The Community Roundtable

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Celebrating Community Success – Ian White (Rackspace)

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By Hillary Boucher, Community Manager at TheCR Network.

Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 3.59.49 PMAs community manager of TheCR Network – our peer network of social business and community leaders – one of the things I love is celebrating our members’ successes with them. We know the many challenges our members face as they work to implement community models into their organizations’ infrastructure and it’s great when there is validation for all of their hard work. In this case, we were thrilled to hear that one of our members, Ian White of Rackspace, and his community team was awarded a silver award for Best Use of Technology in Customer Service at the eighth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. I caught up with Ian to get more details.

Hillary: Congrats on your big award! Tell us more about the award and why you and your team was chosen to receive it.

Ian:  The Stevie Awards are considered the Oscars of the business world, and the Sales & Customer Service awards honor companies across sales, contact centers and customer service. More than 400 nominated customer service and sales executives from the US and several other countries attended.

My team, the Rackspace Community Team was honored for its contribution towards providing Fanatical Support®. One of the tenants of Fanatical Support is proactively serving our customers – providing solutions to problems before customers know they have them and before they even have to ask. The team took home a silver award for Best Use of Technology in Customer Service – Computer Services at the eighth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Hillary: Sounds like your customers enjoy this more modern form of support – can you share some feedback you’ve received from users on the community support model?”

Ian: Our customers are primarily business owners, and they’ve told us that they appreciate the ability to have a library of solutions at their fingertips that is accessible when they want it. They are delighted at the speed and quality of our specialists’ responses in the Community. Additionally, our customers enjoy the access that the Community gives them to have transparent communication with Rackspace leadership about big issues such as security in the cloud.

Hillary: We know it’s a pretty big deal for a community team to win this over traditional support teams. Can you share a little background about your community and how you ended up at this point of achievement?

Ian: We started the Community on February 4th, 2013 with the goal of expanding our Fanatical Support to a digital audience that prefers self-service. In the current market, many people prefer to google an answer to a question rather than speak to a human, so expanding that concept to include support for Rackspace customers was a key objective. It was also important that our Community provide access to specialists in a wide variety of technologies that can address specific concerns. After one question has been answered, it can be viewed and provide insight to other customers who are experiencing similar problems. This allows us to create a comprehensive support experience for our customers with information that is constantly evolving and growing.

Hillary: Thinking back at the process of standing this community up, what was a major obstacle and how did you overcome it?

Ian: The biggest challenge out of the gate was trying to find content that would be valuable to our audience. It’s something we continually debate as a team, and we challenge each other to find the best content, through the right channel, for the right member. Fortunately our customers are very open about what they want, so we have the advantage of learning from them and adapting our processes along the way.

Hillary: What’s next for your community?

Ian: In 2014, our focus is targeted at expanding the self-service options for our customers through a redesigned Community and a unified customer experience for all of our digital portals. The concept of proactive Fanatical Support will continue to inspire any and all projects moving forward. I’m really excited to see how customers react to the updates we are planning, and I hope that they love it. If they don’t, I hope they will tell us so that we can improve it!

Hillary: Great job, Ian! We’re all really proud of the work you are doing and we look forward to keeping up with your efforts inside TheCR Network!

IanWhite

Ian White is the manager of support at Rackspace and has 19 years of experience leading large scale cloud hosting programs and teams. He identifies strategic opportunities and grows them into sustainable business models. He specializes in creating digital self-service channels to connect people with online solutions, knowledge bases, communities, and social learning environments. His passion is creating customer delight.

Recap: Community Manager Spotlight Webinar with J.J. Lovett, CA Technologies

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By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

JJ Lovett - Community Manager Spotlight

In February, Jim chatted with J.J. Lovett,  Director, Online Communities at CA Technologies as part of our ongoing Community Manager Spotlight webinar series. We are always amazed at the different paths that lead our members to community management – and J.J. is the perfect example. A retired US Marine, J.J. joined CA Technologies nine years ago and now is confident he has the best job in the world. He recently published a book titled “Developing B2B Social Communities: Keys to Growth, Innovation, and Customer Loyalty” – which explains how B2B organizations can use a robust online community strategy to survive and flourish in today’s changing economy.

