1. POWER OF
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Presenters
Matt Knell, About.com, @matthewknell
Savannah Peterson, Speck Design,
@savissavvy
Matt Singley, singley + mackie,
@mattsingley

2. Why are YOU here?
COMMUNITY BUILDING

3. What is community?
COMMUNITY BUILDING

4. Com•mun•it•y
[kuh-myoo-ni-tee]
n. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common
characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as
distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists
- via Dictionary.com
COMMUNITY BUILDING

5. WHAT MOTIVATES
PEOPLE?
COMMUNITY BUILDING
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS, 1943:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

6. GOOD COMMUNITIES... COMMUNITY BUILDING

7. A place (real or virtual) where people gather to share thoughts
about something.
Where people make connections, in ways that are good and bad.
Greater than the sum of it’s individuals
A living, breathing thing
COMMUNITY IS... COMMUNITY BUILDING

8. “A community is like a ship; everyone
ought to be prepared to take the helm.”
— Henrik Ibsen, “A Enemy of The People”, 1882
COMMUNITY BUILDING

9. “Your Facebook Page”
The cesspool of the Internet
A problem to be solved
A place to sell people things (unless they’ve explicitly stated that
it’s ok)
COMMUNITY IS NOT... COMMUNITY BUILDING

10. “I’ve got a great community over on my
Facebook page.”
— Unnamed social marketer
COMMUNITY BUILDING

11. Build people up
Tear people down
Help people
Hurt people
Drive genuine change
COMMUNITY CAN... COMMUNITY BUILDING

12. Anywhere where people are given a voice.
In places you least expect
In places you don’t necessarily want it to exist.
COMMUNITY CAN
EXIST...
COMMUNITY BUILDING

13. “We cannot seek achievement for
ourselves and forget about progress and
prosperity for our community... Our
ambitions must be broad enough to
include the aspirations and needs of
others, for their sakes and for our own.”
— Cesar Chavez
COMMUNITY BUILDING

14. Today.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

15. Why create a community?
What kinds of communities are there?
What are some of the risks with community?
How can you get started with community?
How can you keep your community healthy?
What community platforms exist for you to build with?
TODAY’S KEY THEMES COMMUNITY BUILDING

16. Why build a community?
It’s hard but #FeelsMatter
COMMUNITY BUILDING

17. • Community helps
you build something
even greater than
what you set out to
do
• Let the community
shape your product,
this will empower
their evangelism
• Overcoming
obstacles is an
emotional journey
You Can Do
It! (Together)

18. Your community is your first defensible
asset.
n. Frankly, without community, your product/brand is nothing.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

19. Community is your brand’s heartbeat.
Your community managers read the pulse best.
Community can be the unicorn you ride into the sunset. Go
along for the ride.
Why Community First? COMMUNITY BUILDING

20. “Pay your community managers like you
pay your developers.”
— Anil Dash, next to me at dinner one time
COMMUNITY BUILDING

21. COMMUNITY BUILDING
#Shapeways
Roadtrip

22. What kinds of communities are
there?
COMMUNITY BUILDING

23. PURPOSE
MATTERS
COMMUNITY BUILDING

24. Different kinds of communities have different goals, issues, risks,
rewards and motivations, and ways of offering feedback.
But above all, communities need to have a sense of purpose to
grow and succeed.
Important: The purpose of a community can evolve from the
one of its creator to one based on the desires of its members.
WHY DOES IT MATTER? COMMUNITY BUILDING

25. • Lifestyle Communities
• Creator Communities
• Superfan Communities
• Support Communities
• Professional Communities
• Commenter Communities
• IRL Communities
TYPES OF
COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITY BUILDING

26. Unifier: Shared cultural, physical, emotional, or location based
attributes.
Core purpose:
Validation, advice and support.
Two things to look out for:
1. Keeping the conversations on topic.
2. Allowing for varied opinions.
LIFESTYLE
COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITY BUILDING

27. COMMUNITY BUILDING
AARP -
http://community.aarp.co
m

28. COMMUNITY BUILDING
CafeMom-
http://www.cafemom.co
m

29. Unifier:
People who are users / advocates of a product or service.
Core purpose:
Sharing ideas and thoughts to make products, or make products
better.
Things to look out for:
1. Members who help others contribute.
2. Losing control of the general direction of progress.
CREATOR COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY BUILDING

30. COMMUNITY BUILDING
LEGO IDEAS - http://ideas.lego.com

31. COMMUNITY BUILDING
UBUNTU - http://community.ubuntu.com

32. Unifier:
Passion and fandom for a particular movie/fan/music
band/product/concept.
Core purpose:
Facilitating this fandom!
Two things to look out for:
1. People who dominate conversation and bully others.
2. Lifespan of fandom!
SUPERFAN
COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITY BUILDING

33. COMMUNITY BUILDING
SIMPSONS WIKIA - http://community.ubuntu.com

34. COMMUNITY BUILDING
CRYSTAL PEPSI FB PAGE - https://www.facebook.com/BringBackCrystalPepsi

35. SUPPORT COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY BUILDING
Unifier:
People who need help with a product, service or concept.
Core purpose:
Getting users the answers they need to solve their problems.
Two things to look out for:
1. What to do when their question can't be answered?
2. How much scale can you handle?

