characteristics-of-community-excellence-

World Class Communities

The Characteristics of Community ExcellenceRob Howard & Cecilia Edwards, Telligent

2011

Table of Contents Building World Class Communities 1 Executive Summary 1 What is a community? 2 Social is the new normal 2 Social technology doesn’t equal community 5 Thedefinitionofcommunityisregularinteraction,acommonobjective,andrelationships 6 Socialmediafacilitatesrelationships;communityhasanobjective 7 Onlinecommunitiesarepartofthesocialecosystem 7 Criteria for World Class Communities 10 Company-ownedcommunities 10 Relationship-oriented 10 Activemembership 10 Plannedsustainability 10 Characteristics of World Class Communities 11 Identifiablebusinessobjectives 11 Anemphasisonbeingpersonal 12 Acultureofbelonging 13 Majorsourceofrelevantcontent 14 Leveragethewisdomofthecrowd 15 Influentialmembersarehighlighted 16 Rewardwithpixels 16 Establishandenforceguidelines 17 Membershiphasitsprivileges 18 How to Become a World Class Community 19 Backtobasics 19 Thinkbig,startsmall 19 Performance-basedmetrics 20 Bevisibleandengaged 20 Constantlyevolve 21 Conclusion 22

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Building World Class Communities

Executive SummaryThereisarevolutionhappeningrightnow.It’snameissocialnetworking.Notsincetheemergenceofemailhasthebusinessworldexperiencedsuchadramaticshift.Tostayontopofthetrend,organizationsareinvestingaggressivelyintools,people,andprocesses.Thisincludessocialsoftwarethatwillhelptheseorganizationsshareandmanageinformationsociallywithcustomers,partnersandemployees.

Gartnerpredicts,“Theworldwidemarketforenterprisesocialsoftwarewilltop$769millionin2011,up15.7percentfromthe$664millionspentin2010.”1 Businesses are building and launching a myriad of online communities. These communityinvestmentsspanfromlaunchingproprietarycorporatecommunitiestoinvestinginconsumersocialnetworkingsiteslikeFacebookandTwitter.Allofthisisinanefforttoreachnewaudiencesandsellmoreproductsandservices.

However, littered along this changing landscape are numerous ghost towns —communitiesthathavefailedduetolackofparticipation,toomuchcontrol,orlackofresponsetousers’changingneeds.

Whyisitthatsomecommunitiesprosperwhileotherswitheranddie?Isthecreationofagreatonlinecommunitysimplyluck?Shouldbusinessessimplythrowmoneyatcommunitytechnology,featuresandfunctionality,andthensimplysitbackandwatchitgrow?Oristhereamorepreciseandpredictableprocessthatanyorganizationcanbeguidedthrough?

Muchresearchandanalysishasbeendonetoidentifyleadingcommunities;theseleadingcommunitiesarewidelyagreedupon.However,littleresearchhasyetbeenperformedtoidentifywhatcausesonecommunitytosucceedandanothertofail—andmoreimportantly,whatmakesacommunity“worldclass”.

Building World Class Communities

1.Predicts2011:CRMEntersaThree-YearShake-Up,Gartner,November,2010

1

“Our end goal is to have a world class commu-nity filled with passion-ate and engaged users. Users willing to discuss not just the positives, but the areas we need to improve and then help uscollaboratively make those improvements.Once we have that typeof user base, ouropportunities with the community expandimmensely.” Telligent World Class Communities SurveyParticipant

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World class communities are those which harness the knowledge and passion of their audiences to improve customers’ brand perception, and create measurable business results.

Thepurposeof thiswhitepaper is tobreakdownwhatmakesacommunityworldclassandhowthoseattributescanbeduplicated.

What is a community?Anonlinecommunity isawebsiteorpart of awebsite that is typicallyownedbyabusinessororganization.Itmakesuseofsocialsoftwaretechnologies—blogs,forums,userprofiles—toenable interactionbetweenpeoplewhohaveasharedinterestintheobjective.Thecommunityhasaspecificpurposeorobjectivethattheorganizationandtheaudiencetogetherdesiretoaccomplish.

Social is the new normalSocialhasbecomethenew“normal”forday-to-daycommunication.Moreimportantly,itisthenewmeasureforhowimportantdecisionsaremade.Harvard Business Review calledsocial,“themostsignificantbusinessdevelopmentof2010”that is“enablingbusinessleaderstoregaintrustandcredibilitylostoverthelast10years.”2

SocialnetworkslikeFacebookhavebecomepartofourdailyroutine.Itsmorethan500millionusersspendapproximately700billionminutesonthesiteeverymonth.3 TelligentconductedaWorldClassCommunitiessurveyandfoundthat63percentoftheparticipantshadacorporateFacebookaccountand78percenthadacorporateTwitteraccount.

