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The Community Roundtable

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

Lauren Vargas on Vertical-Focused Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our series continues with episode #24, featuring Lauren Vargas, Director of Community at social media monitoring software company Radian 6.

Podcast highlights include:

  • Building vertical-focused communities to better serve the customer community
  • Can community operate without a dedicated, “gated” platform?
  • The importance of organizational commitment to community, right up to the C-Suite
  • Content as the starting point to create engagement, with blogs as the focal point
  • Finding your “influencers;” why and how, and finding them outside your direct community
  • A discussion of tools for finding influencers (not just Klout)

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MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Shannon Paul on Protected Health Information and Privacy in Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
 
Our series continues with episode #23, featuring Shannon Paul, Social Media Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
 

Podcast highlights include:

  • Dealing with “Protected Health information” (PHI) due to regulations such as HIPAA, including the names of members, and how to balance the need for community and the privacy of members.
  • Creating resources such as www.ahealthiermichigan.org to present wellness resources.
  • Coordination and sharing among associated but separated organizations, as with the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans in different states.
  • When “I can’t answer you” is an answer.

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MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Leigh Mutert on Merging Offline Community with Online

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
 
Our series continues with episode #21, featuring Leight Mutert, Community Manager with H&R Block* (just in time for tax season). Find H&R Block’s online community at https://getitright.hrblock.com.
 

Highlights include:

  • Merging offline community with online- in particular, harnessing the experts at brick-and-mortar H&R Block franchises for the online community, and overcoming obstacles to secure their buy-in
  • Working within a tightly regulated industry while still growing community
  • Managing seasonality, in a business focused on the three months leading up until the April 15 tax deadline
  • How H&R Block tracks and measures their efforts
 

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

*Please note: Since we recorded this interview, Leigh has moved on to become a Community Manager at Archer Technologies, if you have any questions about H&R Block’s community please follow up with Zena Weist.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Jeff Esposito on Shaping Social Media Efforts with Community

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our series continues with episode #20, featuring Jeff Esposito, PR Manager with Vistaprint. Highlights include:
  • Birth of a program– getting hit (literally) with a magazine and being asked to “figure this Twitter thing out”
  • Getting the community to help shape social media efforts rather than dictating the strategy to the audience
  • Backing up the “No Customer Left Behind” philosophy through personal interaction over mass messaging
  • Weighing short term fixes (marketing gimmicks) vs a long-term strategy
  • Creating customer service expectations; when you are online, from posting duty hours to managing the lack of presence around a weather emergency

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Jeff Rubenstein on Working with Product-Knowledgable Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode #17, featuring Jeff Rubenstein, Social Media Manager for Sony Playstation. Highlights include:
  • Working with a community that is not only passionate, but extremely knowledgeable about the company, its products and its industry
  • Idea generation from the community– how PlayStation Share works
  • The seasonality (or lack of it) for communities based on retail products
  • The merging of personal and professional personae online, and the challenges that presents to the Sony PlayStation team

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Christopher Barger on the “Immerse and Disperse” Method

By

The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode #16, featuring Christopher Barger, Global Director of Social Media at General Motors. Highlights include:
  • The “immerse and disperse” method of cross-training social media staff; immersing them via a consistent training program, then dispersing them to represent different divisions of the company
  • Using internal communities to identify creative thinkers who might not otherwise surface
  • Why a Fortune 500 company would bother sponsoring small events
  • Measuring results, both long- and short-term, using GM’s participation in SXSW as an example

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

PHOTO CREDIT: Becky Johns

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Megan Murray on Managing Multiple Internal Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode #15, featuring Megan Murray, community Manager and Project Coordinator for Booz Allen Hamilton. Highlights include:
  • Managing internal communities within a large company, and managing to culture towards adoption
  • The challenge of overseeing a total of 535 communities
  • Integrating community participation into employee workflows
  • Privacy, confidentiality, and other HR issues as they apply to community
  • Build vs. buy, in terms of tools

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Kathy O’Reilly on Managing Niche Communities

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management. Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode #14, featuring Kathy O’Reilly, Director of Social Media Relations for Monster.com (a Voce client). Highlights include:
  • Handling disparate – but related – audiences via community; in this case, job seekers and employers
  • The challenges of managing many separate niche communities without splintering the corporate mission
  • Using a healthy content library to support community and spark discussion, including use of external contributors
  • Making sure you have the resources (people, content and time) to nurture a community properly
  • Goals: create brand awareness, product awareness and driving traffic

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Alex Plant on B2B Social Media

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The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.

Episode #11 features Alex Plant, head of social media for NetApp. Among his overall social media duties, Alex oversees a video studio and a staff of videographers and editors.

Podcast highlights include:

  • The effective use of video for social media content in a B2B setting
  • While the technical audience for B2B social media is strong, the real growth is expected in the business-level audience
  • The intersection of social media and traditional marketing; including calls to action as a crucial part of engagement
  • Measurement- tying awareness building measurements such as share of voice and sentiment to traffic generation
  • Blogs are very powerful tools for capturing people’s attention (still!)
  • The effectiveness of feeding ideas to bloggers and other influencers to keep a constant flow of external content
  • Determining whether or not to have separate subject channels for separate audience to maintain high levels of relevance, interest and engagement, while maintaining control over the overall content direction
  • Internal culture; the value of support from the top

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Dave Olson on Pre-Social Media Communities

By

The Community Roundtable has partnered with Voce Communications to produce a new podcast series, “Conversations with Community Managers.” In this series, TheCR’s Jim Storer joins forces with Voce’s Doug Haslam to speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with community and social media management.
Episode #9 features Dave Olson, Marketing Director for HootSuite, which helps people and companies track, monitor and manage their Twitter communities.

 

Podcast highlights include:
  • How the traditional title of “Marketing Director” translates to online marketing, customer service and social engagement
  • Turning metrics into meaning by realizing the personalities behind the community members
  • Tips on community: making members feel like they belong and are contributing, and that they are being heard and acknowledged
  • Stories about communities in the 1970s, enabled by “ditto machines” and other pre social media technology (the roots of Dave’s current personal projects are found at https://www.uncleweed.com/)
  • An example of a company (SubPop records) that started their community building in the pre-social media era (pre-Internet, even), and evolved it into the age of Twitter
  • Adding value, context and storytelling vs simply “attracting a crowd”

MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove.

PHOTO CREDIT: kris krüg

About Conversations with Community Managers*
To better reflect the diverse conversations our podcast covers we’ve changed the name of our long-running series to Community Conversations.
Community Conversations highlights short conversations with some of the smartest minds in the online community and social business space, exploring what they’re working on, why they do what they do, and what advice they have for you.
These episodes are a great way to begin to understand the nuances of community strategy and management.
Each episode is short (usually less than 30 minutes) and focuses on one community management professional.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS