Archive for the ‘Co-Creation’ Category

Blog, Co-Creation, Community Management, Headbox, Research Communities, Social Media

Top 5 Tips for Community Management

Date May 07 2009
Posted by Matt
Tagged with

Hi I’m Matt and I am one of the Community Managers here at Face.

Before sitting down and writing my first Face blog I had already decided on my topic – ‘Top Tips for Community Management’.

A simple exercise for an experienced community manager, right?

Wrong.

In a world restricted by budgets and processes, community management sticks out like a sore thumb. On a daily basis a community manager deals with something that frightens the life out of lots of people in business – unpredictability.

When you have a large community, you are dealing with individuality on a large scale. Community members aren’t bound by contracts and have a right to express their opinion, whatever it may be.

The unpredictability of community users (and their opinions) is great in terms of output; however it’s not so helpful when writing top tips for community management! So, I have avoided specific situations and concentrated on 5 general rules that I always abide by…

Know Your Audience

I know this is a bit of a no brainer but it is almost impossible to build rapport with your users if you do not have a method to connect with them. Every research and brand community is a unique environment, so you cannot treat each one the same way. A research community for 16 year old girls is poles apart from a brand community aimed at 16 year old boys, so treat them differently. It always takes a bit of time to develop a consistent voice that your audience will proactively engage with but it is crucial to a successful community.

Be Human

I still find it incredible that so many sites seem to be controlled by automated community robots lacking any kind of personality. To connect with a community, you need to talk to them in a natural way. Just because there isn’t an actual physical interaction doesn’t mean that people will accept being spoken to in a cold, inhuman way. Every person who interacts with a community member has their own personality and it is important to show this, it creates a much warmer and open atmosphere.

Listen

Always ask your members what they do and do not like about your community and act upon their responses. Not all suggestions will be relevant but listening will, without doubt, bring errors to the surface and allow you to make changes. Small errors can sometimes be the most monotonous and will only be revealed after continuous use of the site, it is essential to get these sorted. Not only will this make your site more intuitive but also make the users feel part of an open community.

Stick to Your Guns

Always remain consistent with your communication; clarity is key in a successful community. If anybody questions your actions make sure you refer them to the initial contact and deal with them affirmatively. The easiest way to drive members away is through ambiguity so make sure you lay everything out in the open. If you do need to make changes, explain your reasons to the community.

Reward Responsibly

When running communities you come across loads of different people and lots of different personalities, some you will like and some you, naturally, won’t. This shouldn’t mean favouritism though; it is natural for some users to question your authority and generally those who are most engaged will ask more questions. It is key to reward users on their achievements within the community above anything else. Treating and rewarding users differently will only have a negative effect on any community.

There you go my top tips for creating an open community atmosphere. If you have any other tips which help the community environment please comment!!

Matt

http://www.facegroup.com/matt-simpson

Blog, Co-Creation, Insights

Do you trust your consumers?

Date May 01 2009
Posted by Georgie
Tagged with

I read an interview with Drayton Bird in Februarys issue of Research Magazine headlined Direct Speech. I was immediately struck by the glaring contradiction in Drayton Birds comments that bedevils the thinking of most large companies.

On the one hand he argues that he doesnt want market research to come and tell him what people think because – people dont bloody well know what they think themselves. He quotes Henry Fords famous remark – ‘If I’d asked the public they would have said they wanted a faster horse’. On the other hand he goes on to say the biggest mistake Marketers, R&D people and Directors can make is not to talk to their customers you should not forget, he muses, that it is your customers who put you there. Yet it is not surprising that Marketers, R&D people and Directors make this mistake when they are being told by their agencies and advisors (like Drayton) that customers dont really know what they want and that brand owners know best.

To think of your customers in this way, in the world of web 2.0, and the empowered consumer is both arrogant and dangerous. Such an outdated view conditions a corporate mindset of not listening and if you are not going to listen to your customers, then you are certainly not going to act on anything they tell you. And to do this today, at a time when your customers no longer see themselves as passive respondents but active equals in their relationship with you is even worse. Todays consumer has a much stronger belief not just in their own voice but in their own creativity, ideas and self expression.
Companies need to decide where they stand on this debate. Do they trust their customers? Do they have a corporate mindset that says the customer is always right? Or do they think they know best and their customers do not really know what it is they want, so they need to be told. I know where I stand, on the side of the customer and if you embrace their ideas and creativity in a meaningful way you can start to imagine together what the future could look like. That is how real brand value will be created in the decades ahead.

Blog, Co-Creation, Insights, Reseach Goodies

Co-Creating Insights: World Esomar Conference Dubai 2009

Date February 21 2009
Posted by admin
Tagged with

A white paper on co-creating insights and putting the consumer and the heart of your business. Presented by Andrew Needham and Philip Mcnaughton at the world Esomar Research Conference in Dubai 2009.

Dubai-Esomar-Paper-co-creating-insights