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Kickstarting Online Communities: Con Edison Case Study
The document outlines best practices for launching and managing online communities, emphasizing the importance of identifying target audiences, selecting appropriate technology, and planning for engagement and maintenance. It includes a case study of Con Edison’s 'Power of Giving' online community, highlighting strategies for driving membership and measuring success. Key recommendations involve ongoing communication, content strategy, and the use of KPIs to evaluate community impact on business.
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Kickstarting Online Communities: Con Edison Case Study
- 1. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL KickStarting Online Communities: Best Practices to Engage Audiences Through the Power of Community Case Study: Con Edison May 22, 2013 Sandra Fathi President, Affect sfathi@affect.com @sandrafathi WOMM-U, Chicago
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- 3. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL OVERVIEW KICKSTARTING COMMUNITIES 1. Is a Community Right for You? 2. Choosing Your Technology 3. Planning & Launch 4. Driving Membership & Participation 5. Maintaining & Measuring Engagement 6. Case Study: Con Edison’s Power of Giving Online Community
- 4. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Is your target audience active online? (e.g. social networks, forums, blogs etc.) • Is your brand active online? Do your followers regularly engage with you? • Do you have a steady stream of unique content to communicate? • Does your brand have customer/employee advocates that are eager to engage? • Do you have the internal resources to manage a community on a daily basis? IS IT RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND? KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 5. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL Beforedeciding to launch a new community, remember to : • Look Before You Leap • Define Goals & Objectives / Desired Business Impact • Experiment With Engagement Through Social • Assign Internal Resources • Understand Your Technology Options • Think About the Future (Long-term vs. short-term impact) IS IT RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND? KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 6. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL CHOOSINGYOUR TECHNOLOGY KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES 1. Build It 2. Buy It 3. Rent It 4. Hybrid 1. Analytics 2. Cost 3. Time-to-Market 4. Resources 5. CRM Tech Options Requirements
- 7. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL EXAMPLE: NINGvs. LITHIUM KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES 1. Simple Customization 2. No CRM Integration 3. Fast and Easy Launch 4. Standard UI 5. Lower Cost/No Cost 1. High-Level of Customization 2. Integration w/ Salesforce 3. Time Consuming Build 4. Customizable UI 5. Higher Cost (based on requirements) Ning Lithium
- 8. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL EXAMPLE:NING KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 9. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL EXAMPLE:LITHIUM KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 10. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL Ifyou build it, will they come? PLANNING & LAUNCH KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 11. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL LAUNCHTOOLKIT KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES 1. Community Usage Policy 2. Administrator Workflow Plan 3. Content Strategy 4. Community Response Map/FAQ 5. Technical Recommendations 6. Internal/External Communications Launch Program
- 12. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Utilize a well-designed, easy-to-use interface • Create a content plan/editorial calendar • Identify and train internal community admins • Identify and train customers, partners, influencers (exclusivity sells) • Schedule launch promotion – hit users on their preferred channels (e.g. social media, traditional marketing, PR) • Pre-populate the community with content • Determine KPI’s to measure success PRE-LAUNCH TIPS KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 13. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL Onceyou’ve built it, how do you keep them coming back? DRIVING MEMBERSHIP & PARTICIPATION KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 14. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL DRIVINGMEMBERSHIP & PARTICIPATION KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 15. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • 6 Month Promotion Plan that includes: • Weekly communication with current users • Monthly promotion to non-users • Ambassador activation strategy • Employee engagement strategy • Offline promotion strategy (e.g. marketing collateral) • Content refresh schedule • Weekly measurement/KPI’s ENGAGEMENT TOOLKIT KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 16. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Be consistent and creative with promotion efforts, don’t give up! • Promote new community content externally to drive traffic • Ask ambassadors to share expertise on topics of their choice, use incentives/contests to drive participation • Include a call-to-action in posted content to drive conversation and engagement • Hold back on over-promoting your brand and services – focus on third-party content (e.g. articles, infographics and statistics) – use the 80/20 rule MEMBERSHIP & PARTICIPATION TIPS KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 17. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL Youbuilt it, they came. But did it impact your business? MAINTAINING & MEASURING ENGAGEMENT KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 18. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL MAINTENANCE& MEASUREMENT TOOLKIT KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES 1. Community Engagement KPIs 2. Technical Tripwires 3. Formalized Measurement Template 4. Expansion Strategy (to be implemented aer 6 months) 5. Communicate Success to Leadership 6. Big Ideas to Maintain Engagement
