L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Communities: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Vanessa DiMauroCEO, Leader Networks & SNCR Fellow
@vdimauro
NewComm ForumApril, 2009
1
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Communities are Good Business
• Break down geographical barriers globally • Connect people in different ways through online interaction
• Allow for more detailed and sustained conversations• Deepen customer relationships
• Offer interactive access • To people, relevant content and tools professionals need to succeed
• Build trusted relationships • Providing better communication channels with staffs, clients, prospects
and partners
• Generate revenue or business returns • While ultimately serving member needs
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 2
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Online Communities The Centerfold of Social Media
3Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Guiding Factors for Enterprise Communities
• Integrating interactivity into the enterprise business model– Companies need to think more about ways to bring online participation into
their business models in ways that serve the business and the customer goals alike.
– People’s expectations are changing.. They no longer want to be passive recipients of information and experiences.
• The human process & trust factor – what works in the face world will work in an online environment – but broken
process in real life can’t be fixed by putting a tool atop. – Need clear definition about what are the behaviors the business wants to
support before launching a tool to support it.
4
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Communities Require A Business Process Redesign
5
Strapping new tools onto an old process won’t yield the desired results
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Community Strategic Planning
Begin with the end in mind
Find the overlap & build for relevance to both audiences
What does the business need for the community to be successful?
What do community members need from the community to get value?
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 6
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Three Types of Enterprise Online Communities
1. Information Dissemination The organizing body defines content, message and outcome. Highly controlled, paternalistic environment
2. Shop-Talk Discussion groups that focus on accomplishing a task, exchange of transactional information or getting help. “How can I?” “Where do I?”
3. Professional Collaboration / Learning Communities A safe, private online space purposefully designed to foster conversation. Tends to be membership-driven or subscription-based.
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 7
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Communities Differ From Consumer Communities
Consumer Communities (B2C) Large numbers – types and audiences Users share an experience Focus on low-touch services Forums, ratings and self-serve
offering Typically quick to scale but users have
weak ties Interpretive mission Business model: Scale = financial
success
Enterprise Communities (B2B) Number can vary Members share a purpose Focus on higher-touch services Programmatic membership offering
(custom content, events ...) Typically slow to scale but members
have stronger/more persistent ties Mission that is visibly embraced Business model: Hybrid. Relevance
and target audience drive partner and member revenue
8Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Community Audience
Consumer Communities– Target general public – many and more– SEO, advertising and blogger outreach drives traffic– “accept” (celebrate!) all who join
Enterprise Communities• Target highly defined memberships by business process or solution focus
– Invitations and WOM drives traffic• Google tracking and SEO often ineffective for private (gated) communities
– Develop clear membership guidelines and adhere to them strictly to yield credibility
– Membership acceptance criteria often a gating factor (role, title, buying relationship)
9Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Community Design
Enterprise communities must be more intuitive and simplified than consumer communities
• Consumers are more agile users than business users • B2B users are more focused on solving problems ...• ... and are less tolerant than consumers• Make no assumptions about Web 2.0 usage
– “basic” Web 2.0 tools may not be well understood
10Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Community Content
Enterprise community content must support a business process
• Enterprise communities connect information with a purpose • Solve a business problem or support a business process• Each content piece must be useful, usable and engaging
– Concierge approach to interactions and information for the members– “The Neiman Marcus Model”
• Must offer information that cannot be obtained elsewhere
11Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Member-Generated Content• Profiles / home pages• Product ratings• Product reviews• Interviews and high-value content creation
Member-To-Member Interaction• Discussion Forums• Blogs, Wikis and social media entries• Member created podcasts• Phone calls
Events• Guest events• Expert Seminars• Virtual meetings / Trade Shows
Outreach • Newsletters• Volunteer / Leader programs• Polls / surveys
• Driving Participation: Interaction management and facilitation. ( Driving Conversion: All other site interaction. IE: polls / surveys, answering specific questions, rating content, participating in events…etc
Typical Enterprise Community Programs
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 12
L E A D E R NETWORKS
What Can you Expect From Your Members?
Visitor Novice Regular Leader
Visitors: People without a persistent identity in the community.
Novices: New members who need to learn the ropes and be introduced into community life.
Regulars: Established members that are comfortably participating in community life.
Leaders: The most active “regular members” who volunteer to facilitate and monitor discussions, get involved in the operational decisions and product definitions for the community, and helps the community evolve and run smoothly.
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 13
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Enterprise Community Categories
• Enterprise Buyer /Audience Communities– The Palladium Group XPC– Cognizantii - community for Cognizant’s clients– EMC community– CIO Magazine’s CIO Counsel– IntegrativePractitioner.com
• Professional Market Makers– Martindale-Hubbell Connected – Sermo.com– Inmobile.org– TheFunded.com– WegoHealth.com
15
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Welcome to the XPC Conference attendees continue the discussion and networking on XPC. [read more]
The Premier Community for Practitioners Seeking to Achieve an Execution Premium.