Building World Class Communities 2

2.HowSocialNetworkingHasChangedBusiness,BillGeorge,HarvardBusinessReview,December23,20103.Facebookworldwideusagestatistics,December,2010

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ThiscommitmenttosocialisfurthervalidatedbyresearchconductedwithForresterwhichanalyzedspendingpatterns forsocial investments. “Socialmediaspendingisexpectedtogrowatacompoundannualgrowthrateof34%overthenextfouryears.“4

Forrester foundthat“86%of interactivemarketersplanto increasetheirspendingonsocialmediaoverthenextfouryears…engagingandmanagingacommunityofconsumersisatoppriority.”5

U.S.drugmanufacturers,forexample,realizetheimportanceofsocialasachanneltotheircustomers.Theyhavebeenexcludedfromfullengagementbecauseoftherequirementtocommunicatethefineprintoftherisksassociatedwithparticulardrugs.Theyhaverecently,however,beenpressingtheU.S.F.D.A.forlegislationtoenablethemtoadvertiseinsocialnetworksandthusmorefullyengagewiththeircustomersthewaytheotherindustriescan.6


4.MidyearPlanning,ForresterResearch,July29,20105.CommunityManagementChecklist,ForresterResearch,June29,20106.AsDrugMarketersEmbraceSocialMedia,FDAMullsNewRules,NationalPublicRadio,August12,2010

Organizations that ignore social technology as part of the new normal risk missing out on a major market opportunity and will have to spend sig-nificantly to catch up to the competition.

Social networks are part of our daily routine.

Interactive Marketing Community

Association Member-to-member Community

Customer Support Community

Business-to-business Community

YouTube Account

Facebook Account

Twitter Account

ResponsePercent

78.0%

63.4%

58.5%

43.9%

43.9%

36.6%

24.4%

Current deployments of social media or communities

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Social formsofcommunicationarealsopresent inside ofcompanies.Businessesrecognizethevalueofcreatingcommunitieswithintheirorganization.AndrewMcAfeecoinedtheterm“enterprise2.0”todescribehowbusinessesusesocialtechnologiestomoreefficientlymanagethecollaborationthattakesplaceday-to-daywithinthebusiness.

Whydobusinessescareaboutbringingsocialtechnologiesintotheenterprise?IDCestimatesthatupwardsof30percentofemployees’timeisfocusedonfindingthedata theyneed toaccomplisha task,and thatanother15-25percent isspentonnon-productive information-relatedactivities insteadofaskingcolleaguesforhelp.7 Socialtechnologiesareaimedatsignificantlyreducingthisnon-productivetime.

InTelligent’sWorldClassCommunitiessurvey,respondentswhodeployedenterprise2.0communitiesconfirmsthisobservation:


7. The High Cost of Not Finding Information, IDC, 2001

There are numerous business benefits to internal communities.

Greatest Benefit of Enterprise 2.0 (Employee Communities)

Understanding the needs and wants of employees

Solving business problems through collaboration

Identifying experts within the organization

Engaging employees to drive innovation

Connecting employees to strengthen the company's culture

Communicating corporate messages quickly and effectively

2.4%

19.5%

14.6%

2.4%

56.1%

2.4%

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Social technology doesn’t equal communityBusinesseshavenothesitatedinrespondingtothenewsocialwaveasevidencedbythecurrentandpredictedbudgetsallocatedtosocialspending.

Technology plays a very important role in facilitating a community, but solely asanenabler.Aclearsetoftechnologynormsareemergingforeveryoneduetothewidespreadadoptionofsocialnetworks–predominatelyFacebook.Forexample,theyexpectmodernand robust forums for support, blogs for learningaboutnewinsightsdirectlyfromthebusiness,andcomments,ratings,andreviews.

InTelligent’sWorldClassCommunitiessurvey,45percentoftheparticipantsindicatedthattechnologywasveryimportantintermsofcapabilitiesandrankeditthirdaftereaseofuseandsearchtools.


“Engagement is what makes a community great, but the tools/platform need to at least not be a hindrance, but at best, facilitate, and expand users’ participa-tion.” Telligent World Class Communities SurveyParticipantThe most important community capability is usability.

Importance of Community Capabilities

Branding/look-and-feelof the community

Rich user profiles

Richness of communitytechnologies (wikis, blogs,forums, etc.)

Ease of use

Search tools

50 100 150 17512575

163

123

121

80

74

Relevance Points

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The definition of community is regular interaction, a common objective,and relationshipsOnlinecommunitiesformwhenthetechnologyfacilitatesregularinteractionarounda common cause. For example, today people expect and desire to troubleshootproblemsthemselvesratherthancontactahelpcenterviathephone.

Mostconsumersregularly—oftendaily—useGoogleorothersearchenginestoseekoutinformationforparticularproblemstheyencounter.“Whereisagoodplacetoeatnearhere?”“WhatkindofhybridcarshouldIbuy?”“WhatdopeoplesimilartomerecommendthatIread?”

ItisthedialogthatoccurswithinthepagesfoundbyGooglethatmattersmosttoourdecisionmakingprocess.Peopletrustsearchenginestonarrowtheinformationtheyneedtolookat,butdecisionsaremadebasedonwhatpeerssay.

Consumerswanttointeractwithpeersandfriendstolearnwhatrecommendationstheyhave.ResearchfromtheNielsenGlobalOnlineConsumerSurveyshowsthat90percentofconsumerstrustpeerrecommendations.8

Modernconsumersearchenginesrecognizethis.Googleincludesinformationaboutdiscussionswithinsearch results tohelpyouquicklyseehowmanypeoplehaveresponded on a given topic. In an interesting side note, Facebook has taken anincreasingportionofthissearchmarketspacefromGoogleinthelastfewyears.