Watch the video below to learn more about CA Technologies’ customer engagement evolution and how J.J. and his team have received an honorary minor in platform management through numerous changes over the past few years. The audience asked a lot of great questions, so many in fact that we didn’t have time for them all. J.J. has kindly sent answers to the questions we didn’t get to and I’ve included them below. Have a question for J.J. on his journey? You can connect with him on Twitter or leave them in the comments below.

 

1. What was the main driver to move to JIVE as your platform? Also, how does this integrate with your companies social listening initiative?

We had been developing our own social collaboration tool in-house on an open source platform. Given that it was not our core business, we saw an opportunity to move to a best of breed solution which would accelerate our roadmap by 12-18 months and allow us to shift from a focus on platform management and get more time back to major in community & content management.

We are in the early stages of integrating the communities into our social listening efforts – more to follow on this post-implementation in a follow on phase.

2. Regarding internal collaboration, what company cultural challenges have you come across, and how have you addressed those?

Our team is not the primary team responsible for internal collaboration efforts including community (we work with our company’s external communities). Getting people comfortable with a new way of doing business and engaging beyond the realm of entitled customers to a larger audience has been a primary goal for us. So, we work with the internal community and social media teams to educate on collaboration overall so people are ready, (more) willing and able to go out into the public domain and engage with our customers and prospects. In that regard, it takes a ton of collaboration with internal champions, legal teams, communications and so on to ensure that everyone is armed and ready to head outside of the firewall and engage.  We’ve done this primarily by designing content initiatives by internal role/persona and doing proof-of-concept projects and then advertising the successes & benefits attained while formalizing the activity and then rolling it out to other teams within the business.

3. How has executive support has evolved?

Executive support has evolved over time and it has evolved greatly for the mutual benefit of the company and customer alike. For the online communities, historically we have had one or two executives interested in trying to help the communities along. With the rise of social engagement and the standardization of community interaction enabling software development company innovation efforts, the interest has become more widespread where we can certainly work with executives throughout the organization to work top-down as well as bottom-up to meet in the middle for success and advancement. Combine this with some new executives who have joined the company from other companies who leveraged communities for development, innovation, support, marketing, etc. and it becomes a convergence that has allowed us to advance community efforts within the company greatly.

4. How have you calibrated between content and people interaction? What predominates?

Early on we are content predominant – providing content for people to come consume and then also to interact on. When we start a community, we generally average around 70% company provided content with 30% then provided or contributed by the external membership. It takes a while (and a bit of refinement on the content) to achieve 50/50 parity for what we as a company contribute and what the membership posts/contributes. Once we achieve parity though, it is a rather quick swing on the other side to get to 70% externally contributed content. So the goal is to have engagement/interaction as the goal but it may take varying amounts of time depending on the maturity and stage in the lifecycle for the product/topic we are focusing on, the familiarity of the customer base with social engagement, and so on.

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TheCR Network is a membership network that provides strategic, tactical and professional development programming for community and social business leaders. We connect clients with the people and ideas that help them build and grow successful communities with their customers, employees, and partners.

Think of TheCR Network as a hidden coach who makes you smarter and provides you with regular reinforcement as you do the hard work of helping your organization change. It’s likely not many people internally understand what you are trying to do – but your peers in TheCR Network do and they’ll make sure you know if you are on the right track or might be expecting too much.

TheCR Network helps members:

  1. Innovate more quickly
  2. Save time and money
  3. Perform better

TheCR Network is the place to learn from social business practitioners.  Join today.

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Friday Roundup – One Week Left Edition

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By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

Our annual research initiative – the State of Community Management survey closes next Friday, February 28th. If you have already taken this short survey (only 15 minutes!) – thank you! If you haven’t taken it, and are a community manager, community strategist, community program leader or volunteer who has community management responsibilities we would love to hear from you – you can take the survey here.

