Download - Building Community for Insight and WOM
November 2009
Building Communities for
Insight and Advocacy
Connect. Engage. Inspire.
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
CONTACT: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 2
» SheSpeaks is a community of 125,000 engaged women whose personal networks have a reach of over 12 million
» SheSpeaks works with clients to create branded experiences for our members that engage the brand and the member in a direct conversation
» As we’ve worked with our clients and members, we’ve learned a lot of lessons about communities that build advocacy and insight
» We’re excited to share these lessons with you, and look forward to hear your feedback
BUILDING COMMUNITY FOR INSIGHT & ADVOCACY
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 3
Why build a community? Human beings naturally organize into communities. It’s part of who we are. Social media tools provide brands the opportunity to build two-way relationships and communities with their customers.
Research & Insights
Com
mun
ity G
oals
>> Communities provide real-time, unfiltered, ongoing conversations with customers (good and bad) and prospects
Build relationships & advocacy
Conversation creates meaningful and durable relationships that lead to advocacy
Create a new channel
Communities are a new channel to effectively create and deliver communication
>>
>>
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883
We’re honored to work with leading brands across multiple industries
4
Our Clients
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 5
What makes a strong community?
Shared Purpose Connection
Impact Recognition
Successful communities, online and off, share four key values
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 6
Imp
act Shared Purpose
Com
munication
Recognition
Community Values
What makes a strong community? Successful communities, online and off, share four key community values
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 7
Shared Purpose: What does it mean?
Communities are strongest when members share common interests, backgrounds or hobbies
Within large communities, members will organize into smaller groups
Shared Purposes are not just hobbies or activities or alma maters Passion for a brand can be a Shared Purpose, both positive and negative
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 8
Shared Purpose: Ravelry
Ravelry is not a site about knitting
Ravelry is a site about knitters by knitters
Shared Purpose
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 9
Shared Purpose at SheSpeaks
We ask our members about their backgrounds and interests, and match those up against our clients
Members use the tools on SheSpeaks.com to create self-forming communities of
When SheSpeaks tested a conception kit, women used the message boards to provide support and advice for those experiencing infertility, and to celebrate successes!
Shared Purpose
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 10
Connection: What does it mean?
Communities must provide authentic, free flowing conversation
Connections can occur between a brand and community members, and between the members in a community
Connection is not just about words, it includes pictures, video, and fun
Strong communities allow for fluid movement between online and offline personas
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 11
Connection: Zappos Coonnecti
on
Zapp.me link allows easy linking from customer blogs
Widget tools allows easy embedding of product in Myspace or blogs
Customer reviews for every product
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 12
» SheSpeaks programs include member to member, member to brand, brand to member and member to non-member communication, all facilitated by the appropriate tools and content
» SheSpeaks programs can include offline experiences, including parties, shopping trips, video assignments
Connection at SheSpeaks Connectio
n
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 13
Recognition: What does it mean?
Recognition can be granted through rewards, status, personalization, and access
Status recognizes members with badging or other visual recognition
Personalization recognizes users by “treating me like you know me”
Access to information provides unique opportunities to members so they feel special and exclusive
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 14
Recognition: ThisNext Recog-nition
Top user recognized as a “Maven” and is given special site status
Ranking users according to activity and quality
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 15
» Invitation to participate in a product test or research from a brand creates “VIP Influencer” status
» Pass-along coupons are a social currency that allow SheSpeaks members to communicate their VIP status and provide their friends an “Insider Exclusive”
Recognition at SheSpeaks Recog-nition
Subject: Ready to Scream for Ice Cream? "
Dear Fiona , ……you and your friends will be among the first to try this new superpremium ice cream.
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 16
Impact: What does it mean?
Communication creates the expectation for response
Action is not always necessary, but a recognition of the value of the communication is
Community members expect the ability to shape the nature of the community itself
Social media creates new ways to show results to communities
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 17
Impact: Dell
Significant investment by Dell in community tools, with multiple tools and segments
Ideastorm is a community generated suggestion box
Every two weeks (at least), Dell publishes an update on their blog about Ideastorm ideas that have been implemented and suggestions to improve Ideastorm
IMpact
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 18
» Brands interact directly with members in our community
» At the end of brand programs, brands send a “Here’s how you influenced” email
» Members often forward these emails to their friends, so we’ve incorporated a pass-along offer for the product as part of the email
Impact at SheSpeaks IMpact
“You told us you loved the light texture of the product. - bliss is changing the packaging to highlight those qualities. ”
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 19
Creating a community
• Start with the basics: Create an ability for members to connect with one another and with the brand. Don’t over-design at the beginning.
• Co-create: They will help you solve. Let your customers tell you what’s important to them. Be ready to listen, as your customers will be very vocal!
• Build on your advantages: The best communities bridge online and offline fluidly. For example, Retailers can design an online community with in-person live store events • e.g., fashion department wine and cheese, bring a friend, have an
experience, insiders peek into the new Fall collection and a discount
• Community Product Reviews: allow community members to rate and link their own Retailer’s product reviews
• Leverage “Community Experts”: Let mavens have special authority to moderate and create content
• Create community around passion points: hobbies, interests and lifestages
© SheSpeaks, Inc. All rights reserved
Contact: Josh McKay [email protected] (p)212-830-9883 20
What does it take?
» Commitment: Creating a community is not a one-off effort, but requires ongoing, dedicated resources to engage and sustain the conversation OR a partner who can manage this for you!
» Flexibility: Social media and community tools evolve rapidly
» Bravery: Not all of the messages from the community will be positive. However, by showing that you are listening, you will build goodwill and advocacy.