/angelaconnor

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Free Twitter Analysis and Audit For Two
Send Angela an email with
a few sentences describing
your pain points or goals for
Twitter. Include your Twitter
handle.
You will be eligible for
a Twitter analysis and top line
recommendations for
enhancing your presence and
connecting with your target
audience.
Recommendations will
include:
-Overview
-Reach
-Engagement
-Top content
-Follower profile
-Word clouds
-Best time to tweet
-Findings &
recommendations

Growing Successful Online Communities

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