Interactions can be both positive and negativeIn 1983,TARPWorldwide, a customer experience agency, famously published astudywhichstatedthatonedisgruntledclientspeakswithanaverageof10clients.9

TodayintheUnitedStates,thereareupwardsof3.5billionbrand-relatedconversationshappeningeveryday,andsocialmediaenablespeopletomovetheseconversationsonline.AccordingtomorerecentresearchbyTARPWorldwide,oneunhappyclientwhoescalatestheir issuetomanagementrepresents50clients,onaverage,whoeither complain locally or don’t complain at all.And taken further, one escalatedcomplaintisspreadtoover1,300peopleviaword-of-mouth.10


Your customers are talk-ing about you. Ignore them at your own peril.

8. Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, 2009

9. The Bottom Line Benefits of Consumer Education, Atlanta, GA: Coca Cola. Inc., TARP, 1983

10. TARP Worldwide Research, 2008

While search technology is great, the simple ques-tion of, “What is the best laptop?” yields nearly 500,000 results in Google.

1 unhappy customer ex-perience = 50 customers and 1,300 conversations

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Social media facilitates relationships; community has an objectiveAsstatedearlier,socialnetworksandcommunitiesareverydifferent.Intheillustrationabovetheprimarypurposesandenablersofbothsocialnetworksandcommunitiesareshown.

A social network’s primary purpose is creating and fostering relationships, andtheprimaryenabler iscommonactivities.Forexample,Facebookenablespeopleto connectwith oneanother, but the relationships that are created typically havecommonalitybetweenactivities:school,work,sports,etc.

Contrastthiswithacommunity,whoseprimarypurposeisabusinessobjective(e.g.,productsupport.)Theenablerforacommunityistherelationshipsthatformtomeetbusinessgoals.Forexample,acommunity likePsionTeklogix’sprovidessupportto customers, but the enabler is the relationships that form between customers,prospects,partners,andexpertsastheyaskandanswerquestions.

Online communities are part of the social ecosystemDoesthismeanthatabusinessshouldnothaveasocialnetwork,butinsteadonlyhaveacommunity?No.Worldclasscommunitiesrecognizethatsocialmediaisanewchannelforengagingcustomers;andthatsocialnetworkscomplementcommunitiesviasourcingmembers,providingaholisticviewofsocial interactioninonecentralplace.

Theprimarypurposeofasocialnetworkissocial—tofacilitaterelationshipsbetweenpeoplewhosharecommoninterests—whileacommunityexiststosolveaspecificbusinessproblemthroughrelationships.


The purposes of social networks and online communities are different.

Relationships BusinessObjectives

Social Network Online Community

Primary Purpose

Primary Enabler

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Businesses must understand that their audiences need a social ecosystem that is comprised of both consumer-facing social networks as well as company-ownedcommunities.

Socialmedia isprovidingmarketersgreater reach for lessmoney.According toa2010surveysponsoredbytheAMA,withinoneyear,socialmediaisexpectedtobe10percentofallmarketingbudgetsand18percentinfiveyears.11


Social fans are an asset that you can build with a campaign and then tap into again in the future as long as they remain engaged with your brand.

11. The CMO Survey Highlights and Insights, Christine Moorman and T. Austin Finch, CMOSurvey.org, August 2010

Understand what your strategy is at each layer of the Social Ecosystem. Your online community is only one aspect.

External Communities

Closed Network

Internal Communities

Participating

Managed

Owned

Listening, establishing reputation

Listening, supporting, building reputation, marketing

Listening, supporting, building relationships, collaborating

Example: customer communities

Example: channels, members

Example: Intranets, communities of practice

The Social Ecosystem

World Class Communities

Wikis BlogsForums

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Telligent’s early research, documented in Mashable, identifies three types ofcommunities in the social universe that work together for businesses as anecosystem.12

ParticipatingThese are communities started andmanaged by individuals or groups of users,typically on consumer-facing social networking sites, but sometimes also withproprietary software. Participating communities include Facebook, Twitter andLinkedIn.AnexampleherewouldbeafansiteforMicrosoft’sXboxoranindependentPorscheenthusiastgroup.Typically,theorganizationwhoseproductsorservicesarethetopicofdiscussioncanparticipate,buthasnoauthorityoveroraccesstothedatacreatedwithinthecommunity.

ManagedThese are communities started and managed by the organization, but run onconsumer-facingsocialnetworkingsiteslikeTwitter,FacebookorLinkedIn.Exampleshere includetheNationalBreastCancerFoundation’sFacebookpage,Starbucks’Flickrgrouppool,orDell’spresenceonTwitter.Theorganizationisresponsibleforrunningandmanagingthecommunity,butdoesnotnecessarilybenefitfromtherichdataanduserprofilescreatedwithinthecommunity.Typically,thefacilitatorofthecommunity(Twitter,Facebook,etc.)benefitsthemostfromtheunderlyingdata.

