The document provides guidance on designing social platforms and communities for adoption. It recommends first understanding company objectives, user needs and key scenarios. Then to design for adoption by avoiding common pitfalls and routinely checking the design's health. The design process involves identifying key characteristics, expressing them through purpose, calls to action, motivation and examples. Defining the activity flow and structuring for ease of use while seeding with balanced initial content and interactions. The goal is to make participation and use intuitive for users.

1. How to design for adoption.
Social Business Symposium
July 22, 2011
Gia Lyons, Strategic Advisor

2. Gia Lyons
Strategic Advisor
Jive Business Community Manager
community.jivesoftware.com
twitter.com/gialyons
giatalks.com
For more information about Jive Software, visit www.jivesoftware.com
2

3. Snapshot
First, know your company objectives, user needs, and key scenarios
Then, design your social business environment for adoption
Next, avoid common pitfalls
Finally, routinely check your design’s health
3

4. Before you design anything,
know what you’re
designing for

5. Answer these questions:
What are your company’s objectives for a
social business community or platform?
Who are your users, and what do they want?
What are one or two key user scenarios
that map to both your company’s and
your users’ needs?
What is the community’s overall identity?
5

6. Example: company objectives
Employee-­‐facing
social
business
pla3orm
By
par'cipa'ng
in
a
social
business
pla2orm,
employees
can:
• Reach
more
people
• Find
informa'on
faster
• Be
more
aware
of
others
and
the
business
…
which
can
lead
to:
• Be>er
orchestra'on
of
customer
interac'on
• More
innova've
conversa'ons
• Overall
work
transforma'on
…
which
supports
these
corporate
ini'a'ves:
• Improve
Customer
In'macy
• Achieve
Technology
Superiority
• Flawless
Execu'on
to
Gain
Market
Leadership
6

7. Example: company objectives
Customer-­‐facing
community
By
par'cipa'ng
in
a
customer-­‐facing
community,
employees,
prospects,
customers
and
partners
can
connect
to,
learn
from,
and
share
with
others
about
our
products
and
services
–
specifically,
how
to:
• Develop
and
internally
promote
a
business
case
• Implement,
support,
and
innovate
our
products
and
services
…
which
can
lead
to:
• Expanded
business
networks
across
employees,
prospects,
customers,
and
partners
• The
most
trusted,
single
source
of
truth
for
informa'on
and
best
prac'ces
…
which
supports
these
corporate
ini'a'ves:
• Differen'ate
our
brand
as
a
thought
and
innova'on
leader
in
marketplace
• Deliver
a
digital
strategy
that
drives
lead
genera'on
7

8. Example: users and their needs
Employee-­‐facing
social
business
pla3orm
Our
company s
wireless
business
is
comprised
of
10,000+
employees
across
several
business
units
who
have
no
easy
way
to:
• Find
and
connect
to
wireless-­‐related
people
or
informa'on
• Share
wireless-­‐related
messages,
ideas,
insights
and
exper'se
with
the
greater
employee
community
across
geographical
and
cultural
differences
8

9. Example: users and their needs
Customer-­‐facing
community
about
implemen7ng
electronic
health
record
(eHR)
systems
Medical
professionals
are
responsible
for
using
an
eHR
for
as
part
of
daily
pa'ent
care
ac'vi'es,
and
are
concerned
about
the
impact
that
doing
so
might
have
on
delivering
quality
pa'ent
care
Researchers
influence
decision
makers
purchase
of
consul'ng
services,
and
both
groups
are
concerned
with
finding
proof
that
success
is
achievable
versus
choosing
to
budget
for
the
penalty
fee
Employee
subject
ma>er
experts
(SMEs)
are
already
recognized
experts
in
the
healthcare
industry
and
are
focused
on
delivering
quality
consul'ng
services
to
healthcare
professionals
about
implemen'ng
eHR
9

10. Knowing your objectives and users
makes it much easier
to define key user scenarios,
and the environment’s overall identity and design

11. Design your community
1. Identify key characteristics based on overall user needs
2. Express them in purpose, calls to action, motivation, and examples
3. Define activity flow
4. Structure for ease of use
5. Seed with balanced company
and user content and interaction
11

12. 1. Identify key characteristics
Sharing
Volunteering
Informa'on
Conversa7ons
Rela7onships
Dialogue
Connec'ng
Iden7ty
Content
Groups
Consuming
Collabora'ng
Informa'on
Reputa7on
Presence
Status
Broadcas'ng
12

13. 2. Express the characteristics
Purpose
What s this site all about in five seconds or less?
Calls to Action
OK, I m here. What do you want me to do?
Make it obvious.
Motivation
What’s in it for me if I answer your
calls to action? Is it what I want?
Example
What behavior do you want me
to model? Give me an example.
13

14. Purpose?
Calls
to
Ac7on?
Mo7va7on?
Example?

15. 3. Define activity flow
What happens when I click here?
Level of Concierge Service Newbie
Savvy
Member
AGributes
None
Low
Medium
High
Familiarity
with
basic
computer
skills
Willingness
to
learn
new
technologies
Exposure
to
online
community/social
networking
concepts
Perceived
value
of
online
communi'es
or
social
networking
Social
technology
ac'vity
level
Knowledge
level
about
your
community s
topics
The
higher
the
newbie
score,
the
higher
the
design’s
concierge
service
15

16. Example: concierge service
Newbie Savvy
C:
Introduce
Yourself
C:
Introduce
Yourself
P:
All
about
Profiles
C:
Complete
your
profile
M:
Benefits
of
networking
E:
Profile
guidelines
E:
Featured
member
profile
Open
profile
in
edit
mode
Open
profile
in
edit
mode
Primary characteristic: Relationships
16

17. 4. Structure for ease of use
Provide just enough structure to support calls to action, key scenarios
Make. It. Simple.
Photo credits: Randomduck and Leo Reynolds
17

18. Primary
characteris'cs:
Conversa7ons,
Sharing,
Rela7onships
Calls
to
ac'on:
Learn,
Share,
Connect
Suppor'ng
structure:
“lobby”
area
for
ini'al
par'cipa'on,
sub
areas
based
on
persona
18

19. 5. Seed content and interaction
People do what they see other people do
People respond best to authentic
examples, e.g., Community Admin
shouldn’t be the primary contributor
Soft-launch to key users, ask them to
enact the key scenarios before
inviting others to the community
Photo credits: dmswart, Swami Stream, LadyDragonflyCC
19

20. Key
Scenario:
Sales
rep
asks
a
ques7on,
SME
answers
it
in
a
7mely
manner

21. Key
Scenario:
Sales
rep
asks
a
ques7on,
SME
answers
it
in
a
7mely
manner
21

22. Once you’ve soft-launched your
community, talk with users to ensure
that you’ve avoided these
common pitfalls

23. Avoid common pitfalls
One-way broadcasting
Over-branding the look and feel
Under-positioning with other applications and websites
Over-structuring according to org charts or product lines
23

24. Periodically, make sure your
design is healthy

25. Check design health
Can a visitor understand what the site is all about in 5 seconds or less?
Is it clear what users are supposed to do?
Is it easy for them to do it?
Is there just enough structure to enable key scenarios?
Are there examples of desired behavior and the rewards for doing so?
Is there a balance of company and user content?
25

26. Q&A