Bill Johnston: Online Community Strategy

At the Online Community Unconference a couple of weeks ago, it became clear to me that we are at an inflection point with the “industry” of Online Community. On of the key issues community professionals face is that we (as an industry) are suffering from a lack of solid benchmarks, including compensation of online community professionals. The key purpose of the Online Community Research Network is to work in a collaborative way to research current practice and help establish these benchmarks.

We have put together a short survey about online community professionals compensation, team structure, and current job satisfaction.

The survey can be found here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=dmkh9tZ6vZHyheMFqv2mcg_3d_3d

If you are charged with community management, strategy or design at your organization, I would encourage you to respond to the survey. We are seeking input from all types of organizations, and all levels of seniority.

If you decide to participate, there are few things to note:
• All participants will receive a copy of the final (aggregate) report.
• All data will be processed and compiled in aggregate. Data will not be reviewed or presented in a personally (or company) identifiable way.
• All participants are entered in to a drawing for 1 of 10 $25 Starbucks coffee cards.

If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact me. We hope to close the survey by July 17th.

Are you a community manager or are you in charge of online community at your organization? Are you in the Bay Area?

If so, you might find the Online Community Roundtable of interest. This is a small netowrking group / event that meets regularly to discuss issues, opportunities and trends with online communities, and represents leading organizations (large and small).

Our next meeting is Tuesday, June 10 at Cyworld in SF. The session will last from 5:30 to 8:30. Please email me if you are interested.

We have had an unbelievable response to the upcoming Online Community Unconference to be held June 18th. Registration numbers are just shy of 200 people, and we expect to hit 250. We think this will be the biggest event, this year, focused on online communities.

We have a wide range of organizations, industries and personalities coming, including: Adobe, Autodesk, BabyCenter, CafePress, Cisco, Civic Ventures, Comcast, Digg, eBay Research Labs, EdgiLabs, Flickr, Forrester Research, Google, Intuit, Jive Software, Link TV, LinkedIn, NetApp, Omidyar Network, O’Reilly Media, Six Apart, Social Edge, Sony Online Entertainment, SRI International, Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, Sun, VMWare and YouTube.

To see the full list of folks coming, check out the registration page:
http://ocu2008.eventbrite.com

If you are charged with managing online communities or community strategy for your organization, this will be a fantastic event for you. The agenda is participant driven, the networking is fantastic, and the content will be fantastic.

The video from yesterday’s Business Social Software Jeopardy session is up: https://admin.acrobat.com/_a773188684/p54581379/

It was a lot of fun. Sam was an excellent Trebec, and Jeremiah Owyang and Laura Ramos of Forrester proved worthy adversaries.

Sam has an excellent write up here:
Juicy tidbits from yesterday’s Jeopardy!

We are about a week away from the The Online Community Unconference East. There are a fantastic group of organizations coming, including:

• allfacebook.com
• Alliance to Save Energy
• AOL
• Business Week Digital
• Changing The Present
• Consumers Union
• Cyworld
• EchoDitto
• Family Justice
• Gartner
• Grandparents.com
• IBM
• Mercy Corps
• Patricia Seybold Group
• Showtime Networks Inc
• Socialtext
• Texas Instruments
• TV Guide Online
• Zagat.com

We have about 15 tickets remaining, and we expect to sell out this week. To register, go to http://ocueast.eventbrite.com.

We are holding a handful of “scholarship” tickets for those that are still in school, or those whose budgets are tight. Please email me directly to inquire about one of these tickets.

I just put together a short list of our best interviews from the Online Community Report for 2007. We had a great group of Community experts sharing their experiences, and I think you will agree that the content is worth a second look.
Shawn Morton, CNET
“The big lesson … was to follow the needs of the community first, not the latest new thing that analysts, journalists or bloggers are raving about… unless your community is geared toward analysts, journalists or bloggers.”

Steve Nelson, Clear Ink
“They (communities) form themselves, so what corporations can do is to foster their organic growth, not force it. Understand that they will be equal players at the table, respect them and let them thrive.”

Lee LeFever, Common Craft
“In my experience, there is a much needed focus on the role of the community manager. Companies are starting to understand that community isn’t a technology that you plug in and leave alone - it’s a way of doing business that takes time and hard work. In the best success stories, there is almost always a person or small group that understands community processes, sets expectations, and balances the needs of the community and the organization.”

Scott Moore, Schwab Foundation
Regardless which definition of ROI you want to use (return on investment, information or interaction), I am hearing more and more community managers who are focusing on helping community members increase their return as a main goal. This doesn’t mean that the organization hosting the community gives up on return, but that it’s not the only bottom line (and it’s not just a monetary bottom line).

Bill Binenstock, CBS Interactive
“The good news about our industry and our space is that there are so many incredibly cool things to do and so much innovation taking place. The bad news about our industry and our space is that there are so many incredibly cool ….”