Company-Owned These are communities owned and managed by a company typically runningcommercial or open source community and enterprise collaboration software.Examples include the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s community website,Starbucks’ blog, orDell’s support community.The organization is responsible forrunningandmanagingthecommunityandbenefitsfromrichdataanduserprofilescreatedwithin thatcommunity.These includeprivateB2Band internalemployee-targetedcommunities.


12. How Businesses can Harness the Power of Online Communities, Rob Howard, Mashable, April 2010

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Criteria for World Class CommunitiesIn the evaluation of world class communities, Telligent considered only thosecommunitiesthatmetthefollowingcriteria:

Company-owned communitiesTherearemanygreatcommunitiesthathavebeenstartedandgrowntoworldclassstatus throughgrass rootefforts,suchasWikipedia.Someopen-sourcesoftwarecommunities, such as Linux, are great examples of well-disciplined, engaged,cohesivecommunities.Infact,manyofthesecommunitiesarethepioneersinthisspacesincewidespreadenterprisecommunitiesarelessthanadecadeold.Whilethereismuchtolearnfromthesecommunities,theirchallengesandobjectivesaredifferentfromthoseofbusinesses,sowechosetofocusonlyoncompany-ownedcommunities—externalandinternal.

Relationship-orientedAs described earlier, community is not synonymous with engagement. Whilecommunitycannottakeplacewithoutengagement,engagementcancertainlytakeplacewithoutcommunity.Manysupportforumsfallintothiscategory.Engagementistakingplaceintheformofaskingquestionsandgettinganswers.Thereisevenabitofreputationthatcanbedevelopedbythemostfrequentanswerers.Butthattendstobewheretheengagementends(i.e.onceaproblemissolved,theengagementisover).Thus,norelationshipisformed.Worldclasscommunitiesmustgobeyondlimitedengagementtocreateasenseofbelongingandrelationship.

Active membershipWhile great design is important, people and engagement are imperative to allcommunities.Therearemanyaspiringcommunitiesfullofcoolfeatures,impressivebellsandwhistles,andawardworthydesign,butlackinganaudience.Sowhileeaseofuseanduserinterfacecancertainlyenablecommunities,theywerenotamajorfocusforthisreport.Visitors,members,andengagementarewhatmattermost.

Planned sustainabilityManycommunitiesareformedaroundspecificcampaigns—e.g.politicalcampaignsorproductlaunches—andareverysuccessful.ForTelligent,therealtestofwhetherthesecommunitiesareworldclassistheirstayingpower.Isthereawaytokeepthevisitorscomingandkeepthemembersengagedwhentheoriginalcampaignsend?Whiletacticsusedforcommunitiesaroundcampaignsareinterestingandworthyofbeingleveragedinworldclasscommunities,welookedmorebroadlyatwhatittakestoremainsustainable.

“...many communities that I find valuable (even the communities that appear on discussions/comments in blogs), but none are outstanding. None make me stop and say, this is the way to do things.” Telligent World Class Communities SurveyParticipant

“...world class goals are still further out than most have accomplished to date.” Telligent World Class Communities SurveyParticipant


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Characteristics of World Class CommunitiesIn thesurveyconducted for this research,Dell,Starbucks, Intuit,andApplewereidentified by a few respondents as leaders to be emulated. Most respondents,however,couldnotprovideanexampleofaworldclasscommunity.Telligentbelievesthatwhiletrueleadersexist,itmaybetooearlytodeclarethatanyonehasreachedworldclassstatusonallfronts.

Thoughnocurrentcommunitieshaveachievedaworldclassstandard,Telligenthasidentifiedninecharacteristicsthatifmetwouldmerit“worldclass”status.

1. Identifiable business objectives

World class communities have balanced objectives: the company is meetingtheir business goals and the members are using the community to address their needs (support, product information, word-of-mouth recommendations, employeenetworking,etc.).

Asstatedearlier,oneofthedistinguishingcharacteristicsofacommunityversusasocialnetworkisthatthecommunityhasabusinessobjectiveenabledthroughthemember-to-memberrelationships.

Examplesofbusinessobjectivesinclude:

Support -Thisisthemostcommonusecaseforexternal-facingcommunities.Thecommunity is used to enable crowdsourced support for a company’s product orservice.Example communities: Dell, Microsoft XBox, American Express

Interactive marketing-Brandedcommunitiesarenotnew.Whatisnewistheuseofcommunitiestocapturethenewconsumerbehavior:socializingthebuyingprocessusing thevoiceof thecustomers tohelpselland recommendproducts.Example communities: Electronic Arts, Starbucks, Cadbury

Networking -NetworkingcommunitiesaremostoftenusedforB2Boremployee-drivencommunities.Theobjectivewithinanetworkingcommunityistotapintotheunstructured people-driven knowledge streams thatwere previously inaccessible.Example communities: US Department of Defense (APAN), Psion Teklogix, Procter & Gamble

Employee collaboration-ResearchconductedbyIDCidentifiedthatforanenterpriseto“gainthegreatestleveragefromits‘informationassets,’knowledgeworkersmustbeabletoshareandreuseinformationregardlessofformatorlocation.”13Employeecollaborationthroughsocialtechnologiesisbasedonthenewnormalbehaviorpatternof how consumers locate, use, and manage information.Example communities: Procter & Gamble, Texas Instruments, Intel

World class communi-ties can execute multiple strategies simultane-ously, but must start with a clear focus.


