MINKE HAVELAAR Agency for Contemporary Communication!

European Cultural Foundation 7 March 2014

Ask not what your members can do for you, ask what you can do for your members.

Program11:00 What is a community?!

11:15 Essential resources!

11:30 Activating your community!

12:00 Invaluable tools!

12:30 Toolkit!

13:00 Lunch !

!

What is a community?

What is a community?A group of individuals who…!

• help each other!

• are united by a common goal!

• share space (online or offline)!

• share a passion

Online communityMost common ingredients:!

• Content: articles, information, and news about a topic of interest to a group of people.!

• Forums or newsgroups and email: for community members to communicate in delayed fashion.!

• Chat and instant messaging: for community members to communicate instantly.

Why ECF labs?• ECF Networked Project: partnering with cultural hubs across Europe, to connect communities with the same mission. “Meta-community”.!

• Mission: bridging people and democratic institutions by connecting local cultural change makers.!

• Goal is to facilitate collaborations among artists and cultural agents across wider Europe.!

• Question: what do you hope to accomplish 3 years from now?

Essential resources for managing a community

What you need• Product: build a great platform that people will love to use and connects with various platforms.!

• Budget: for (search engine) marketing, testing, improving, content, tools and apps. !

• Manpower: for moderating, creating and coordinating content, marketing communication, analysing and optimising the platform.!

• Patience: allow at least two years for an active community to grow (50% milestone).

Activating your community

1. Make it a dream experience

“Competition”

Dream experience• The labs should offer members something unique. Perhaps a dedicated forum, international events overview, high quality content.!

• Think from a user’s end and ask what they want.!

• Test, test, test.!

• Gamification: performance feedback, e.g. displaying member-level.

2. Recruit founder members

Founder members• Look for people who are knowledgeable, well-respected in the broader topic area, active and willing to lead discussions with others.!

• Ask the network hubs each to designate a founder member from within their communities. First question to them: what kind of online community would help you? What features are needed?!

• Subtopia, Political Critique Right to the City and Goteo have active communities; ask them first.!

• Lead by example!

3. Cater to all user types

User types

• Non-members!

• Observers!

• Regular observers!

• (Occasional) participating members

Non-members• Make sure the community is easy to find through search engine marketing (SEM).!

• Integrate key words—that users use—in URL’s, content, headers, titles, bullet points, description (Google is not impressed by metatags).!

• Link building and linkbaiting—social media, indexing sites, exchanging links, press releases.!

• Search Engine Advertising (SEA).

Observer

• Make information and subjects discussed easily accessible from the homepage and sidebars.!

• Promote popular posts and most active threads on the homepage and in sidebars.!

• Allow members to develop detailed, individualised profiles, accessible to non-members.!

• Feature key members on the website homepage—‘member of the week’, ‘most helpful comment’.

Regular observer• Expose the existence of ‘member only’ sections or features of the community, such as an ability to rate the usefulness of member feedback.!

• Show threads and topics that have not yet been answered, or answered well, to encourage members who haven’t responded to do so.!

• Feature members who have made significant and unique contributions to the community on the website homepage, for example.!

Participating member• Supporting a facility for members to acknowledge the value of each other’s contributions by rating member contributions on ‘usefulness’, e.g. a rating out of five.!

• Customisable member profiles emphasising speciality or expertise.!

• Member-perks.!

• Member ‘status’ levels, possibly combined with more responsibility within the community.!

4. Start the conversation

Start the conversation• People are shy, keep asking open questions!

• Time your ‘interventions’, e.g. by keeping a content calendar (e.g. with Google Calendar)!

• Converse; mix in-depth questions with light conversation about top of mind topics (weather, food, music, weekend)

5. Reach out to your members

Reply, reply, reply• Reply to as many commenters as possible, as often as possible. !

• Responding individually to a reader lets them know that their thoughts matter, and that the site is an active dialogue between many interested parties.!

• Replies are one of the best ways to measure how engaged a community is, and there’s no better person than the author to lead by example.

Help them remember

• Help members remember they’re part of your community, for instance by sending email newsletters.

6. Rely on storytelling and transparency

Storytelling and transparency

• Capitalise on people and their stories!

• Show your own face and share personal stories

7. (Co-)create great content

Content

• Content makes the community!!

• Content ideas: news item, video tutorial, how to article, white paper, eBook, poll, podcasts, Q&A, interview, presentation, infographic, give away, competition, discussion, quote, meme…!

• Everything can be user generated, but this takes careful organisation.!

• Use a content calendar, e.g. Google calendar

8. Measure and optimise

Measure and optimize• Set KPI’s that measure engagement!

• Measure with Google Analytics!

• Where are visitors in your online funnel?

Summary1. Dream experience!

2. Founder members!

3. All user types!

4. Start the conversation

5. Reach out to members!

6.Storytelling and transparency!

7.Great content!

8.Measure and optimise

Invaluable tools

Silverback

Silverback

• User testing!

• Registers mouse clicks, movements and everything that happens on eye-sight camera; facial expressions, user reactions.!

• Free 30 day trial, then $69 registration fee (10% goes to saving gorillas)

Optimal Workshop

Optimal Workshop

• How would users organise content? OptimalSort.!

• Where and why do people get lost? Treejack.!

• What are user’s first impressions? Chalkmark.!

• Optimal Workshop $149 per survey

OptimalSort

Treejack

Chalkmark

Hootsuite

Mention

SocialBro

Mailchimp

Evernote

Skitch

Bitly

Dropbox

Trendsmap

Easel.ly

Recite

Summary1.Silverback!

2.Optimal Workshop!

3.Hootsuite!

4.Mention!

5.SocialBro!

6.Mailchimp!

5.Evernote!

6.Skitch!

7.Bitly!

8.Dropbox!

9.Trendsmap!

10.Easel.ly!

11.Recite

Toolkit

Toolkit (pre-launch)To help manage the community, offer members:!

• This training!

• InDesign templates to make graphics!

• Mailchimp template!

• Dropbox to share content!

• Monthly Skype meetings or Google Hangouts

Toolkit (post-launch)To promote the community, offer members:!

• Graphics for their website and social media!

• Article/ guest blog about the community!

• Newsletter !

• Invitation for founder member!

• Incentives for first members!

• WHAT ELSE?

Recommended reading

Recommended reading• Building successful online communities - Evidence based social design - Kraut & Resnick, MIT press 2012!

• The Conversation Company - Steven van Belleghem, Kogan Page 2012!

• The Editorial Age - Ebele Wybenga, Adformatie Groep 2013!

• The Connected Company - Dave Gray, Reilly 2012!

• Web editing books and blogs!

• Community and tech blogs: Mashable, Frankwatching, Social Media Examiner, Fast Company

Thank you!hello@minkehavelaar.com!