Archive for the ‘Community Management’ Category

Blog, Co-Creation, Community Management, Headbox, Insights, Uncategorized

No Insight Is So Rich As Honesty

Date May 14 2009
Posted by Matt
Tagged with

In the early 1600s William Shakespeare wrote ‘No Legacy Is So Rich As Honesty’, this quote reigns true throughout society and is very relevant within our world of research especially with the epic rise of the internet.

Allow me to explain…

The internet is a minefield of comment, opinion and debate, a lot of which just wouldn’t happen offline. The removal of face-to-face interaction has levelled the playing field and allowed those who may not speak out offline to find their voice. The security of sitting behind your own computer screen has empowered web users to speak their mind without fear of consequence. The internet gives consumers the freedom and confidence to speak out; this is something brands should grasp on to with both hands.

The honesty of internet personalities is something that you would never be able to gain in a traditional focus group or an immersion session. Consumers won’t go that extra mile for fear of embarrassment or rejection in the face-to-face situation, something that just isn’t an issue for them online. When I first started managing communities I was astounded at the volume of honest information that was being openly shared. However now with a lot of communities under my belt I just see it as the norm.

Just as a added example, before we started to design our new Headbox site I asked Headboxers what they would change about our current site, this is one of the answers I recieved –

I think the current homepage is messy and overcomplicated, with no consistent design across the page. For example, I would move the brand logos and social networking links to horizontal rows,it looks like they’ve just been thrown on the page! There are too many different font sizes and colours which add to the messy appearance.

Yes, it was harsh but through Headboxer Oliver Philpott’s honesty we now have a much better Headbox site in the pipeline.

Giving consumers a prolonged platform in which they feel like they are making a difference and are being heard galvanises them. If they feel like they are trusted then they will repay that with trust by opening up and offering deeper insights that would not have otherwise been discovered.

I don’t know if Shakespeare ever thought he would be quoted in an online research blog but nonetheless his sentiment reigns true and brands should be following his lead by striving to find rich insights through honesty.

Matt

Blog, Co-Creation, Community Management, Headbox, Insights, MRS, Reseach Goodies, Research Communities

Face at MRS Youth Conference :: Research Communities

Date May 12 2009
Posted by Philip
Tagged with

Last week Andrew and I were both presenting at the MRS Youth conference in Sadlers Wells London. Both of us had fantastic support from two of our clients – Beth from Coca-Cola and Nadia from Axe. I was up first in a bit of an early slot – 9.45, and Beth and I were talking about online communities; how to get the best out of them and why they delivered better results than traditional research, particularly in a youth context. Both Beth and I expressed a lot of passion in terms of why we did what we did. I particularly placed a lot of store in the point that true success in this kind of community comes from really encouraging participants to talk to one another in a natural, informal way and not just responding to the ‘moderator’ in a formal, mannered way.

This reminded me of days when I used to do lots of lots of focus groups and I would always try and have a chat with respondents ‘after’ the group was formally finished. It was amazing how quickly peoples voice, vocabulary and responses changed – i.e became more natural - once the group was officially over. This just shows how setting up formal environments can create formal responses and this is something we have tried to work against in the communities we run.

However, as a good challenge to that I was approached at the end by a couple of people from the BBC who had their own experiences of running a community online – designed to generate and create feedback on and ideas for BBC3 programs I believe. They came up and said that their principle in the past had been to keep people separate in order to avoid group effects and people just agreeing with one another and coalescing around one point of view. Well, we chewed the fat a bit about different ways of doing things, and it reminded me that one of the great things about the way we approach communities is that it does allow you to almost simultaneously do a lot of individual and communal work – a great benefit that should not be overlooked. At least the exchange proved that someone in the audience was listening which was great!

Mrs Youth Conference 09 – Face & Coca Cola: using an online community approach with the youth market

View more presentations from Facegroup.

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