13. The High Cost of Not Finding Information, IDC, 2001

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Examplesofmemberneedsinclude:

Find answers to questions - Themost common landing page for users of thecommunityisthepagetheyweredirectedtobyasearchsystem—eitherinternalorexternal.Themajorityofpeoplewithinthecommunitywillalwaysbeconsumers:thoselookingforsolutionstoproblemsoranswerstoquestions.

Make decisions based on the experience of peers-Amazonistheshowcaseforenablingpeoplewithinthecommunitytolearnandmakebuyingdecisionsbasedonthesharedexperienceofpeers.Otherexamplesincludepopularweight-losssitesthatenablecommunitymemberstodiscusstheirresultswithoneanother.

Find people that have knowledge needed to complete a task -Thisisacommonuse case internally. Employeeswant to leverage the power of the community tounderstandwhowithintheorganizationhastheinformationneededtocompleteagiventask.Manyorganizationsrealizethatthenewcompetitiveadvantageishowquicklyemployeescanuseinformationtomakedecisions.

Procter&Gamble(P&G)isamultinationalcompanywith138,000employeesin160-pluscountriesthatfaces“...countlessopportunities—andasmanyhurdles—forP&Gtoconnectideasandexpertise.”14

AccordingtoMichaelFulton,P&G’senterprisearchitecturecapabilitymanager,“Untilnow,wikis,blogs,podcasts—theyfeltliketheplaceforthetechno-elite.This[social]platformmakesiteasyforeveryonetoparticipate.”

UsinganewinternalcommunitynamedPeopleConnect,a150-person,geographicallydisbursedworkgroupcametogether intwomonthsratherthaninsixto12.“Thisplatformdrovespeed,transparencyandadesiretoengagewiththechangepreviouslyunseenatP&G,”Fultonsaid. 2. An emphasis on being personal

Worldclasscommunitiesarepersonalandemphasizeconnectingmemberswithrealpeoplewithinthebusiness.

Worldclasscommunitiesfosterrealdialogandareauthentic.Itiscriticallyimportantthatthebusinessdoesnotattempttofalsifyactivitytoinflatewhatappearstobeactiveparticipation (i.e., impersonatingmembersandaskingquestionsor impersonatingcustomersandansweringquestions).Authenticityiscritical.

In2009,aglobalcomputerhardwaremanufacturerwascaughtpayingforpositivereviewsofitsproductsonAmazon.Notonlyweregoodreviewsbeingpaidfor,thesesamereviewers—manyofwhomneverusedtheproducts—werealsoaskedtoclassifynegativereviewsas“nothelpful”.

Businesses must realize that social is a revolution in both howcustomers are serviced and how they experience the brand.


14. How Procter & Gamble Got Employees to Use Social Networking at Work, Rick Swanborg, CIO, August 24, 2009

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Partofbeingpersonalandrealisencouragingcommunityparticipantstofullycompletetheirprofileswithphotosandadditionalprofiledetailsthatenablethecommunitytolearnaboutthem.

Thisisespeciallyimportantforthecommunitymanager.Memberswanttogettoknow(andbefriend)thecommunitymanager.Withinworldclasscommunities,memberswillseethecommunitymanagerasthefaceofthebrand.

RatherthanpresentingfilteredinformationthroughaPRagency,businessessuchasDellenablepassionateindividualswhoareintimatelyfamiliarwiththecompany’sproductsandservicestodirectlyrepresentthebrand.

When you encourage and foster participation from the company, you strengthenthebrandwiththecustomers.Infact,overtimeyou’llseecustomersbecomebrandchampions.

3. A culture of belonging

Worldclasscommunitiesfosteracultureofcollaborationandengagement.

Newmembersarewelcomedintothecommunitywithclearandconcisedirectionsforhowtoparticipate,howtosetuptheirprofile,wheretoaskquestions,andhowtofindinformation.

Relationshipsareakeyingredienttosuccess.Communitiesshouldenableautomaticfriending,wherenewmembersareautomaticallyconnectedwithadesignatedpersonwithin thecommunity, suchas thecommunitymanager.Thisway,newmembersimmediatelyhaveastartingpointforformingrelationships.

Communities thrive on personal connections.

Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s Chief Blogger


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Forming relationships early is critical, unlike social networks where the primaryobjective is the relationship. Within a community the relationship is the enabler.Communitiesthatpromoterelationshipsandnetworkingwithinthecommunityseeamuchhigherreturnrate.

Altimeterstatedthat,“whilenooneyethasthedatatodeterminedirectcauseandeffect, what we do find is a financial correlation between those who are deeplyengagedandthosewhooutperformtheirpeers.”15

4. Major source of relevant content

Worldclasscommunitiesfocusoncreatingrelevantandtimelycontentthatcannotbefoundelsewhere.

Telligent’s research into world class communities validated that people who usecommunities place a high amount of value on the content: finding answers toquestions quickly and identifying relevant information were ranked as extremelyimportant.

15. The world’s most valuable brands. Who’s most engaged, Altimeter, July 2009


Content searching is a community driver.

