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The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Interview with a Community Veteran – Nigel Fortlage

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable

Nigel FortlageToday I’m excited to share another veteran community professional’s thoughts on the last five years in the community world. Nigel Fortlage has been a member of TheCR Network since 2009 – and has provided invaluable support and leadership along the way.  Nigel is the Vice President, Information Technology (CIO) at GHY International and has the very special distinction of being our very first international member in TheCR Network!

1. If you could go back and give yourself advice five years ago what would you say?

  • Trust your instinct, it is a better judge than that of a paid consultant who doesn’t know my business.
  • Learn from everyone, and share with just as many, by sharing your learn more.
  • Value relationships of all kinds, connect with everyone, you never know where the next great answer will come from.
  • Follow Matthew McConaughey’s advice, find someone to look up to, look forward to, and to chase.

2. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Given what I see today, I believe that the future for me may lie in a combination CIO/CMO role within our organization. The emergence of community/social business is escalating and reaffirms that we are on the right directions in developing our business. I also see synergy with a combined role as many aspects that are respectful of the other can be helpful and what a better way for IT to add value than through the eyes of our clients. Developing community and marketing skills allows me to see the clients view on things that are resulting in better delivery of initiatives.

3. Did you have any community management mentors along the way? Any specific advice they gave you that stood out to you?

I have had a few coaches that have helped me and are helping me. I have SEO specialists helping under the science behind SEO and being found online. I have marketing leaders who have helped me understand the language. I have business mentors who continue to help shape my view on the lifetime value of a client. Last but not least is the innocent relationship that began with a tweet and a response from Rachel that lead to me becoming an early member of The CR, where through Jim and Rachel’s advice I have gained understanding and application knowledge that still serves me today. I look forward to evolving my role through continued learning and participation with TheCR members.

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Looking to take your career in community management to the next level? 92% of members agree that TheCR Network supports and advances their personal and professional goals. Learn how our research, access to peers and experts, targeted content and exclusive concierge service can help you achieve your goals. 

 

Recap: Community Manager Spotlight Webinar with Heather Ausmus

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

In March, Jim chatted with Heather Ausmus as part of our ongoing Community Manager Spotlight webinar series. Heather has used the Community Maturity Model in her community work and shared how she has developed a plan through FY18 using the model as a framework.

 Heather Ausmus is the Online Community Manager at Johnson Controls Building Efficiency where she manages the Connected Community, an external community for customers, partners and prospective customers. She recently also started managing Johnson Controls Building Efficiency social media programs. Prior to Johnson Controls Building Efficiency, she helped consumer brands develop and implement social media programs and was the Marketing Manager for a global consumer brand.

Watch the video below to learn more about Heather and her team’s use of the Community Maturity Model in their work, and hear her answers to great questions, including:

  • How she has proven the worth of the community internally
  • How she was able to scale her effort with such a small team
  • What tools she uses to run reports, capture the data and methods of distribution
  • How her community team engages with product management teams

Have a question for Heather? You can connect with her on Twitter or leave them in the comments below.

This content has moved inside The Network.

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Did you know that 95% of The Network members agree that the content and peer input improves the quality of their work? It’s true! Membership in The Network saves community and social business leaders time and improves the quality of their work by connecting them quickly with peers, experts and curated information. Learn how joining The Network can improve the work you do.

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Interview with a Community Veteran – Heather Strout

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

Heather Strout

To celebrate our 5th anniversary this month I sat down with a few of our long-time members to chat about their community experience over the last five years. Today I’m happy to share my conversation with Heather Strout, Director of Product Marketing at Lithium. I’m actually lucky enough to know Heather in real life – we worked together many moons ago, and can personally vouch for her awesomeness.

In addition to her day job at Lithium, Heather is part of the team that hosts a monthly community manager breakfast in Austin, TX. If you’re in the Austin area tomorrow (4/3/14) you should join them!

1. How have you seen the community management space evolve over the past five years?

Community Management for business is no longer uncharted territory. We can rely on the documented experiences of others to shape a successful community today. Five years ago, we were still relying on other industries and precursors to community to chart community strategy.

Organizations like The Community Roundtable have allowed Community Managers to evolve their community, and thus the industry as a whole, so quickly. It’s still a nascent business strategy but is considered a core strategy to so many companies now. Five years ago, it still seemed as if many companies were in the experimental stage.

2. What are some of the biggest differences from when you first started out in community management?

Now, businesses take the role of community manager, and the value of community, seriously. It’s no longer a secret weapon for those who have figured out the value. In some industries, having a customer community is not an option; it’s a necessity to stay competitive.

3. What would you do differently in your first community management role knowing what you know now?

I would have been more insistent on making sure the business knew how to make a successful community and what it took to get there. Specifically, getting senior management buy-in to not just why a community can be valuable but the effort needed to make it a success.

Thanks, Heather! We are so lucky to have long-time members like you advocating for community management! If you want to connect with Heather you can find her on twitter.

