Rick MansGlobal Social Media Lead

Communities, it is not about you. It is about them

Tools

Some organizations think that tools are the main requirement for creating a community

Behavior of organizations after installing the tool

Now we wait, we know everybody really wants to use this tool

Level of user adoption by using this approach

There might be room for improvement

Resulting in an average success rate of

Not that much

What went wrong?

It is not about technology.

It is about people.

1

You cannot create a community.(not because you are incompetent, so don’t be insecure)

2

Communities are already there.

3

The only thing you can do is to help them to do their thing better.

4

Communities are participating on a platform they choose.

5

Ok, that technology centric approach went wrong.

Now what?

Social Media is:

Human interaction in a virtual world

Please keep in mind for all your social media efforts

What do some smart people think about communities.

We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human

race.

Cicero: 106 BC – 43BC was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.

Henrik Ibsen: 1828-1906 was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright of realistic drama and poet.

It is vain to talk of the interest of the community, without understanding what is

the interest of the individual.

Jeremy Bentham 1748 – 1832: was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer.

It is about relationships

Everything you do in social media, should create at least the beginning of a relationship

If you want to have success with social media right now

You should have started six months ago

It was never so easy to connect with so many people.

It was never so hard to get somebody’s attention.

How can you connect with your audience and turn them into passionate fans.

From outsider to evangelist

That was just another model, now how will get to the outsiders?

Reminder:

It is not about you.

It is about them.

Find your audience

Remember: you cannot create a community

Creating a new place online

You might be successful, however try to prevent this if this isn’t necessary

Think of your goals

How will social media, this community, help you in reaching a certain goal. And more important: how does your goal relates to the goals of you audience?

Shape your story

What is the story you will be sharing? Is it worth the attention of your audience?

Or even better, tap into the things that are important for you audience

Can you make them an offer they cannot refuse?

Congratulations!

You have made people that weren’t aware of you into outsiders and into visiting fans.

… well, only if the thing you offer is something they cannot refuse and is really

good.

Enable interaction

…and with the other fans. It is about human interaction

Don’t forget to show appreciation

… it is about them, not about you

Can you handle it?

Thank people for unintended uses

… unintended uses show your audience cares

Content creation

Help them in creating the content and other things they need

User generated content

… they care about you, have you already told them you care about them?

Congratulations!

In the mean time you have transformed some passive members into active

members.

… however make sure you can adapt to the needs of your audience.

Encourage members to promote you

Let them be creative, allow them to promote you. Don’t kill them with rules and regulations

Did you already say ‘thank you’ to your fans?

Did you?

Congratulations!

In the mean time you have transformed some active members into passionate

members.

… however only small part of your fan base will be an evangelist (1 - 5%).

Now you know.

You cannot create a community.

10

It is about your fans.

It is not about you.

9

Know where your (future) fans are.

Go to them.

7

It is not a linear process all the time.

8

Leading by example is key.

6

There is still an offline world.

Do not ignore the old media.

5

Success won’t come overnight.

4

Care about your fans.

Care about every single one of them.

You passionate fans will outperform every marketing department and every agency.

3

Make them an offer they cannot refuse.

Build a relation ship.

Be a friend.

2

Don’t be a jerk.

It is not about you.

It is about them.

1

Rick MansGlobal Social Media LeadPapendorpseweg 100 UtrechtThe Netherlands

Phone: +31 6 51 21 01 44E-Mail: rick.mans@capgemini.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/rickmansLinkedIn: http://nl.linkedin.com/in/rickmans