Communities 101 3-growing and sustaining communities 16 nov2010

© 2010 IBM Corporation

Communities 101 - Growing and Sustaining Communities#3 in a series of community enablement deliverablesVersion 4-0

Contact: Bill Chamberlin, Principle Consultant, Market Insights


IBM Market Insights

About This Community Enablement Series

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This series was developed by the Market Insights Social Insights Practice team to assist community managers in launching and sustaining successful online communities.

Deliverables in the Community 101 Series

1. Introduction to Communities

2. Planning and Launching Communities

3. Growing and Sustaining Communities

4. Monitoring the Health of Communities

5. Ten Tips for Leaders Using Connections

6. How YOU Can Leverage Communities


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“Community Are Powerful Tools, As Long As You Put Members’ Needs First.”

- Forrester, 2008


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Growing and Sustaining Communities

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After community has been launched, the real work begins.

• The community leader must be very active and motivated.

• Stay true to the purpose of the community

• Maintain a safe and trusted environment for members

• Understand the membership demographics

• Identify the core group of active participants and reach out to them.

• Have a clear weekly / monthly action plan of community activities

• Hold regular events. If you can, blend face-to-face and online activities

This can all be achieved by good, active facilitation

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90 days after launch, hold a progress review Revisit the community charter. Does the community operating with an understanding of the

common purpose? Has the purpose been compelling to attract prospective members?– Is the common purpose aligned with organizational strategies?

Is the right sponsorship in place, i.e., a respected leader who is willing to contribute to the community?

– Does the sponsor agree with the community’s scope, purpose, and planned activities?

Are those assigned to the critical community roles actively engaged on the community platform?

– Community Leader?– Executive Sponsor?– Community Council members?

Is the community Knowledgebase growing? Does the community have the right content experts to provide perspective and meaning to its membership?

Membership Metrics: Is the membership growing? What are the demographics? Have we attracted the targeted membership we had hoped for at launch? Does the community have enough members to stay alive?

Technology Platform: Are collaborative tools in place and easily accessible? Are members actively using those tools?

Are needed resources available, e.g., meeting rooms, participation in conferences, travel dollars, conference fees, etc.?

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IBM Market Insights

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The Community’s Circle of Life requires care and feedingAs a Community’s

Knowledge base grows, more Members will join to seek out that knowledge

The more members a community has, the richer

the Community’s Knowledge base becomes

As you connect content to members and their profiles,

the more members will connect with each other and

form their own networks

The easier it is for members to connect, collaborate, and share the more members you will get and the richer

the Knowledgebase becomes


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Most communities are currently at Level 1 or 2

Level 1 - Launched Level 2 – Advanced Level 3 - World Class

People Exec sponsor is committed Community leader is passionate Members share a common interest and recognize community as strategy to access information and insight to gain new knowledge Roles, rules, and responsibilities established

Exec sponsor models collaborative behavior Community Council members model collaborative behavior Membership begins to collaborate. They share information, insight, experiences, and knowledge artifacts. They interact with other practitioners, ask questions, and participate in discussions to gain knowledgeManagement envisions community as a strategic enterprise transformational capability

Community leader has been certified Membership highly collaborative and applies new knowledge to improve individual performance effectiveness Tight linkages with external communities and organizations in order to share best practices Community members actively creating content for the community and tagging/rating existing content Organizations achieve desired performance effectiveness outcomes, goals, and objectives

Process Community Charter exists. Funding and resources secured Community meets regularly Community Council meets regularly Community templates exist and are being used

Governance processes established and management system in place based off a balanced scorecard approach Community conducts regular audits and membership surveys. Community educational offerings in place

Management system has evolved to a sense & respond capability based off balanced scorecard Community conducts regular network analysis to understand most valued content, members, and programs Community processes have been certified.

Technology Membership profiles exist Online community website Members can link to each other

Membership profiles completed by 50% of membersCollaborative tools for file sharing, instant messaging, forums, document creation, etc. Complete demographic analysis of community.

Membership profiles 90% complete Tools measure value, participation and reputation of each member and collaborative tool. Virtual collaboration and/or video conferencing Tools report real time measurement against balanced scorecard objectives Linkages to extended community’ technology platforms.

Knowledge Knowledge database exists Knowledge database grows as a result of increased content creation and file sharing. Most valued content is identified and tagged

Community Knowledge is valued as a key input into management decision making processes

Use a Community Maturity Model to help guide the development of a world class community

IBM Market Insights Community Maturity Model


IBM Market Insights

As the community grows, perform regular demographic analysis to understand the membership and gain insights into needs

U.S.40%

Americas24%

Europe16%

A/P9%

BRIC7%

Other4%

Org 133%

Org 225%

Org 317%

Org 413%

Org 58%

Other4%

Marketing43%

Strategy33%

Finance12%

Research6%

Legal3%

Other3%

0 Updates44%

1-2 Updates

26%

3-5 Updates

17%

5-10 Updates

9%

<10 Updates

4%

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By Location - June 2010

By Organization – June 2010

By Function - June 2010

By Activity - June 2010

Source: Community Dashboard

Student8%

Professional

46%

Manager31%

Executive15%

Under 1910%

19-2929%

30-4437%

45-5919%

60+5%

By Job Level– June 2010

By Age- June 2010


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A diverse membership provides for many different perspectives,

which enhances collaboration and sparks innovation.


