Online Communities: Conversations that Drive Results

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(No Transcript)
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Online Communities Conversations that Drive
Results
Twitter Hashtagrockthecloud
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Conversations

• These conversations are going to occur whether
  you like it or not.
• Do you want to be part of that or not?

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New Platform
The Web Provides a New Platform for Customers and
Employees to Voice Ideas and Relay Experiences
Reviews of Consumer Products
Personal Blogs and Twitter Conversations
Reviews of Local Services
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Opportunities and Challenges
How do we engage in the conversation and channel
this energy?
How do we take action and deliver measurable
business impact?
How do I expose this wealth of insight back to
employees?
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POST

• People
• Assess your customers social activities.
• Objectives
• Decide what you want to accomplish.
• Strategy
• Plan for how relationships with customers will
  change.
• Technology
• Decide which technologies to use.

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Social Technographics Ladder
Percentages indicate proportion of online
population participating in at least on activity,
at least monthly.
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Five Primary Objectives

• Listening
• survey tools, brand monitoring
• Speaking
• videos, blogs, interactive campaigns, advertising
• Energizing
• charge up your best customers and recruit more
• Supporting
• helping customers support each other
• Embracing
• customers as collaborators in your company

Research
Marketing
Sales
Support
Development
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Embracing Innovation
Innovation distinguishes between a leader
and a follower.
Steve Jobs CEO, Apple
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Leaders
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Dell Idea Storm

• Objective
• Encourage ideas,
• feedback, input and
• dialogue
• Results
• 10,000 ideas generated
• 615,000 promotions of ideas
• 81,000 comments
• 200 ideas Implemented by Dell
• Average 10,000 unique visitors/day

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Dells Media Vision

• Resolve Dissatisfaction
• Identify online resolve Customer Experience
  issues
• New monitoring system tracks 99 of online

• Tell Our Story
• Direct2Dell now leading blog serves as Dell
  wire service
• One of top corporate blogs
• 5MM page views per month

• Join Conversations
• Enter conversations via blog posts (up to 100 /
  day)
• Pay attention regardless of size of blog
• Negative sentiment has dropped from 48 to 23
  since August 06

• Share Content Collect Ideas
• StudioDell
• IdeaStorm (10k ideas)
• Community Forum (10k posts/week)

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Breakdown of Ideas
12 UNUSABLE No action needed.
4 INNOVATIVE Possible game changing ideas.

• 80 IMPROVEMENTS
• Includes both incremental ideas for next
  generation products as well as improvements to
  existing products and services.
• Use existing Ideas Management process to work.

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Dell - Ideas Implemented
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Management Tool
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Obama on Facebook
Source Facebook (http//www.facebook.com/barackob
ama)
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Obama on Twitter
Source Twitter (http//twitter.com/BarackObama)
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Obama on MySpace
Source Myspace (http//www.myspace.com/barackobam
a)
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Citizens Briefing Book
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Citizens Briefing Book

• Objective
• Integration of Ideas portal to existing
  Change.gov Website leading up to President
  Obamas inauguration.
• Functional Requirements
• Design Implementation
• Integration of Force.com
• Single-Sign on Amazon EC2 Cloud.
• Timeline
• 4 Weeks
• Results
• In one weeks time
• 125,000 participants
• 44,000 ideas
• 1.4 Million votes
• Briefing Book for President

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Citizens Briefing Book

• Scope
• Enable U.S citizens to submit policy proposals to
  the new administration
• Allow users to rank suggested ideas
• Single Sign On (SSO) Integration with Change.gov
• 4 Week Dev, 1 Week Run Time
• Solution
• Force.com development platform
• Salesforce.com ideas application
• SSO used Amazon Web Services EC2

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Results
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Results
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FICO Decision Management Community
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FICO Decision Management Community

• Scope
• Collaborate directly with its customers to
  identify, understand and address their biggest
  business challenges
• Take user group meetings to the next level
  without increasing costs or imposing further on
  customers time.
• Deployed quickly, and integrate with other
  applications.
• Timeline Proof of concept in 6 weeks, and
  quarterly releases.