Guy Kawasaki, Garage / Truemors
Not everything has to be a Google or YouTube to be a “success.” Small sites
can be great “lifestyle” businesses: no outside investors, work in your
underwear at home, and use any Macintosh that you want. Life is good in the
garage.
(editors note: my home office is in my garage, but I generally put pants on)

Jake McKee, Ant’s Eye View
“But even as this awareness grows and the tools get better and better (anyone seen Facebook lately??), we still advise our clients of the same thing we have for years: build relationships, don’t implement tools. Relationships are the crucial part of any “social” activity, whether online or offline, whether business focused or personal.”

Joi Podgorny, Ludorum, Inc.
“It has been said before a ton of times, but I will keep saying it until it becomes common knowledge - Communities are hard work. They take resources to design and plan, but more importantly, they take resources to maintain.”

Susan Tenby, TechSoup
“Enlist your most opinionated and helpful volunteers and create a “management group” of sorts. Connect with them every month, outside of the larger group, if possible, through a conference call, take their agenda items and and help them help make the community a success by forming the structure of your community with their ideas and your vision.”

Know an online community expert with an interesting story to tell? Or are you one yourself? Email me, and you may be the next expert interviewee!

This is cross-posted from the OC Report.

In the spirit of the new year, I wanted to encourage community managers, strategists and teams to do a bit of self-reflection on the old (2007) and planning for the new (2008).

The following are five key questions you and your team might explore in the coming weeks.

1. How are your members feeling?
This is a great time of year to put out a quick satisfaction survey. Conduct a web-based survey to ask members about the quality of the user experience, how they feel about the community, and if they would they recommend your community to their peers? Finally, ask about additional features or community touch-points members would like to see from you. 50 to 100 responses to this survey would be a great baseline. As I’ve mentioned before, tying this survey into any sort of customer satisfaction, loyalty or brand-tracking research you are doing will be quite insightful.

Web-based surveys are a great tool, but if you can get community members together in-person for a roundtable session, even better. If a Survey or in person Roundtable are too much overhead, pick up the phone and call 5-10 active members.

2. How is your staff?
The first of the year is also a great time to gather staff (or, if you are just one, to do some self-reflection) to think about what went well, and what didn’t in 2007. What were the key learnings? Were your policies and guidelines clear, and did they address most issues. Were members generally happy and active? Did your key metrics grow / improve? Most importantly, how are your front line community managers feeling? Are they enthusiastic about another year participating in your community, or dreading it? If it is the latter, you have some work to do. This is also a good time to start looking around for talent on other teams. The demand for community managers, strategists and executives is only going to get worse in 2008, as more companies engage in online community building and social media activities. Hiring is one option, but growing / grooming internal candidates is another option, especially if your current community staff feels squeezed.

3. Who is sponsoring / how do budgets look?
Does you have a sponsoring executive that has a seat at the C table (or your orgs equivalent)? If not, find one! Or better, convert everyone! Seriously, this is also a great time of year for a community roadshow, to “tell the story of 2007″. All the great conversations that happened, all the key wins, key points of friction. Community and social media has a lot of visibility with most organizations senior management right now, so take advantage. Also, most of you have your 08 community budgets planned, start thinking about 09. Seriously.

4. Got Goals?
Community metrics, and in particular, ROI are going to come under scrutiny this year. 06-07 were about convincing the unconverted that it was OK to say “community” again. A lot of efforts were funded on good faith. This year, many senior managers will want to see return. One of the biggest challenges community managers and executives will face is weaving together a “tapestry of value” that contains both quantitative and qualitative information. It is key to have a set of your community goals aligned with some of your overall organizational goals. On the other hand, it is also critical to convince executives that community features, like discussion groups and blogs, are now expected by the market.

5. Where else can you participate?
One of the things that really surprised me when working on community strategy project in 2007 was the tendency for community managers and strategists to just focus on properties they “owned”, as opposed to reaching out to other adjacent community sites, social networks and bloggers. The metaphor I encourage folks to use is that of an ecosystem. There are many places your community members like to play, and your organization can potentially add value in many (but certainly not all) of those places.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the set of questions I asked. Did i miss something? Please drop me an email or leave a comment.

I posted the following content in the Online Community Report newsletter this morning, but I wanted to blog this as well.

The Big Ideas of 2007

The following are, to my eyes, the “big ideas” that emerged in 2007. I feel these ideas set the stage for the meaningful activity that will play out in 2008.