Typical Community Uses

Not Needed Nice ToHave

ExtremelyImportantImportant Rating

Average

Contributing content like FAQs,recommendations, reviews,and opinions

Finding answers quickly

Forming relationships with othercommunity members

Identifying relavent information

Influencing othercommunity members

Sharing content across socialmedia channels (e.g. Facebook,LinkedIn, Twitter)

Identifying experts and/orinfluential people

Receiving recognitionfor participation

0.0% (0) 0.0% (0) 24.4% (10) 75.6% (31) 3.76

0.0% (0) 4.9% (2) 39.0% (16) 56.1% (23) 3.51

2.5% (1) 7.5% (3) 35.0% (14) 55.0% (22) 3.43

0.0% (0) 12.5% (5) 55.0% (22) 32.5% (13) 3.20

2.4% (1) 14.6% (6) 58.5% (24) 24.4% (10) 3.05

4.9% (2) 22.0% (9) 48.8% (20) 24.4% (10) 2.93

2.5% (1) 27.5% (11) 47.5% (19) 22.5% (9) 2.90

7.3% (3) 41.5% (17) 31.7% (13) 19.5% (8) 2.63

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When creating the first developer community forMicrosoft’sASP.NET product in2001,thenumberoneemphasiswascreatinguniquecontentthatcouldnotbefoundelsewhere. Conferencematerials, special articles, sample code, and even blogswrittenbytheASP.NETteammembersprovidedaplethoraofuniquecontenttodrawdevelopersintothecommunity.Itwasonlylaterthatforumswereaddedtoenablethosememberstointeractwitheachother.

Themajorityofpeoplewhovisitacommunityhaveaspecificneedorproblemtheywishtosolve.Theuniquecontentfoundinacommunityisthestartingpointforbuildinglonger-termengagementbetweenamemberandthecompany.

5. Leverage the wisdom of the crowd

Worldclasscommunitiesharnesstheessenceofthewisdomofcrowds.Theterm“crowdsourcing”wascoinedbyJeffHowein2006todescribethis.16

Expertsdon’tknoweverything,andacompanycannotknoweverythingabouttheirownproductsandservices.Thepeoplewhojoincommunitieshaveavaluablesetofopinions,experiences,ideas,andinsightthatothermembersandcompaniescanbenefitfrom.

Whensomeoneasksaquestionaboutaproduct,worldclasscommunitieswilloftenwait toallowsomeonefromthecommunityachancetoanswerbeforethey jumpinasawaytoencourage“crowd”participation.Theyevenposeproductquestionsthemselves that the community would be better equipped to answer than theirexperts.

Ideationissocialtechnologythatenablesparticipantstosuggestandvoteonideas.It is increasingly more visible in world class communities to enable the productdevelopmentprocess.Inadditiontopollsandsurveys,communitieslikeMyStarbucksIdeaareaskingforinputonideas,allowingthecommunitytoexpresstheircollectiveopinions,andthensharingtheresults.WhattakesthispracticetoaworldclasslevelisthatStarbucksholdsitselfaccountabletothecommunityandreportsonwhatwasdonewitheachideapresented—whetheritwasadoptedornot.

Verylittleguessingneedstobedonewhenacompanyisabletogetthedirectinputfrom the community first-hand on how the products are used, issues that arise,resolutions to those issues,andpreference fornewproducts.This is thevalueofcrowdsourcing.

“If you want to make a correct decision or solve a problem, large groups of people are smarter than a few experts.”JamesSurowiecki,author,WisdomofCrowds

16. Crowdsourcing: The Next Big Thing In Social Networking, Robert Bravery, Business Computing World, November 24, 2010


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6. Influential members are highlighted

Worldclasscommunitiesknowwhotheinfluencersfortheirproductsare.Andonceinfluencershavebeen identified,businesses reinforcewho the influencersarebypubliclyidentifyingthemwithinthecommunity.

Aninfluencerinthecontextofonlinecommunitiesisapersonwithinacommunitythatcaninfluencebehaviorofothermembersofthecommunity.Peoplereadwhattheywrite,commenton theircontributions, follow their leadonbehavior,andgenerallytaketheirrecommendations.

Thisinfluencecanbeforpurchasingdecisions,butitcanalsobeinformationdecisions.And,animportantdistinctionthatisoftenoverlooked:influencerscanbebothpositiveandnegative.Positiveinfluencecanmotivateaconsumertomakeabuyingdecisionoruseaspecificdocumentfordecisionmaking.However,negativeinfluencehastheoppositeeffectofinfluencingadecisionnottopurchase.

Withincommunities,positiveinfluenceandnegativeinfluencecanbemeasured.Thepositiveinfluencerscanthenbehighlightedbytheorganization.

Word-of-mouth is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasedecisions.18Whenmakingdecisions,peoplewanttoknowwhotheexpertsareandwhoseopinionstheyshouldlistento.

World class communities encourage the formation of influencers, highlight theircontributionswithinthecommunity,andworkwiththemtoaffecttheculture.

7. Reward with “pixels”

Worldclasscommunitiesshowcasemembersofthecommunityandrewardthemforparticipation,eventhosewhoarenotconsideredinfluential.

Thisdoesn’tnecessarilyneedtobemonetaryacknowledgmenteither.Instead,worldclasscommunitiesadoptthe“pixelsvs.pennies”approach,usingbadgesandotherdigitaltoolstocalloutdifferentparticipantlevels.

17. Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape, Jupiter Research, March 2007

18. A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing, McKinsey Quarterly, April 2010


Why is identifying influencers important? People are three times more likely to trust peers over advertising.17

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Onecompany that hasdemonstrated this inaworld class fashion isGameStop.GameInformer.com is the digital publication of GameInformer, a monthlymagazinepublishedbyGameStop.GameInformer.comisfulloftips,reviews,andmost importantly, perspective from the avid gamers who participate there daily.GameInformer.comrecentlywonaWebbyawardforitscommunity.

WhatmakesGameInformer.comuniqueisitsextensiveuseofreputationwithinthecommunitytoenablegamerstounlocknewcapabilitiesastheirreputationandtrustlevelincreases.Inotherwords,GameInformer.comshowcasesandacknowledgesmembers by recognizing their contributions and continuously promoting theircontributions.

8. Establish and enforce guidelines

Worldclasscommunitiespublishasetofcommunityparticipationguidelines(e.g.,what is considered acceptable behavior) and enforce them. The guidelines existtoensurethatbulliesandtrolls—peoplewhosimplyliketoargueforthesakeofarguing—areproperlymoderatedwithinthecommunity.

Helpfulguidelinesforparticipationshouldnotbeoverlycomplicatedbutaddressthefollowing:

Representyourselfaccurately-noimpersonationofotherpeople.•Respecttherightsofothers,includingcopyrights,personalinformation,etc.•Noharassmentorharmfulbehavior.•Onlyincludecontentthatisrelevanttothecommunity.•

World class communities also make it clear what will happen if the rules areviolated. Theseguidelinesarenotused,however,toremovenegativefeedbackorcriticismof thecompany.Worldclasscommunityowners recognize thatmostpeopleonlycriticizewhentheyfeelcompelledtomaketheirexperiencebetter.Therefore,theyencourageauthentic feedbackandengagewithcommunitymembersonways toimprove.

Highlysuccessfulcommunitieswilleventuallybecomeself-policing.Members,ratherthanthecommunitymanager,willidentifycontentthatrequiresmoderationandtakeappropriateactions.However, it ishighlysuggested that thesoftware running thecommunityalsosupportssomemannerofauditingtoensurethereisaccountabilityforallactions.


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9. Membership has its privileges

For communities to have long-term sustainability,membersmust feel a senseofbelongingandevenexclusivity.Membersofa communitywant to feelas thoughthey have the inside scoop onwhat is happening at the company and that theirmembershipprovidesthemaccesstothingstheycannotgetelsewhere.

Thisexclusivityiscreatedinmanyways:

Announcementsmadeinthecommunitypriortothembeingmade“publicly”•Product/servicepricingspecialsavailableonlytocommunitymembers•Reports,articlesandotherinformationthatisavailableonlyinthecommunity•Priorityaccesstokeycompanyemployees•Participationinmember-onlybetaprograms•Abilitytoprovideproductfeedback•Engagementinideationfornewproductsandproductimprovement•

Thesearethingsthatmake itworth joiningacommunityandremaininganactivemember.Whenpeople canget things in the community theyarenot able togetelsewhere,theirlevelofcommitmentandengagementinthecommunityincreases.


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How to Become a World Class CommunityNoteverycommunitywillbecomeworldclass.Itisimportanttorecognizethatattainingworldclassstaturerequiresmanyreviewsofcommunityandcommunitystrategy,aclearfocusonengagement,andfullsupportoftheorganization.

Back to basicsWhile this document outlines a set of characteristics important to world classcommunities,itisofteninthebasicswhereweseecommunitiesfail.

First, ensure that there are easyways to engage thatmake sense forwhat youare trying toaccomplish ina community.Forexample, if youare looking to startdiscussionsorallowpeople toaskandanswerquestions,makesure forumsareprominentonyoursite. Second, if you have a clear set of experts, either within your company or yourcommunity, enable blogging,where longer pieces can be crafted and responsesprovidedbyothers.

Third,mediagalleriesareamustifyouwantmemberstosharephotosandvideos.

Fourth,easywaysofengagement,suchascommenting,rating,andlikingaregreatwaystodrawinmembers.

Finally,greatprofilesandawayformemberstoengagewitheachotherareamust.Thesearetheenablersinarelationship—akeyfactorinestablishingasenseofcommunity.

Think big, start smallWhen launching—or revamping—acommunity, it ishelpful tohavean ideaofwhereyoumightultimatelyliketotakethecommunity.Therefore,spendsometimethinkingaboutwhatyouwouldreallyliketogetoutofyourinvestmentofmoneyandtime.Establishavisionforhowitcouldimpactthewayyourcompanydoesbusinessandinteractswithcustomers,partners,andemployees.Somehelpfulquestionstoconsiderare:

• Whoareyourmembers?• Howdotheyliketoengage?• Whatpainsorproblemscanpotentiallybeaddressedinthecommunity?