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FICO Decision Management Community

• Solution
• Login/Register (Amazon EC2)
• Ideas (Salesforce.com)
• Message Boards (Lithium)
• Resource Center (TypePad)
• Trial Download (Intraware)
• Campaign Tracking (Eloqua)
• Lead Mgmt. (Salesforce.com)
• Analytics (Coremetrics)

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FICO Decision Management Community
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FICO Decision Management Community

• Results
• Several thousand members largest in industry
• Continual customer contact vs. 2x per year
• Customers helping each other
• Sense of ownership builds loyalty
• Integration to CRM -gt Lead Capture -gt Increased
  Sales

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www.mystarbucksidea.com
Scope Create Dialogue with Customers/Employees Vo
te on the Ideas Discuss See Ideas in
Action Timeline 12 Weeks/Ongoing Results 40,00
0 ideas in first 3 months Media reports from
large newswires, including the New York Times,
digg.com and Yahoo! News Implementing ideas
(Gluten Free Options, and free coffee on Election
day.)
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Why MSI?
Starbucks.com
Customer Voice
Customer Contact Center
Customer Comment Cards
Promotional Websites (e.g., itsredagain.com)
Passion Panel
Focus Groups
In-Store Experience
Online Surveys
External Websites (e.g., StarbucksGossip.com)
Partner Portal
Mission Review
Survey
Current communications
Partners
Customers
Both
Before MSI many touch points, no meaningful
dialogue
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MSI - Initial Marketing Efforts Results
NY Times Homepage Dual Marquis
Starbucks Cardholder email blast and banner
The bug on Starbucks.com
99 of lifetime traffic is unpaid
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MSI - Ideas in Action Process
MSI is a way of doing business, Not a one-time
event
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MSI - Company Involvement

• Community Moderators
• 30-40 throughout the organization, 2 hours per
  week
• 2-3 per department (Beverage, Card, Food, HR,
  etc)
• Two primary functions respond to community
• Managers
• 1 per department
• Two primary functions support time commitment
  for moderators and promote ideas that are
  favorably reviewed.
• Executives
• Support or approve action on compelling ideas

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MSI - Ideas in Action

• Ideas in Action page
• Frequent blog posts on actions takenand
  further discussion
• Sortable by a variety of methods
• Authors from every level and department
• Besides reporting action, a place to hone
  discussion
• The single most important page on the site.

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MSI - Before and After CSS

CSS, JavaScript
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MSI - Key Learnings

• Customers are willing to donate a ton of time to
  your company.
• A few negative leaders can tank an good
  conversation. Nip them in the bud.
  Conversations can turn quickly.
• A community site like MSI is a good place to add
  contextcomplete and accurate informationto the
  ongoing public discussions.
• A successful community requires a significant
  philosophical commitment from many levels of the
  company a new level of transparency, a
  willingness to give up control.

• The conversation about your company will happen
  whether you like it to or not. Your only choice
  is whether to join it.
• Great content trumps slick design the MSI site
  is popular because it delivers relevant,
  interesting content. Still, people have a limit,
  especially your core.
• Internet time is much shorter than company
  time.
• Even so, people understand some things take time.
  In the meantime, keep engaging, the written
  equivalent of a head nod goes a long way.

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Keeping the Discussions Strong

• Keeping Moderators engaged
• Frequent monthly contests
• Formal recognition program (Moderator of the
  Month)
• Informal recognitionreporting numbers, quarterly
  newsletter
• Make it fun! Passive Aggressive Post of the
  Week
• Training and Mentoring Moderators
• Moderator handbook, formal training (functional
  and legal)
• Resources for any question, and a Community
  Manager
• Finding the right people to start with

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KPI Guidelines

• Goals

Tip for estimating activity on your site Take
x of volume for the main site, use this as high
and low bounds.