- 19. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Keep the community fresh by incorporating multimedia (e.g. videos, photos, executive insights) • Consistently identify new prospects to join the community, ask current members to recruit their network • Promote the community across all marketing channels, online and offline (e.g. tradeshows/events, social media) • Track qualitative and quantitative metrics on a monthly basis to see community growth and value. Examine business impact (e.g. web traffic + quality of conversion) MAINTENANCE & MEASUREMENT KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES
- 20. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL SAMPLEMETRICS KICK STARTING COMMUNITIES 1. # of New Visitors 2. # of Returning Visitors 3. # of Registered Users 4. % of Active Members 5. # of Engagements 6. # of Member Posts 7. # Leads Generated 1. Content Popularity 2. Language & Tone 3. Sense of Community 4. Quality of Engagement 5. Relevancy of Content 6. Speed of Replies 7. Influencers/Ambassadors Quantitative Qualitative
- 21. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL CaseStudy: Con Edison Power of Giving Online Community
- 22. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL ConEdison operates one of the most complex electrical power systems in the world, serving New York City and Westchester County. • 3.3 million customers • Population of over 9 million people • 660 square mile service territory • Hundreds of strategic partners POWER OF GIVING ONLINE COMMUNITY CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 23. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL ConEdison’s Power of Giving Program provides financial or in-kind support to hundreds of organizations whose activities advance strong, vibrant and stable communities. The program extends beyond cash grants and is enhanced by a strong and loyal corps of employees, a robust board participation program, partnerships and collaborations and an education matching gi program. POWER OF GIVING ONLINE COMMUNITY CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 24. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL STRATEGICPARTNERS CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 25. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Enhance non-profit partners’ access to Con Edison and strengthen communication • Build and improve partner support and satisfaction • Strengthen connections and communication between Con Edison partners, empower them to share resources to promote collaboration • Reputation management during times of crisis (e.g. natural disaster, power outages etc.) POG ONLINE COMMUNITY GOALS & OBJECTIVES CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 26. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • 30-day launch • Simple customization • Easy-to-use technology, must support Google Analytics • Ability to manage community with 1-2 team members • Ability to access community from mobile devices • Ability to send communications directly to members • Forums/discussion boards for users • Ability to upgrade UI/customization as community grows POG ONLINE COMMUNITY REQUIREMENTS CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 27. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Customized email invitation to ‘Insiders’ (invited first) • Customized email invitation to partners by area of interest (e.g. arts & culture, education etc.) • Insiders invited to contribute content and receive administrative permissions • Official launch at Power of Giving forum event (partners invited to sign-up onsite) • Weekly email communication to users from Con Edison highlighting new posted content • Con Edison Program Managers trained to invite partner contacts POG ONLINE COMMUNITY LAUNCH STRATEGY CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 28. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL 550 Members 1Year Post-Launch New Members Every Week 145 Blog Posts Posted by Users 300+ photos and videos 8-10 Average Minutes On Site POWER OF GIVING ONLINE COMMUNITY CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 29. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL POGONLINE COMMUNITY BLOG CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 30. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL POGONLINE COMMUNITY EVENT BOARD CASE STUDY: CON EDISON The events board is used weekly by members to promote events that are happening within their organizations.
- 31. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL • Social Impact Measurement Group: 34 active members • PR & Media Relations Best Practices Group: 32 active members • Arts & Culture Group: 28 active members • Social Media Bootcamp: 22 active members POG ONLINE COMMUNITY GROUPS CASE STUDY: CON EDISON
- 32. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL POGONLINE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SNAPSHOT CASE STUDY: CON EDISON Members ask Con Edison for input and feedback on hot topics.
- 33. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL REPUTATIONMANAGEMENT CASE STUDY: CON EDISON Hurricane Sandy updates received over 250 views by members
- 34. PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL WOMM-U KickStarting Online Communities: Best Practices to Engage Audiences Through the Power of Community May 22, 2013 Sandra Fathi President, Affect sfathi@affect.com @sandrafathi