The “New New” Online Community
One of the most cogent and comprehensive points of view on the emerging opportunities and challenges with online communities is John Hagel’s. The following post expands on the keynote he gave at Community 2.0, and is one of the best thought pieces written about online communities this year.
Community 2.0 - Edge Perspectives with John Hagel

The Explosion of Social Networks
If Time’s person of the year in 2006 was “You”, perhaps 2007 will be “Us”? Ok, they would have to call it “persons of the year”… 2007 is the year social networking went mainstream. Facebook dominated the headlines, but there were tons of smaller, innovative players attracting attention as well. Controversy spun up around privacy, network portability, and the sheer number of similar experiences available.
Are Social Networks Just a Feature? - GigOm
The Chess game of social networking - Marc Canter
All your widgets are belong to Facebook - Jeremiah Owyang
Video: Social Networking in Plain English - Common Craft
Facebook vs. AOL, redux - kottke.org
Thoughts on the Social Graph - Brad Fitzpatrick & David Recordon
Open standards for social networking - CNET
PeopleAggregator and Open Social Network Systems - Read/WriteWeb

Marketing to Online Communities
The reality is, large portions of marketing budgets are shifting from traditional marketing and into online communities and social media. Marketing activities are driving a lot of the experimentation, innovation and controversy. There have been several very visible “social marketing” disasters, and very few “big wins”, at least that marketers will discuss. Look for the experimentation with different techniques to continue at a frantic pace in 2008, as more marketing dollars shift to online activities.
Would You Let These People Friend You?- Advertising Age
Real World Marketing Through Social Networks - Digital Influence Mapping Project
2011: Net Replaces Papers As Top Ad Medium - WebProNews
Will closed networks hurt themselves or lead to Web 3.0? - Marketing Conversations
The New Advertising Outlet: Your Life ? New York Times
How to Identify & Target The Right Niche Social Media Sites- Search Engine Land
Why Wal-Mart?s Facebook Strategy is Like the I-Rack - Get Elastic
Beyond the Hype: The 10 Most Asinine Trends Online and Why You Should Ignore Them - Advertising Age
A Marketer’s Guide To The Social Graph - Twist Image

Talent & Organizational Design
Many organizations are struggling with organizational design and online community talent acquisition. The bad news? Talent is going to get harder to find in 2008, and most organizations will need to experiment with where community and social media staff belong.
The evolving role of the Community Manager - Online Community Report
Where does the Community team belong? A follow up - Online Community Report
Who Owns Community? - Matthew Lees

Metrics & ROI
Two of the hottest topics our Online Community Research Network studied this year were Online Community Metrics and ROI. Most organizations’ community activities will become less experimental and more disciplined in 2008. Quantifying value (including morphing the concept of ROI) and collecting the best mix of quanatative and qualitative metrics will be key issues. Both the ROI and Metrics report are available free of charge via the links below (requires registration) Highlights from the ROI report include:

• Only 22% of respondents could clearly articulate ROI on community efforts
• The majority of respondents gave a high priority to establishing an ROI model in the near term
• 49% were reporting some dimensions of value back to management on a monthly basis
• “Value” of online community efforts are contextual to an organizations goals and objectives

Online Community Metrics 2007 Report - Online Community Research Network
Online Community ROI Report - Online Community Research Network

What’s coming up in 2008?
The OC Report staff has their own ideas, but we would like to hear yours. What’s in it for you? A $25 itunes gift certificate. Simply fill out the short survey here and tell us the ONE Online Community wish you have for 2008. You may win the $25 itunes gift certificate… and who knows, your wish may come true! Best response will be judged by the OC Report staff, and the winner will be announced on January 2nd.
Take the survey here (less than 5 minutes, I promise).

Online Communiteers - Breaking news: we have finalized our event series for 2008. I wanted to give the OC Report readers a sneak peek, as well as to let you know that we have opened registration and have a special “super early bird” rate for our OCU East and Mobile Communities Unconferences.

Our events series for 2008 includes:

Online Community Unconference East 2008 (Registration Open Now!)
http://www.forumone.com/ocue2008
February 21, 2008 in New York
The Online Community Unconference East is the east coast of location of our Unconference series. The event is an Open Space gathering of online community practitioners - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities.

Mobile Communities Unconference (Registration Open Now!)
http://www.forumone.com/mcu2008
March 20, 2008 in Palo Alto
The Mobile Communities Unconference focuses on social experiences on the brings together strategists, community hosts, device manufacturers, service providers, and content developers to discuss the emerging opportunities and challenges that mobile communities present.

Online Community Business Forum 2008
http://www.forumone.com/ocfb2008
April 14 - 15, 2008 in Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Online Community Business Forum is an invitation-based event for online executives to gather and discuss the intersection of business strategy and online community, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Online Community Unconference 2008
http://www.forumone.com/ocu2008
June 18, 2008 in Mountain View, CA
The Online Community Unconference is our west coast gathering of online community practitioners - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities.

Online Community Summit 2008
http://www.forumone.com/ocs2008
October 9 - 10, 2008 in Sonoma, CA
The Online Community Summit, in it’s 8th year, is the exclusive gathering for thought leaders in online collaboration gather to discuss best ideas for the future, in Sonoma, California.

Marketing & Online Communities 2008
November 3-4, NYC (dates and details to be confirmed in January 0
The Marketing & Online Communities conference will explore current practice and innovative case studies that focus on the intersection of marketing and online communities.

If you have any questions about any of the events, or are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please let me know.