• For Every 1,000 Visits
• 5 Ideas
• 10 Comments
• 50 Logins
• 120 Votes

• For every 1,000 Visits
• 44 Ideas
• 37 Comments
• 116 Logins
• 348 Votes

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Ideas Project Roles
Define guidelines, manage moderators, and resolve
escalations. Work to drive adoption and train
business owners on how to best leverage the
community.
Define the goals of the community and appoint a
team to lead the initiative. Provide feedback to
the project team and rally support from employees
and executives.
Moderate posts ensuring clean data and a healthy
discussion. You might have one moderator review
200-500 comments/posts a day because most will
not require any action. Depending on the
anticipated size of your community you will want
to staff accordingly. You may also want to
consider outsourced moderation.
Create the playbook and guide the team through
the implementation process. The Project Manager
will identify the key stakeholders, define the
requirements and success metrics, and map those
to the application.
Ambassadors are representatives from the business
units who are knowledgeable about the
products/services and can help transform ideas
into action. Ambassadors are expected to spend
5-10 of their time participating on the
community and driving ideas forward. You might
have 1 ambassador per category.
Coordinate the product marketing efforts around
the community. Communicate wins through a blog or
through the Ideas in Action app. This can be a
shared resource.
If you have a branded site it is good to have
access to a web developer who is familiar with
CSS and HTML. If your developer understands Java
Script, they can also take advantage of Apex
code.
Conduct monthly or quarterly review of new ideas
and coordinate follow up. Manage the Ideas in
Action App to ensure the top ideas are assigned,
the status is accurate, ROI metrics are being
documented, and wins are being communicated back
to the community.
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Roles and Responsibilities
Train moderators and ambassadors on community
best practices. Monitor participation and data
quality. Handles escalations. Provides input on
website improvements to the project manager.
Champions the project, sets the vision , pulls in
the right resources, and reviews progress
monthly.
Craft guidelines and help resolve issues which
are escalated.
Market the community and recognize top
contributors.
Monitor their respective categories, merge ideas,
post comments , and provide status updates.
Tap into the design resources
Monitor posts and comments to ensure
conversations stays within guidelines. Escalate
issues to the community manager. Potential help
with merging duplicate ideas.
Owns the overall success of the project from
implementation through to operations. In charge
of website enhancements and change management
process.
Drive ideas forward, document ROI metrics,
communicate status updates from the lines of
business.
Communicate ideas under consideration, coming
soon, and delivered.
Manage the Ideas in Action App and coordinate
monthly meetings to review ideas.
If you have a branded site,, it is good to have
access to a web developer.
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Be Prepared
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Customer Expectations
HOW
Timely Feedback SME Participation Idea Status
Explanation Updated Site Business Review PR
Support Onsite Events Thank You
WHAT
Positive Experience Action taken on
Ideas Recognition
WHO
Customers and Employees
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keys to success

• Brand Promise - Authentic not marketing
• Identifying specific audiences, goals and needs
• Attract and engage so users are drawn to the
  community
• Users want to hear from SME
• Must have a desirable user experience
• Listen and Learn from feedback, metrics
• Iterative approach
• Expect and prepare for negative feedback
• Have thick skin
• Close the Loop (Ideas in Action)
• Integrate with other business units, efforts,
  systems
• Sales / Operations / Marketing
• Decide private or public?
• Decide evergreen or time-boxed campaign?
• Establish a bill of rights
• Transparency is key
• must walk the fine line with sensitive
  information
• Internal input is as important as external input
• Ideas augment other customer feedback

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POST Where to Start

• People
• Assess your customers social activities.
• Objectives
• Decide what you want to accomplish.
• Strategy
• Plan for how relationships with customers will
  change.
• Technology
• Decide which technologies to use.

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What is next
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Thank You

• Eric Scheel
• Chief Technical Officer
• Reside, LLC
• p 612.767.2000, ext. 226
• e escheel_at_reside.biz

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about reside
Founded in 2001 Minneapolis-based Privately owned
by Matt Meents Eric Scheel Rockin for a Cause
www.theresiders.com Areas of expertise
Client Services Web Strategy User
Experience Technology Metrics
Analytics Core Values Listening
Responding with a sense of urgency Building
and maintaining trust Innovating and finding
solutions Rockin!
Best Places to WorkMpls-St. Paul Business
Journal Top 25 Web Firm Mpls-St. Paul Business
Journal Best Practices in Community Impact
FinalistUpsize Magazine Forty Under 40 Mpls-St.
Paul Business Journal Emerging Entrepreneur
FinalistTwinWest Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur
of the Year Finalist TwinWest Chamber of
Commerce
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reside client sample
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communities client sample