Tips from a community manager on the tools and tactics that have worked in building online communities.

1. Building a Successful
Online Community
Derek Rice
@derekjrice

2. There is no one-size-fits-all
method for building and growing
a successful online community.

3. What is an Online Community?
More than a message board
Decentralized platforms that facilitate
conversation

4. Platforms

5. Platforms
Tip: If you try to establish your
presence in too many places, you
can quickly wear yourself thin.
Review several to find
what works best for you.

6. One Client’s Community

7. Platforms
Tip: Use your platforms to
complement each other, and you’ll
build deeper relationships with your
audience.

8. An Online Community IS
A messaging channel
Conversational
Community-driven
Interactive
Customer service
An opportunity to build one-to-one
relationships
Free research

9. An Online Community IS NOT
Traditional marketing
Advertising
A billboard
Formal
Self-centered
Sales-driven

10. Why Do I Need an Online
Community?
Build trust, which in turn helps build
brand recognition, loyalty and affinity
Obtain a deeper understanding of your
audience’s needs and wants
Create one-to-one relationships with
customers and prospects
It’s what people want and expect

11. What Makes You Act?

12. Who Do We Trust?

13. Tip: Trust
Your online community is your
opportunity build relationships and
trust with your members.
When you provide information to them,
they become your best allies by
passing it along to others who trust
them.
Through social media, they may
passing it to hundreds of people.

14. “The Participatory Web”
People use the web to:
Browse
Interact
Personalize
Talk about and connect with what and
who they’re browsing
Share those interactions and
experiences with others

15. Characteristics of an Unhealthy
Community
No response to member questions or
posts
Arguments dwarf other participation
Members are leaving – and announcing
their departure
Spam
No clear purpose
Tumbleweeds

16. Characteristics of a Healthy
Community
Active discussion
Interesting, relevant content and
conversation
Attracts and retains the right kind of
people
No spam
Respect and civility
Clear purpose
Provides value for members

17. So how do you get there?

18. Step 1: Determine Your Goals

19. Goals
What is the purpose of your
community?
What do you want your community
accomplish?
What’s more important to you:
qualitative or quantitative results?

20. Goals
Client example:
Develop an active community that is
interested in sleep and sleep issues
Build awareness of new product
Targeted communication to specific
areas
Gain entry into large warehouse chain
through demonstrated sales

21. Step 2: Management

22. Management
Your manager is:
The party host
An active and high-profile community
member
Accountable to everyone
Company
Community
The “voice” of your brand
Sets the tone for the community
Becomes your brand’s online persona

23. Management
Your manager should be:
Friendly (the Golden Rule)
Patient
Creative
Proactive
Fun
Articulate
An excellent writer
Knowledgeable about your brand

24. Management
Find the best fit
Will you rely one person or multiple
people?

25. Management
Find the best fit
Do you want a “face” behind the brand,
or will your manager act as the brand
itself?

26. Management
Considerations
Time-consuming
Can be a full-time job, at least in the
beginning
Community may eventually take some of
the load, but may not
Creating a page or profile takes days, but
success takes time – and hard work
Time-sensitive
Online community members expect
responses in hours (or less)

27. Step 3: Listening

28. Listening
Research
Before jumping in, gather information

29. Listening
Find out if people are talking about:
Your company
Your competition
Your industry
Other factors that impact your business

30. Listening
Who’s doing the talking?
They may be interested in your
company, product or industry (your
target audience)
Your target audience may not be who
you think they are
Helps define and refine your target
audience

31. Listening
What are people saying?
Figure out what the most popular
topics are
This is what your audience is interested
in
Helps you determine your messaging

32. Listening Tools
Google Alerts
Google.com/alerts

33. Listening Tools
Twitter search
twitter.com

34. Listening Tools
search.twitter.com

35. Listening Tools

36. Listening Tools
Socialmention.com

37. Listening Tools

38. Tip: Listening
Tip: Compiling listening results can be
as simple as a checklist, as involved
as a Word document where
individual conversations are
catalogued, or anything in-between.

39. Tip: Listening
Listening is a continual process

40. Step 4: Identifying Influencers

41. Influencers
As you identify your audience, also
identify influencers
Recognizable
Greater than average reach or impact
through word of mouth in a relevant
marketplace
Their opinions matter to others
Engaged in conversations with
hundreds or thousands of people

42. Influencers
Why influencers?
When they talk, people listen
They may talk about you
More people will join your community

43. Influencers

44. Influencers
An influencer doesn’t have to be a
celebrity:
Industry bloggers
Trade publications
Local personalities

45. Influencers
Industry-specific
influencers

46. Identifying Influencers
Blog Search Tool – Technorati.com

47. Identifying Influencers
Where do you find information that’s
relevant to your industry or niche?
These are some of your influencers
They’re talking to your influencers.
They’re talking about your
influencers.

48. Step 4: Developing Content

49. Content
Create a messaging toolbox:
Key words
Key messages
Protocol
Engaging
Responding
Escalating

50. Content
Content drives participation and
growth
The Content Loop
Good content = return visits = word
of mouth = new members = more
content (community-generated)

51. Content
The right kind of content:
Is high-quality, relevant to community
Addresses members’ interests
Sparks discussion
Provides a sense of purpose and
direction
Establishes your company as an expert
in your field
Positions your company as a valuable
resource

52. Tip: Content
Start by focusing on a small number
of topics that speak to your
community members’ shared
interests. You can build on
these topics later, using your
community as a guide.