On a programming note, we’re offering a free, public webinar next Wednesday at 1pm ET focused on best practices for managing community platform changes. Register now! Now, on to the links:

Have a great weekend – see you on Monday!

 

 

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The Community Roundtable  is committed to advancing the business of community. We offer a membership based peer network, community management training programs and advisory services for corporations and individuals.

Recap: Community Manager Spotlight Webinar with Chris Catania, Walgreens

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In January we kicked off a brand-new program – the Community Manager Spotlight series. This was, in part, to really dig into all the different roles and titles that a “community manager” can occupy. Increasingly, we find our members are doing the work of a community manager, but often without the title. Being a community manager can mean different things at different companies; here’s a sampling of member titles:

  • Director of Community
  • Manager, Social Content
  • Global Community Manager
  • Director of Member Engagement
  • Community Evangelist
  • Senior Manager, Research
  • Associate Business Analyst
  • Social Media & Event Manager
  • President & Chief Social Strategist
  • Senior Product Manager

I could go on, but you get the point. Our goal is to advance the business of community and part of that is advancing the discipline of community management. Over the coming months, the Community Manager Spotlight  series will highlight a different person practicing community management at their company, putting faces to names, and providing case studies and best practices from a wide array of practitioners.

In our inaugural webinar Jim Storer (our co-founder) chatted with Chris Catania, Online Community Manager at Walgreens. In the video below Chris and Jim discuss the community journey at Walgreens, and Chris provides a look at how Walgreens is executing their community management strategy. Highlights include a look at how Chris and his team launched their social intranet, The Wall, and how they are using a big red sofa to connect with employees around the world.

Our next webinar is scheduled for February 27th and will include special guest J.J. Lovett from CA Technologies talking about the platform changes they have undergone in recent years and best practices when migrating communities. We hope to see you there!

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Mentor Match: The Good, Bad and the Ugly On Getting a Program Started

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Guest post by Laura Brook, Director of Community Development at OneFPA.org and member of TheCR Network.

Last year, I was at our annual conference catching up with a colleague who used to work with me at the Financial Planning Association (FPA).  I shared with her that we were about to launch a mentoring program where our members could mentor fellow financial planners.

Her response was a snorted “Good luck.”  My eyebrows went up in surprise.  She told me that she had tried to launch a similar program five years before without success.  I asked about her experience, saying that I hadn’t even realized that she had worked on this.  She explained that members responded positively to the program in theory, but when it came down to them actually signing up to take part in the program, not so much.  As a result, the initiative never got off the ground.

Oh boy.  This was a long-time staff person, very well networked with chapter leaders and very well liked.  Her story didn’t exactly boost my confidence in our chances.

Well, it’s now a year later and the program is serving our members well.  As the person in charge of community development, this was a natural extension for me to take on.  Our communities are often fertile ground for these types of connections.  Participants want to help each other succeed.  And from a community management standpoint, it can be a great point of engagement.  So in this regard, it can become a true win-win.

Let me outline the program and then give you the dirt on the good, the bad and the ugly for how things have gone.

How It Works

  • It is a six-month, coach-supported program.
  • Membership is required for both mentors and mentees, and there is no cost to participate.
  • Matching is done online through HigherLogic’s MentorMatch module (envision a simplified version of Match.com for those of us who have experienced the online dating scene).
  • Mentees are limited to one mentor at a time.
  • Mentees are expected to set the agenda and drive the relationship.  Mentors just need to be responsive to their requests.  Go here to read more about roles and responsibilities.
  • Each MentorMatch round includes an FPA-facilitated kick-off call, check-in call, and wrap-up call.  Kick-off and wrap-up calls are held jointly.  Check-ins are separate—one group call for mentees and one group call for mentors.
  • Mentees are required to fill out and share with their mentor five mentoring worksheets before their first call.  This is to help mentees get clarity on what they want/need out of their mentoring relationship.
  • In the first call, mentors follow an initial discovery call checklist to get the relationship started on the right foot.  From that point on, mentees are the ones to set the agenda.
  • Mentees and mentors generally meet once per month via phone or Skype, although some relationships are in-person.
  • Mentees complete an exit interview to rate their mentors and the program overall.