 

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Did you know that 95% of TheCR Network members agree that the content and peer input improves the quality of their work? It’s true! Membership in TheCR Network saves community and social business leaders time and improves the quality of their work by connecting them quickly with peers, experts and curated information. Learn how joining TheCR Network can improve the work you do.

Events On Our Mind: IBM Connect and Enterprise 2.0 Summit

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

Winter is a great time to plan to be away from snowy (very snowy today) Massachusetts. Our co-founder Rachel did just that and spent last week at IBM Connect 2014 in sunny Orlando, FL, and will be jetting off to Paris (which might not be balmy, but it’s Paris) next week for the Enterprise 2.0 Summit.

These are two very different events and I wanted to get the scoop from Rachel on what drove her interest in each. Below is a short interview with Rachel – highlighting her views on both events and recommendations for conference goers in general.

The focus of this year’s IBM Connect was “Energizing Life’s Work,” – how did you see that theme play out through your experience there?

There were literally hundreds of events – from panels like “Avoid Being a Social Zombie in a Global World” to multi-day innovation and design labs; the event definitely had a hands on feel. I got to take part in several interactive events, really targeted at applying expertise and case studies to real-life challenges. Personally, I walked away energized by the number of interactions I had that are already lending themselves to collaboration. One quick example – I took part in a great lunch roundtable celebrating Community Manager Advancement Day and walked away already discussing the possibility for an ebook. Everyone there was focused on applying the discussions and interactions back to their life and their work immediately, and it was exciting to see – and energizing!

Seeing a large enterprise like IBM shine a spotlight on social business is refreshing. What do you think was the key social take-away for attendees?

The event was so large I don’t feel like I can pinpoint the key take-away, but there was a sense of “this is now” in every meeting I had and every session I attended. Enterprises are focusing of social business as a vital component of a successful strategy – certainly a shift from where they were five or even three years ago.

Worth noting is the Social Business Symposium – an education package for undergrad and grad students.  I took part in an interview focused on internal collaboration that will be distributed on the Social Business Symposium platform (a newly launched website) with interviewer/host Peter Cardon, Professor at USC. I haven’t seen the finished product yet but I love that the discussion of social business and community management is making its way into the curriculum of both undergraduate and graduate programs.

You interacted with a lot of new faces through some of the events you took part in. Can you share a highlight?

I was lucky enough to host the CMAD roundtable and a “Social Buzz chat” in the IBM Connect Social Cafe. But as with many events, a lot of the conversations came from one-on-one discussions as part of bigger events. At lunch we had fun discussing what creature our communities reminded us of – and what creature we would prefer it reminding us of. My favorite response was that one community culture was like a bunch of monkeys – very intelligent but just wanting to have fun – and the community manager said their preferred creature would be ants – individuals working in concert to do something they could not do alone.

I also got the opportunity to catch up with some of our members and clients and dig more deeply into their challenges and opportunities, which I can never get enough of as I find the process of transforming businesses and cultures to be fascinating.

I’m already looking forward to Connect 2015 – and thinking about trying to plan my calendar to fit even more in. There were so many sessions that I would have loved to take part in and want to take advantage of next year.

The Enterprise 2.0 Summit is next week in Paris. Can you give us an overview for anyone not familiar with the event? 

The Enterprise 2.0 Summit is held in Paris and is primarily focused on enterprise and social business practitioners in Europe. This year the main theme is “Getting Social Enterprise Ready” which I think will include how organizations adopt and adapt technology solutions, as well as how companies implement social business across the organization. As part of that, I will be running a workshop on internal community management training – something I’m very excited to deliver as we recently finished developing this course with a client and I believe it is the first of its kind focused on addressing the needs of community managers focused on internal employees.

You’ll be speaking on a panel “Driving the Engagement & Adoption” can you give us a sneak peek on the discussion? 

In an interview with Rogier Noort on the Enterprise 2.0 blog I share that the three hashtags that best describe my talk are #motivation, #ability and #triggers. I’ve found that  striking the right balance between those things will increase engagement and they are part of a template we’ve built called an “Engagement Recipe” which uses the research of B.J. Fogg, founder of Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab.

The panel also includes some great social business names – Björn Negelmann,  Claire Flanagan, Guillaume Guerin and Laurent Pantanacce. More than anything I’m looking forward to the different perspectives on engagement that each person brings to the discussion.

Final question, a softball. Besides the great conversations and connections at the Enterprise 2.0 Summit what are you looking forward to in Paris? 

I truly am most excited about connecting with new and old friends in Paris – Enterprise 2.0 Summit is chock full of experts and peers that now have lots of experience to share. However, our team member Maggie has spent a lot of time in France and she’s been psyching me up with the talk of macarons and wine bars – I’ve already planned a number of fun dinners with clients and partners that will be a little bit business but more than a little bit fun.

Thanks Rachel! Have a great time in Paris – we’ll post a recap when you’re back!