53. Content
People are looking for:
Useful information on a topic they find
interesting or attractive
Engagement in experiences to improve
their personal or professional life
Examples: How to improve job
performance or be a better parent

54. Content
They are not looking for:
Information on how to buy more of
your product
Calls to action
Communication that’s mostly brand-
specific

55. Content
Ask yourself:
What value am I bringing to my
community?
Why would my community members
care?
What kind of conversation could this
generate?

56. Content
Sources for finding content:
Google Alerts (set up during Listening)
Blogs
News outlets
The web
Community members
Influencers

57. Tip: Content
YOU can be the best source
of the valuable content you
share with your community.

58. Messaging
Getting it right
Finding the balance between
self-interest and providing
value in your messaging

59. Tip: Content
Whatever content you share with
your community, keep it bite-sized.
This makes for a quick read and it
can easily be passed on to others.

60. Content
Before launching, quietly build your
online presence (social networking,
blog, etc.) and seed those channels
with content
Helps with attraction
Nobody wants to be the first
Nobody wants to join a barren or
inactive community (which isn’t a
community at all)

61. Step 5: Launch

62. Launch
Activate your channels
Reach out to the audience and
influencers you identified during the
listening process
Invite them to join your community
Members select themselves based on
common interests

63. Launch
Questions to consider before
launching:
Where will you communicate with your
community?
Use those tools and platforms you’ve
identified as the best fit for you
When will you communicate?
Experiment to find the days and times
when your community is most active
How often will you communicate?
Experiment, knowing the community will
help you find a balance between too much
and too little

64. Tip: Launch
Remember: You’re inviting people
to join and participate in your
community, and an effective
invitation does not
include a sales pitch.

65. Step 6: Engaging

66. Engaging
Engagement is a way to promote your
community and attract new members
Communities are driven by relationship
building, not by the sales cycle
Communicate with people as members or
potential members, not as prospects
People seek out those communities
that share their interests
Allow your community to be a platform
for open, honest conversation

67. Engaging
Participate
Ask open-ended, thought-provoking
questions
Conduct polls
Offer incentives
Contests
Reward good content and/or participation
Join in others’ conversations
Provide thoughtful, expert answers to
questions
Become a trusted friend

68. Engaging
Engaging influencers
Re-tweet something they’ve said on
Twitter (add an interesting comment)
Post on their Facebook wall or tag in
one of your wall posts
Comment on a blog post
Comment on YouTube video
Mention them in a blog post
Link to their website or blog
Be memorable!

69. Engaging
Participate in your community at least
once a day
Use more than one of the platforms
you’ve decided to use
Make your participation constant and
consistent
Participation doesn’t have to be
starting a conversation
Don’t drown out everyone else

70. Ongoing: Responding

71. Responding
Why respond?
Community is about two-way
interaction
People want to know they matter.
Immediacy is key: respond quickly to
complaints, endorsements or any kind
of mentions.
A response, especially a fast response,
will build or strengthen trust

72. Tip: Responding
Rule of thumb:
Work day: respond within 1 hour
Overnight/weekends: respond within
12 hours
Do your best

73. Responding
Negative feedback
Find a balance between moderating
(reactive) and managing (proactive)
Often the best course of action is no
action
Know when (if ever) to delete a post
If you must respond, avoid being
defensive
Respond kindly, as quickly as possible

74. Responding
Seize the opportunity to turn this:

75. Responding
Into this:

76. Ongoing: Monitoring

77. Monitoring
Use your listening tools and tactics as
you continue to monitor and participate
in the conversation
Use aggregation tools like TweetDeck,
Seesmic, RSS feeds and email alerts
for instant notification of updates to
your community.

78. Monitoring Tools
Example:
TweetDeck
Allows you to
monitor:
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Others
Updates regularly,
automatically

79. Tip: Change
Tools, services and networks are
constantly evolving, which means your
community will evolve too
Expect and be prepared for change,
especially community-driven change
If something isn’t working, don’t be
afraid to ask the community what
they’d like to see

80. The Family Handyman
Website
Interesting,
informative content
Forum
Advice blog
Social networking
logos link to profiles
Newsletter signup
“My Project Binder”
to personalize
experience
Magazine
subscription info

81. The Family Handyman
Twitter
Engaging content
Directs traffic to
Facebook, website,
forum, blog
Regular schedule –
at least once a day

82. The Family Handyman
Facebook
Engaging content
Active discussion
and participation
Community
Family
Handyman
Link to website
prominent
Posts direct traffic
to forums, blog

83. The Family Handyman
E-Newsletters
Interesting content
Articles link to website
Specific links to blog and
forum included in every
issue
Recognition for
community members
Social networking logos
link to profiles
Magazine subscription info

84. Homework
ASAP
Identify your manager
Set up your listening tools

85. Homework
7-14 days
Gather and compile information
Identify your audience and influencers
Set up at least a Facebook page and/or
Twitter account
Seed your platforms with content
Determine your messaging and content

86. Homework
14 days on
Launch
Follow
Invite members
Engage
Respond as much as possible
Make the time!

87. Homework
30 days
Evaluate your efforts
Change what needs to be changed

88. Contact
Derek Rice
derekrice@gmail.com
derekrice.wordpress.com
twitter.com/derekjrice
linkedin.com/in/derekrice