Onceyouhaveyourinitialplaninplace,chooseamuchsmallerstartingplace.Thiscouldmeanfewerelements,fewertargetaudiences,oracombinationofboth.Youcouldstartwithaquestion-and-answer forumaboutyourproductsandaddblogslater.Youcouldpickasmallgroupofcustomerstoworkwithandexpandbasedupontheirfeedbackandexperience.Youcouldlaunchapilotforoneofyourproductswithasamplingofcustomers.


Failure most often occurs in executing the basics.

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Whereyoustartshouldbeprimarilydeterminedbyyourcompany’sexperiencelevel,culture,structure,andcapacity.Thereisnorightanswerforeverybody. Performance-based metricsCommunities that arrive at world class status will share many of the samecharacteristics,includinghavingclearmeasurementsforhowtheydefinesuccess.

Sincethiswillevolveovertimewiththelifeofyourcommunityandclearerbusinessobjectives,thelistofmetricsdoesnotneedtobelongorcomplicated.

Therearethreebasicformsofmeasurementtoconsider:

Basic traffic-relatedmeasurementssuchaspageviews,visits,and timeon•site.Theseprovideasenseofwhetherenoughpeoplearecomingtothesite.Nomatterhowwelldesigned,acommunitystillrequiresvisitstoexist.

Engagementmeasuressuchasnumberof connections/friends, comments,•replies, and posts. These let you know that people are moving from justconsuming information—whichcanbedoneona traditionalwebsite—toengagingwitheachother.

Qualitative feedback frompolls,surveys,andsentimentanalysis. Ifyouare•engagedregularlyinyourcommunity,youwillhavelikelyestablishedaculturewhereyourmembersaremorethanhappytotellyouexactlywhattheythinkandtoprovidesuggestionsforimprovement.

Be visible and engagedOne of the biggest mistakes of managing communities is called “launched anddone.”

Businesseswillplan,selectastrategy,andthensuccessfully launchacommunityonly to leave itunder-resourced.Theremustbeawell-known, readily identifiablecommunitymanager. Theprimaryareasoffocusforyourcommunitymanagershouldbedemonstratingthe desired behaviors youwould like to see your communitymembers emulate;puttingafaceandpersonalityonthecommunityinsteadofmerelyacompanybrand;evangelizingthecommunityneedstothecompanyandthecompanybrandtothecommunity;andenforcingtherulesofthecommunitytopreventunwantedconduct.


“What gets measured gets managed.”

PeterDrucker

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Constantly evolve World class communities constantly adapt the community to the needs of themembers.Theyprovidetimelyandrelevantinformation,addressnewanddifferentideas,adjusttotheevolvingmixofmembers,andmakeroomfortheinfluenceofleaders.

Communitieshavetheirownlifecycle.Themanagementofthecommunitymustmatchtheprevalentneedineachphase.Newercommunitiesrequireguidance,toestablishacultureandtohelpthememberstogettoknoweachother.Establishedcommunitiesneedtosupportthecontributionsofemergingleaders.Maturecommunitiesneedtobereinvigoratedandfresh.


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ConclusionWhiletherearenumerousimpressiveandeffectivecommunitiestoday,accordingtoourcriteria,nosinglecommunityhasyetreachedthestatusof“worldclass”.

Many of the characteristics that define world class communities seem obvious.However, companiesdeployingcommunities still put themajorityofemphasisontechnologyanddonotmakethenecessarylong-terminvestmentstoproperlygrowtheircommunity.Theopportunityforadistinctmarketadvantageexistsforcompaniesthatputcommunityatthecoreofhowtheyworkwiththeircustomersandemployees.Itcannotbea“bolt-on”solution.

Totrulybecomeworldclass,leaderswillinvestnotonlyinthetechnologytorunthecommunity,butthepeopleandresourcestosupportthecommunity.Thecommunitymustbeanintegralpartoftheentireexperienceandcultureoftheorganization.

Businessesthatareonthepathtoworldclassstatushaveacommoncharacteristic:constantly measuring and improving. Leaders have begun to directly link, in ameasureableway,communityactivitiestobusinessbehaviors.Whetherit’sachangein consumerbehavior – one companyhas reporteda link in increased shoppingcartsizetocommunityparticipation–ortheeffectivenessofemployeesmanaginginformation,themeasurementsneedtobereadilyavailable.

Today’s business is defined by driving down costs and maximizing employeeproductivity.CompaniesthatintegratesocialtechnologiesintotheDNAofhowtheirbusinessesoperatewillwritethefuture.Enablingfasterandbetterdecisions,whiledealingwithmoreinformationthaneverbefore,willbethecompetitiveadvantageofbusiness2.0.

Rob Howard is the founder and CTO of Telligent. He is the vision behind thecompany’sproductdevelopmentandinnovationandisknownthroughouttheindustryasanauthorityinsocialcommunityandcollaborationsoftware.

Cecilia Edwards istheseniordirectorofstrategyforTelligent.SheuseshervastexperienceincorporatestrategytohelpTelligentcustomersdrivethemostvalueoutoftheironlinecommunities.

About TelligentTelligent powers social communities for more than 3,000 companies worldwide.Worldclassbrands, includingDell,Microsoft,ElectronicArtsandReader’sDigest,trust Telligent’s enterprise-grade social community suite to connect and engagewith customers, prospects, partners and employees. For more information, visittelligent.com.

22Building World Class Communities