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Regularly survey the membership to understand their needsMembers have different: Perspectives Experiences Education Cultures Values Strengths Time zones Needs Etc.

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A Community is similar to a Consumer Marketplace as you need to perform segmentation, targeting and positioning methodologies.

Surveys can help uncover what members value about the community experience.

• Events• Types• Frequency• etc.

• Collaboration Tools• Blogs• Forums• etc.


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Community Leaders must realize that members are a mixture of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

Digital Immigrants

Have adopted many aspects of technology later in life

Account for vast majority of executives and long-time employees

Have the tendency to use technology in a cumbersome and sporadic approach

Prefer face to face meetings/ collaboration activities

Typically uncomfortable in applying social media technology

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These two types of members have very different assumptions and expectations about information and how they interact with it and their peers

Digital Natives Born between 1981-1999 (Note: IBM

PC announced in 1981)

Grown up with PCs in their house and in the school

Culturally diverse and technology literate

Prefer interactive nature of digital media

Used to virtual collaboration

Using social technology seems natural

Digital native and digital immigrant are terms were coined by Marc Prensky in 2001.


IBM Market Insights

It is also important to segment the community based on how active the member is on the technology platform

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• 90% are Users

• Read, attend events, and gain knowledge, but don't contribute

• Convert the community’s knowledge into solutions, products and value.

• 9% are Agents.

• Share and contribute from time to time and help connect others to the community’s knowledge, but other priorities dominate their time.

• 1% are Champions.

• Very active participants, drive discussions, and account for most contributions to the community’s knowledge Source: Jakob Neilson,

Melanie Barwick, IBM MI

90% - Community

Users

9% - Community

Agents1% -

Community Champions

Membership participation in communities typically follows a 90-9-1 rule


IBM Market Insights

The good news is that the community leader can stimulate increased community participationThe good news is that the community leader can stimulate increased community participation

Map the community’s social network to identify the Champions and Agents.

Survey to understand each segment’s specific wants/needs and to get ideas on how to improve the community experience

Optimize all support and communications around the Champions, they are the "collaboration core" of the community.

Grow future Champions by making sure the Agents are solidly connected into the community, have a direct link to a Champion, have full visibility into the knowledgebase, and understand how to leverage the community collaboration platform.

Finally, provide the Users with very low-barrier interaction mechanisms that align with their working contexts.

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Source: Melanie Barwick / IBM MI


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Community Members Participate at Different Levels

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Use Social Network Analysis tools to map and understand the flow of transactions between community members

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= Community Champion

= Community Agent

= Community User

= Flow and strength of Knowledge

Membership Activity


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Top Five* Features Contributing The Most To Effectiveness Of A Community

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Ability to helpothers

Ability toconnect withlike-minded

people

Ability formembers to

developreputation

Quality ofcommunity

manager/team

Communityfocused around

a hot topic/issue

Source: Deloitte, 2008 Tribalization of Business Study

One study shows that members value those communities that make it easy for them to network with others and share knowledge on a topic of interest

* Top Five out of all responses


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Top Five* Obstacles To Making Communities Work

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Attractingpeople to thecommunity

Getting peopleto join

Getting peopleto engage

Getting peopleto keep

coming back

Findingenough timeto manage

community

Source: Deloitte, 2008 Tribalization of Business Study

In the same study Community Leaders report that finding time to get members to participate is an obstacle

* Top Five out of all responses


IBM Market Insights

Growing and sustaining the community requires effort that usually falls on the community leader’s shoulders Stay engaged with by monitoring and quickly responding to all

questions and comments.

Hold regular community events/conference calls and encourage discussions on topics and ideas presented.

Integrate with real-world events.

Point members to new content in the community’s knowledge base.

Spark discussions on community forums

Promote connections between community members

Extend the reach of your community by cross-pollinating on with other communities and social networks.

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IBM Market Insights

You can start communities without changing the way you work, but successful communities will invariably transform your organizations…

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• New roles

• New skills required

• New career paths

• New business processes

• New energy

• New ways to interact with stakeholders

Source: Deloitte,, CHQ MI


IBM Market Insights

How to spot a successful community

Successful Communities Have:

A high level of interaction between the participants

A growing body of valuable content

Additional Questions To Ask:

How easy is it for others to see what your community is currently doing or intends to do?

How easy is it for others to contribute to the community?

How do you help others connect with your community and stay informed?

How valuable are the contributions of the community?

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Communities 101 3-growing and sustaining communities 16 nov2010