Ok, so that is the overview.  Now let’s talk about the negatives first so that we can end things on a positive note.

The Bad/The Ugly: What our challenges have been to date

  • Even with a good online program where people self-enroll, it is still a time-consuming program to manage.
  • People have a tendency to enroll as a mentee …  and then just sit there, even after being prompted to search for a mentor.  As a result, most matches have been facilitated by FPA, adding to the management burden.  The irony is that award-winning financial planners go unchosen because people are too intimidated to ask to be their mentees.
  • There are enough steps that people sometimes struggle with the process.  As an insider, it seems really simple—enroll, search for a mentor, choose the one you like, and send them an invitation to mentor you.  They then have to accept the invitation for mentors/mentees to be formally linked.  Most have been fine, but our technologically less-savvy members have been challenged at times.
  • Add in a chapter network of nearly 100 locations, some of which already have local mentoring programs, and things get really interesting.  We are currently strategizing around how best to blend our national and chapter efforts.
  • We have gotten some (thankfully pretty limited) feedback that mentees don’t always do their homework or prep for calls as well as they should.  We have had conversations on whether charging a nominal fee for the program would help to address this, but have elected to keep it free for now since the program is still young.  Ultimately, we want to make sure that our mentors’ time is respected and well used.

The Good: What has been going well

  • First and foremost, our members love it.  We have had a couple hundred people go through the program to date and 98 percent of the feedback has been glowing.
  • The limited-time horizon helps ease mentor commitment concerns.  Nine hours over six months (three hours on FPA calls and six with the mentee) helps define the program in a way that feels doable.
  • The facilitated calls and initial discovery checklist helps mentors feel supported.  (Even very experienced professionals can find it daunting to be a mentor!)
  • The mentoring worksheets help give the mentees direction and focus.
  • I have been surprised by how many of our mentors have said that they learn a lot from their mentees.  These young planners are often fresh out of school and possess skill sets that are very different than our seasoned planners’ competencies.
  • It engages tough-to-serve demographics—students, young professionals, and those who are mature members or already retired.
  • Our profession needs it.  Financial planning is young—it began only 45 years ago—and the career path for those who want to become planners can be challenging.

So far it’s been a fun ride.  The program is proving to be a quadruple win—good for our mentees, our mentors, the organization, and the profession, which makes dealing with a little bit of bad/ugly worth it in the end.

 

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The Community Roundtable  is committed to advancing the business of community. We offer a membership based peer network, community management training programs and advisory services for corporations and individuals.

How Do You Build A Thriving Community?

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By Rachel Happe, Principal and Co-Founder of TheCR

No matter what stage your online community is in, there are basics of community  management to be followed.  It is helpful to go back over them again and again to be sure that you are staying on track.  This is probably the reason our slideshare presentation “Community Management Fundamentals” has over 92,000 views and is often shared through social media channels.  Today, I thought it would be good to take a deeper look at one part of that presentation that involves building a thriving community from slides 30-41.

So how do you build a thriving community?  Here are some tips:

Observe Your Audience
Get to know your community.  What are their likes, dislikes?  Where do they hang out online? When do they hang out online? What do they value?  What questions do they ask most often? All these questions will help you better understand who your community is and how you can make their experience more frictionless and pleasant.

Keep a Regular ScheduleScreen Shot 2016-02-16 at 4.10.26 PM
Isn’t it disconcerting when you head to your neighborhood convenience store and it is closed in the middle of the day?  So, too would it be if your community was closed unexpectedly.  However, community managers are asked to do a lot.  You do not have to operate 24-7 to please your members.  But keeping a regular schedule of when questions can be answered and giving your community a heads up if you will be “closed” unexpectedly will go a long way toward gaining their trust and loyalty

Be Welcoming
We all know what it was like to walk into the cafeteria in a new school.  It was noisy, and unfamiliar and you weren’t quite sure how it worked.  You knew no one but it seemed that everyone else knew each other.  It did not feel good.  Wouldn’t it have been great to be met at the door of the cafeteria by a friendly face who showed you around and introduced you to others with interests in common?  So do that for your new community members.  It isn’t hard.  A welcome email, a quick introduction to another member in the same industry or with similar challenges, an introduction through a weekly newsletter is all it may take.