36. COMMUNITY BUILDING
@JETBLUE ON TWITTER - http://twitter.com/jetblue

37. COMMUNITY BUILDING
APPLE SUPPORT
FORUM -
http://support.apple.com

38. PROFESSIONAL
COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Unifier:
People who need help related to their industry, job or career.
Core purpose:
Helping users improve, advance or find a career.
Two things to look out for:
1. How do you make their work look good?
2. Are people finding work or making successful connections?

39. COMMUNITY BUILDING
BEHANCE - http://behance.net

40. COMMUNITY BUILDING
CLOUDPEEPS - http://cloudpeeps.com

41. COMMUNITY BUILDING
STACKOVERFLOW -
http://www.stackoverflow.com

42. COMMENTER
COMMUNITIES
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Unifier:
People who comment on content from a particular site.
Core purpose:
Allowing users to feedback on content and offer their opinions.
Two things to look out for:
1. Trolls.
2. Still trolls.

43. NYTIMES - http://www.nytimes.com

44. IRL COMMUNITIES COMMUNITY BUILDING
Unifier:
People who take their online connection offline and meet
people in the real world!
Core purpose:
Allowing people to develop their relationships in person.
Two things to look out for:
1. People’s personalities offline are very different than online.
2. Repeating the in-person opportunities can help drive the
magic.

45. s
GOOGLE LOCAL GUIDES – http://www.google.com/local/guides

46. MEETUP – http://www.meetup.com/cmmeetup

47. Which one suits your business
best?
COMMUNITY BUILDING

48. Risks and Rewards

49. THE BIG PAYOFF COMMUNITY BUILDING
The best communities
govern themselves. It is both
terrifying and liberating.

50. RISKS COMMUNITY BUILDING
• You aren’t
empowered/enabled
• The community knows more
than you
• Private communities form
• You lose control

51. REWARDS COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Be a hero (to the
community and your boss)
• Develop advocates
• You don’t need to be in
control

52. ABOUT INFLUENCERS COMMUNITY BUILDING
Community members with
big influence and high
passion. Everybody wants
them.
It’s not that easy.

53. What and where is your
community now?
Figure out what you’re working with
COMMUNITY BUILDING

54. “Who is your community talking to
when they’re not talking to you?”
— Savannah Peterson, in Matthew Knell’s class more than once
COMMUNITY BUILDING

55. Community comes in all
shapes and sizes –
sometimes it’s easy to
spot, and some you
have to hunt for.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

56. Create marketing personas through user research.
Start with the people to whom your brand/product provide the
most value to.
Prepare to be delightfully wrong about who you thought would
benefit from you the most.
Target your community COMMUNITY BUILDING

58. Who to Invite

59. INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING
A good community leader
develops environment. A
great community leader
develops advocates.

60. INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Existing customers or fans
• Outliers
• Fans of the competition

61. HOW TO INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Be distinctive
• Make it easy
• Care. Don’t just say it,
show it
• Incentivize

62. AFTER THE INVITE COMMUNITY BUILDING
Step 1: Communicate and
Enable
Step 2: See Step 1

63. BUILDING ADVOCATES COMMUNITY BUILDING
Influence
Passion
Influencer
Advertiser
Or
Celebrity
Potential
Customers
Community
Advocates
Trolls

64. How to get started with your
community
COMMUNITY BUILDING

65. • How important is community to my business?
• What should a user get out of my community?
• How and how much do I want my users to interact with each
other and me?
• What level of support can I offer?
• How much should the conversation about my community be
structured?
• How much can I pay to support this process?
KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK COMMUNITY BUILDING

66. HOST IT OR BORROW IT COMMUNITY BUILDING
Factor to consider Host it yourself on
your servers
Host it with
someone else
Speed to market Slower Quicker
Developer expertise Immediate to Expert None to Limited
Design control Complete Limited
User privacy / data
concerns
Your terms Governed by the
platform
Management Tools More customized Limited
Cost Hosting + software Software