TakehikoNagumoSenior VicePresident,Union Bank of California
Patricia Bush
Welcome to the XPC
Mohammed Al DhaheriEtihad Airways
MaryCarrera State Street Bank
Jim RodgersBoeing
Ralph SimonVivendi
Before taking this position, he was VP of Corporate Planning Division in NY both at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Takehiko has successfully implemented the BSC twice…
Lucia Fortini
Frank Del Rio
Lessons in how to manage through today’s downturn from companies that made it through the last one.[read more]
The Palladium Group Execution Premium Community
In Association With:
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Constituency Identification Is Key
Understanding who you serve and in what ways provides the driving business rationale for an enterprise community program.
This leads to members who engage with each other and the enterprise and sustains their interest.
The who dictates the where, when, why and how.
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 19
L E A D E R NETWORKS
The Most Important Thing To Get Right
• Pick the right interactive model to support the community • Profile your constituency• The “who” dictates the how and the why
Offer a value proposition that is so compelling (from the user’s POV)that they must engage to survive professionally
Only then, can you create• High level feature maps to figure out the right tools• Wrestle with a content plan that meets their needs• Design engagement activities which support member
and enterprise goals and values
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 20
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Online Community Success Equation
(R1) The right approach to leverage a key business opportunity
+(R2) The right people – both
constituents and staff+
(T) Tools well-matched to serve the interactive goals=
(S) Successful execution
R1 + R2 + T = S
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 21
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Misstep: Business Goals Don’t Match Community Features
Intention and outcome need to be aligned
The WHO should dictate the HOW and the WHY
22Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Misstep: “Tool Talk” Before Business Strategy
23Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Misstep: Building Mausoleums instead of Sherpa Tents
Evolutionary sprints are keyBuild, learn, evolve, build, learn, evolve, build ...
24Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Misstep: Excessive Exuberance
Monitor and Measure to Know and Grow
The Right Metrics Matter!
25Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Misstep: Lack of Business Integration
26Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
• Leverage what you learn internally
• Mine the raw data for trend analysis
• Report findings and outcomes to sales/marketing/product development
• Link to CRM systems
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Metrics in Context for Enterprise Community
1 to 9 to 90: Leaders to activists to members
Interactivity Ratio: 25%
One-quarter of community members participate in a given time period
Best Practice: Determining Value to Xa) Identify the business value drivers for the communityb) Research normative returns for community, industry and companyc) Develop KPIs and KRI to measure activityd) Establish data tracking and reporting system
27Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Sample Metrics for a Enterprise Community
Financial Metrics: revenue generated (direct and indirect i.e. client retention or pass through revenue gained through bundled services) – Minus operational costs
Operational Metrics: Fully burdened costs of community operations including technology, development, content acquisition, staffing
Business Metrics: Click-throughs/logins, industries serviced, # of members who are clients, title portfolio of membership
Marketing Metrics: New member acquisition costs, Cost per Member (CPM) against Revenue per Member (RPM), Event or campaign outcomes
Editorial Metrics: Cost of content creation, % of UGC, content ratings/rank
Member Metrics: # of members login/time, % of profiles complete, return rate, premium conversion rate, revenue generated per member, number of posts per member, average page views per member or group, engagement metrics
28Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
L E A D E R NETWORKS
29
Enterprise Community is NOT Marketing• Community members provide valuable information, content & feedback to
marketing/membership.
• Marketing/membership provides value added services and products to members
in exchange for interaction.
• Identifies and sells the community to prospects• Hands the new members over to the Community team
Hand O
ver
Hand O
ver• Manage the member lifecycle• Create value for members• Establish trust • Create Leaders and “Most Valued Members”• Create opportunities for Marketing to interact with the membership
Community Team
Community Team
Marketing & MembershipMarketing & Membership
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Initial Challenges
• Governance– Strategy– Staffing
• Brand Execution – Promotion
• Technology– Selection, Implementation
• Evolution– Member Acquisition– Member Engagement model– Operations
• Continuous Improvement– Leading Metrics
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks 30
L E A D E R NETWORKS
An Enterprise Community Project Plan
31
Tools & Techniques
System DesignPlan Goals and Key Objectives
Metrics and Milestone
Innovation Design Development Assessment
Align with
MarketingPrototype tools
Identify key goals: i.e. reputation management, peer group collaboration, thought leadership, evangelization
Design document:Who – do you want to attract or connect withWhat – is your point of view: expert, learner, specialty, toneWhen – timeframe for mini-milestones that support goalsWhere – digital channelsWhy – measurement goals.
Features & Business Requirements drive tool choices
Defining success,measure and review
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks
Revisit goals & continue
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Strategic Success Factors for Enterprise Communities
• Solve a business issue or enable a business process improvement – faster or better than in person
• Be easy and intuitive• Involve users in co-creation• Have a strong executive sponsor who is willing to lead
by example• Generate clear revenue or returns• Outcomes of use must be linked to key internal
functions like marketing, sales, product development• Have a well crafted user engagement plan (beyond
the 100 days plan)
Copyright © 2009 Leader Networks32
L E A D E R NETWORKS
Thank you
Vanessa DiMauro, Leader Networks
Contact:http://[email protected]
@vdimauro617-484-0778
33