 Provide A Guide
We are all crunched for time and trying to learn new systems is time consuming.  At TheCR Network we have new member orientation calls.  This is where Hillary Boucher, our online Community Manager walks new members through how TheCR Network works, learns more about what each member’s challenges are and suggests specific resources within the community that can be helpful.  It is also where we suggest reaching out to existing members of our community that could be helpful and who already know the ropes at TheCR Network.

Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 4.10.36 PMBe Valuable
Communities are about relationships, and are not one way streets.  If the community is getting something from the member but the member is not getting something of at least equal value from the community then it is no longer a relationship and chances are that community member will come into the community less and less often until they disappear.  By sharing what is valuable with  your members – be it curated content, discounts, thought leadership, access to experts, or something else – you ensure a healthy community.

Be a Connector
Too often in business people are afraid to share information or help each other out.  But that is at the essence of a community.  Connecting those that may help each other with each other is key.  In our case often  this means connecting TheCR Network members with each other, but sometimes it means connecting them with those outside of the network.

Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 4.10.43 PM Bring Catnip
All work and no play is dull.  And while we need to work…we also need to play.  What sort of activities can you think of that may not be purely business for your community but will help them better connect?  We find engagement in TheCR Network goes down with everyone’s busy summer schedule.  And that’s okay.  But we don’t want to totally lose connection with members and we want to bring some fun of summer into the community.  Last summer we sent out “Flat Hillary” a play on a project many school children undertake.  “Flat Hillary” had some great adventures with our members around the country.  It was fun and it kept us in touch with our members and our members in touch with each other.

Have Rules
While you may think your community will bring out the best in people that is not always the case.  As many a community manager has experienced, some community members don’t treat everyone as they would like to be treated themselves.  So have rules.  Here’s a great example from Career Builder.

Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 4.10.51 PMLead From The Back
Community managers do not need to do all the work.  It is great to watch members of the community take over building relationships, adding content and making connections themselves.  But community managers do need to nudge members in the right direction and be sure the community stays on course – much like a shepherd.

Encourage Your Cheeseheads
Once you know who are your biggest champions give them reasons to continue to champion you.  Thank them, tell them how much you appreciate them, help them out early and often and be sure they feel appreciated.

Ride The Waves
Not all will be smooth in your community so be sure to revel in the smooth times so that you may be ready for when the wave crashes.  And don’t panic. This is how life and communities work.  Not all will be smooth but also not all should be overly drama-filled either.  Often the tone you set will be the tone the community follows.

Don’t Ignore
It’s okay not to react immediately to everything that appears a be a problem.  It may work itself out.  But then again, it may not.  If it is persistent or is something that you already know is a problem but you may not have been transparent with your community about, don’t ignore it.  Acknowledge it, figure out what steps to take, take them and evaluate how it went.

Be Multi-Modal
Not everyone in your community will think and act the same way.  You need to be where they are.  This goes back to the first item on this list.  If you get to know your audience you willScreen Shot 2016-02-16 at 4.11.01 PM learn where they hang out and how they like to operate.  But this is not a one-time only process.  You need to do this regularly.  Your audience may shift their likes and dislikes and you need to be ready to shift with them.

Protect The Fish
Congratulations you have built a great community!  Now watch out.  Others will want access to what you have built for their own purposes.  The rules you have set up and communicated should help you here, but be vigilant.  Make sure your members are getting value from you without fear of sharks preying on them.

 

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Need community management resources? Check out our online training courses, our community benchmarks and TheCR Network – a private community for community pros.