67. • Forums
• Wikis
• Customer support tools
• Q&A tools
• Blogs
• Comments
• Social Networks
• Enterprise Social Platform
TOP PLATFORMS COMMUNITY BUILDING

68. • Number of supported members
• Users / bandwidth
• Upload ability
• User permission levels
• Moderation controls
• Version control
KEY PLATFORM
FEATURES
COMMUNITY BUILDING

69. • Forums allow “threads” of conversation that are defined by the
community and it’s moderators.
• The most widely used type of community platform.
Most useful for:
• Topics that have a wide array of subtopics
• Offering users maximum flexibility to subdivide conversations.
Host it yourself: phpBB, Vanilla Forums, nodeBB, vBulletin
Host it with someone else: ForumHost. ProBoards/Forums.net
FORUMS COMMUNITY BUILDING

70. SLICKDEALS.NET – http://www.slickdeals.net

71. • Wikis allow collaborative editing of documents between
multiple users.
• Popular amongst fan sites and software and open-source
development communities.
Most useful for:
• Communities with strong needs to document things.
Host it yourself: MediaWiki, UserPress, WikiWikiWeb
Host it with someone else: WikiSpaces, Wikia
WIKIS COMMUNITY BUILDING

72. RASPBERRY PI - https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/setup/

73. • Support software focuses on managing issues with software or
products.
• Typically user to company without a lot of support from other
users.
Most useful for:
• Communities that have products that need support.
Host it yourself: Contact us forms
Host it with someone else: Zendesk, Desk.com, FreshDesk
SUPPORT SOFTWARE COMMUNITY BUILDING

74. SPROUT SOCIAL HELP CENTER via Zendesk

75. • Q&A software is a more structured community focused on
answering user questions.
• Often users to have users help each other.
Most useful for:
• Communities with strong reference needs for documentation.
Host it yourself: Askbot, OSQA
Host it with someone else: Get Satisfaction, Zendesk, AnswerHub
Q&A SOFTWARE COMMUNITY BUILDING

76. ASK FEDORA - https://ask.fedoraproject.org

77. • Allow users to contribute long-form content written in an
editorial or narrative style.
Most useful for:
• Communities with regular news and updates.
• Communities with strong influencer voices.
Host it yourself: WordPress, b2Evolution, Ghost
Host it with someone else: WordPress, Blogger, Medium,
Squarespace, Tumblr
BLOGS COMMUNITY BUILDING

78. Cisco Diversity Blog - http://blogs.cisco.com/diversity/

79. • Allow users to contribute short-form content written in response
to another piece of content.
Most useful for:
• Communities with active voices who are motivated to contribute
by content.
Host it yourself: WordPress Comments, Home built systems
Host it with someone else: Livefyre, Disqus, Facebook Comments,
Google+ Comments
COMMENTS COMMUNITY BUILDING

80. WSJ - http://www.wsj.com

81. • Allows you to create content / engage with your company
wherever they live.
Most useful for:
• Communities who have a widely distributed user base.
Host it with someone else: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit,
Instagram, YouTube, Vine
SOCIAL NETWORKS COMMUNITY BUILDING

82. SOCIAL NETWORKS COMMUNITY BUILDING
Network Best For Chance
for brand
content?
Content
lifespan per
post?
Engagement
chance?
Search
Facebook Mass market Good Medium Good Poor
Twitter Real-time Good Very Short Good Good
Pinterest Visual topics Good Long Limited Good
Reddit Niche topics Limited Medium Don't Good
Instagram Photos / videos Good Short Good Improving
YouTube Long-form Video Good Long Good Good
Vine Youth Good Short Limited Limited

83. • Combine many of these platform into a single piece of software.
Most useful for:
• Large communities who want to offer more than one platform.
Host it yourself: BuddyPress
Host it with someone else: Jive Software, Confluence, Ning,
Communifire
ENTERPRISE SOCIAL
NETWORKS
COMMUNITY BUILDING

84. COMMUNIFIRE FOR ABOUT.COM

85. • Most platforms will allow you an email “welcome message” as
part of user sign up.
• Tailor the message to be as personal as possible.
• Add links to “Getting started” and “Rules of the community”
documentation.
• Pair new members with old members who are moderators /
leaders in your community, or community managers.
• Be prepared to answer questions.
• Keep an eye on them to see if they continue to contribute.
NAILING THE WELCOME COMMUNITY BUILDING

86. Guidelines and
Moderation

87. RULES COMMUNITY BUILDING
When establishing
community rules, be clear,
be intentional and be quick
to enforce them.

88. RULES COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Establishing the Rules
• Communicating the Rules
• Enforcing the Rules

