Driving Innovation: Online Communities
Best Practices Webinar
Richard Millington Dan Fleetwood
President, QuestionPro CommunitiesFounder & Managing Director, FeverBee
#CommunitiesBestPractices
Benefits of an Engaged Community
Get your research done quicker
Save money/budget
Uncover unparalleled insight
Increased confidence research results
Brand promotion
Greater participation
Let’s Dive into the Four Areas
Recruitment
Engagement
Data Collection
Rewards
Recruitment
Avenues of Recruitment
Use a list of your customers
Use social media
Use your website
Use QuestionPro to help find you members
Engagement
Discussions Content Events/Activities
Ways to Engage
Avoid this
Ways to Engage
Avoid this
Ways to Engage
And this too!
How do real people talk?
5 Elements of Soliciting
Useful knowledge in exchange
1) Who asks the question?
2) What is the subject line?
3) The type of discussion
4) The content of the message
5) Number of replies
6) Frequency of posts
If you want an answer, ask a question
(Mix open/closed questions)
Types of questions
Open questions (“What do you think about…?”)
Closed Questions (“Do you think that {x} is {y}?”)
Specific Questions (“How much do you spend on…?”)
Hypothetical questions (“What would you do if…?”)
There are three types of
discussions
Conveying Information
Bonding
Status-Jockeying
Status-JockeyingBonding
Conveying Information
Initiate, encourage, and highlight discussions
which facilitate self-disclosure
Simple Bonding/Status Questions
How did you become interested in….?
What was your biggest achievement?
What is your average day like?
What would you change if…?
Simple Bonding/Status Questions
Immediate to the point
Short, simple, words and sentences
Call to action (ask who/why)
Length of post (100 to 250 words)
Include your own testimonial (why you, why now?)
Sustaining Discussions
- Respond within 24 hours
- Acknowledge unique/useful material, but...
- Avoid generic terms “thank you for the question”
- Ask a clarifying question (or two)
- Add your own thoughts/opinions
- Mention other members by name who might have an opinion
- Nudge members to participate
- Turn the discussions into resources/columns/documented info
Menu of Discussion
Regular Irregular
Online
Webinars
Themed Discussions
Weekly interview
Competition / Challenges
Newcomer orientation
Problem solving debate
Awards
Elections
Milestones
Member achievements
Broader victories/celebrations
Product launches
Guest speakers/VIP chats
Offline
Weekly/Monthly meet-ups
Decentralized gatherings
Annual gatherings
Christmas/New Year
Exhibitions
Product-launches
Conferences
Trade shows
Themed parties
Entertainment shows
Unconferences
Spontaneous meets
Visitors
Registered members
Participants
Regular Members
Volunteers
Growth
Direct
Personal Invites
Email Lists
Partnerships
Word-of-Mouth
Individual Referrals
Content Sharing
Social Media
Ego-Traps
Involvement Activites
Promotional
Media Relations
Blogger Outreach
Advertising
Events/ Competitions
Search
SEO tactics
Adwords
Long-tail Keywords
Visitor-Stage Interventions
- Search Engine Optimization
- Link building
- Directly invite members
- Mailing list / direct marketing
- Publicity / Promotion
- Advertising
- Redirecting traffic
Registration-Stage Interventions
- Clearly position registration form
- Simplify registration page copy
- Tweak email confirmation copy
- Solicit Contributions Before Registration
- Target Interested Members
- Adjust Landing Pages
Participation stage interventions
- Change the post-registration page
- Highlight something to do in welcome / confirmation e-mail
- Use a buddy system
- Personal welcomes
- Introduce new members to the group
- Notification of major upcoming events
- Create a newcomer-specific area
- Assign newcomers a role
- Ask for their advice/expertise
Regular stage interventions
- Rituals
- Personal introductions
- Newcomer content
- Switching Motivations
- Ownership & Influence
Data Collection
Data Collection: Surveys/Polls
Rewards
Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards Badges/Gamification Points/Reward System
questionpro.com/communities
@questionpro
communities@questionpro.com
http://download.feverbee.com Dan Fleetwood
dan.fleetwood@questionpro.com
Richard Millington
richard@feverbee.com

Webinar: Driving Innovative Research: Online Communities Best Practices