89. MODERATION COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Know How Channels
Function
• Stay Consistent
• Educate the C-Suite

90. MODERATION COMMUNITY BUILDING
To block or not to
block…that is
the question.
-Hamlet,
Community Manager

91. MODERATION COMMUNITY BUILDING
LevelofAbuse
Likelihood to Re-Offend
Actions to Take
Block
Engage
Privately
Engage
Publicly
Hide or
Ignore

92. Community care and feeding
Communities eat, sh*t and breed too.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

93. COMMUNITY BUILDING

94. “Community Management is really
f*cking personal; it’s about humans
helping other humans.”
— Savannah Peterson, on medium May 2015
COMMUNITY BUILDING

95. Community posts should be inspiring,
educational and applicable.
People want to learn and relate.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

96. s

97. #SWPaws: Cutest downtime ever
- Ecommerce platform affected on
December 20th
- 19 Hours of Downtime
- No clear estimated time of repair
for hours
COMMUNITY BUILDING

98. COMMUNITY BUILDING

100. Community has $$ value.
The ROI is their continued evangelism and return business.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

101. People who fully leverage your brand
have 50x the lifetime value of those
who don’t.
Your VIPs are worth investing in.
COMMUNITY BUILDING

102. NPS is a reasonable indicator and satiates the data-heads at
work.
Track the un-trackable by defining your own sentiment scale in
addition to those provided by platforms.
Remember that case studies have value too.
Defining Feelings COMMUNITY BUILDING

103. • IRL Activations
• Community
Showcases
• Strategic Geo-
targeting
•Forum
Management
•Educational
Content
•Newsletter/Blog
•Customer Support
•Brand Exposure
•Community
Amplification
•Marketing
•Evangelist
Empowerment
•Niche
Identification
Community
Outreach
Social
Media
Event
Planning
Core
Engagement
Sample
Team

104. COMMUNITY BUILDING

105. You think you know but you have no idea. Adapt.
Your community should generate a significant amount of your
content. Aim for at least 50/50.
Ask your community what drives them. For many, recognition
and visibility through your brand is inspiring.
Community driven
content
COMMUNITY BUILDING

106. Common Pitfalls
(CHC and CYA)

107. THRIVE AND SURVIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING
Create healthy communities
and cover your ass.

108. THRIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Be patient. Healthy communities
take time to develop
• Be giving. Enable your community
• Be generous. Reward your users

109. SURVIVE COMMUNITY BUILDING
• Know how to measure it
• Keep your legal team in-the-
know
• Educate your boss…gently
• Don’t take it personally. “It” is
the horrible stuff you will read

110. REMEMBER…

111. Your Community is
ALIVE
COMMUNITY BUILDING

112. Your Community is
SMART
COMMUNITY BUILDING

113. Your Community is
FUN
COMMUNITY BUILDING

114. Drink Your Own
Kool-Aid
COMMUNITY BUILDING

115. • Matthew Knell, @matthewknell
• Savannah Peterson, @savissavvy
• Matt Singley, @mattsingley
Thank you! COMMUNITY BUILDING

116. Appendix: Some of our favorite
community tools
COMMUNITY BUILDING

117. • Buffer*
• Edgar
• Oktopost
• Sprout Social
• Tweetdeck* (Twitter only)
• Viraltag (Pinterest)
• Tailwind (Pinterest)
SOCIAL PUBLISHING
TOOLS
COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

118. • SocialMention*
• Topsy*
• Google Alerts
• Mention
• Sysomos
• Crimson Hexagon
SOCIAL LISTENING
TOOLS
COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

119. • Sparkcentral
• Sleek
• Sprout Social
• Tweetdeck* (Twitter only)
• Zendesk
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
TOOLS
COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

120. • Trello*
• Asana*
• CoSchedule (for WordPress blogs)*
• Slack*
• Hipchat*
• Confluence
TEAM PLANNING / TASKING
TOOLS
COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

121. • IFTTT by IF*
• Zapier*
AUTOMATION TOOLS COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

122. • Simply Measured
• Quintly
• Google Analytics (real-time)
• Parse.ly
• Chartbeat
• Bit.ly
• SimilarWeb
SOCIAL ANALYTICS COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

123. • BuzzSumo
• FollowerWonk (from Moz)
• PeerIndex
• Bambu (from Sprout Social)
INFLUENCER TOOLS COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version

124. • Canva*
• Picmonkey*
• GIPHY CAM*
• Pixelmator (for Mac OS / iOS Only)
IMAGE TOOLS COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Offers free version