Ryan Stephens

Building Intimate Business Relationships

community mgmt

The Community I’m Looking For…

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I’ve joined my fair share of communities the last 3-4 years. The storyline is the same: A handful of intelligent people come along excited to connect with one another and make an impact.

The community thrives at first as anywhere from 8-25 people start the same old topics you always see… What books have you read lately? What steps do you take to become an entrepreneur? What would you tell a recent graduate?

More people start to come along. They want to talk about the same old topics with the same old comments. The early influencers are bored of those topics. The community starts to get too big. Nobody is capable of effectively creating sub-groups/forums/topics. The noise is overwhelming.

The profiles remain, but there’s little incentive for people to stick around once they’ve outgrown most of the topics. Some communities would argue that fluidity is good, that their members are up, etc. etc. — but the old guard is long gone.

This is why people like Scoble love Quora & Google+ before those services start becoming more mainstream. Sure, maybe part of it is that the circle jerk feeds their ego, but I suspect it’s primarily because the value:noise ratio is pretty awesome before all the “Internet Marketers,” “Social Media Gurus,” and “New Media Consultants” infiltrate.

The community I want to join has the following:

  • A very simple platform.
  • A set # of smart people. Start it relatively small 12-15. Don’t let it grow above 50.
  • A required level of activity. If you don’t make 3 posts a week, you’re out.
  • People from varying backgrounds, but a high percentage of up-and-comers learning together and from one another.
  • Some element of game mechanics.
  • Notifications… that can be turned off.
  • A barrier to entry. An application, a monthly $$$, etc.
  • A dedicated community manager that makes sure every thread has at least once response.

What else would you add? The closest I’ve found to a community like this is the comments sections of some very good blogs.

I genuinely want to have smart conversations with smart people. And I don’t want those conversations spread out all over Facebook and @replies. I want them archived nicely on a forum where I can re-visit them whenever I want.

Does this community already exist? Point me to it. If not, who’s going to build it? You?

Taking Your Blog to the Next Level

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Chris Brogan recently wrote a post entitled, “50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level.” First of all this is a phenomenal post and one that I will frequently revisit because I think it is a very valuable resource, particularly for someone trying to get over the hump. If you haven’t read it yet, it will set up the framework for this post, and make it easier to understand.

After reading the list a couple of times and digesting it, I determined two specific aspects of blogging (from Chris’ list) that I believe to be the most challenging for the casual blogger in attempting to take their blog to the next level. These aspects come in the form of four of Chris’ 50 points:

3. If the goal is to be a great community resource, mix your blogging time with time spent reaching out to the community you propose to serve. If that’s an offline opportunity, like something local, be there. Be active. Be a connector.

10. Make a point of engaging your community often in the comments section, on their blogs, on the other social networks where you cross paths.

First let’s examine these two points, which basically revolve around engaging your community. I think the challenge here is that it is something that is hard to do even if you’re making the effort. I think a lot of people will do it initially and give up, but don’t realize that they need to keep planting little seeds for their field to grow. From my experiences great communities tend to build slowly, organically.

Chris provides great content, and he truly has a gift for connecting with his community. I know plenty of people with amazing content that couldn’t connect their way out of a paper bag, and I know some really awesome connectors that aren’t great bloggers. You can’t pick a handful of the things on Chris’ list and be successful, you have to be good at most of them, or vastly superior in about half of them.

I actively try to spend MORE time connecting than I do actually blogging, and so perhaps in spite of all my valiant efforts to connect, the content base just isn’t there yet. That’s okay with me because I know it’s coming.

Here’s a couple of solid articles that touch on engaging your community:

Engaging your community isn’t the hardest thing on the list of 50 though, I’d give that award to stepping outside the echo chamber.

5. Up the ante on delivering original material. Get outside the echo chamber. Writing a me-too blog isn’t the way to build your blog to the levels you seek to attain.

28. Refrain from “me too” posts. If you’ve got something to add, do that and link to the original post, but if you’re moving up to the next level, lose the “pointer” posts. (Your mileage may vary on this one).

There are a lot of “me too” bloggers. I know I’ve been guilty of it and chances are you have too. There’s no room for “me too” bloggers though because it’s not hard to search around and find the original, the best, the biggest, the most innovative, and the most passionate. If you’re a me too blogger I suggest doing #25 on Chris’ list:

25. Read. Read. Read. Get outside the blogosphere. Find sources of information that span far beyond what your competitors are covering.

Here’s a great post from Brian Clark at Copyblogger:
How to Read

The more your read a guy like Chris Brogan, the more you start to understand how to truly engage your community. The more you read a guy like Seth Godin, the more you understand how to connect everyday situations with significant business ideas with just enough ambiguity to make the reader think a bit for themselves. The more you watch Gary Vaynerchuk, the more you understand the important of passion.

Eventually you become someone who can take someone else’s idea or blog post and extend the conversation (like I’m doing write now). If you’re reading, thinking about, compiling and engaging other content for your readers with your own unique spin and ideas then chances are you’re providing something new.

The next step is to create truly new and unique content all on your own. It’s a lot easier said that done. There’s some really successful bloggers that don’t necessarily do this well.

And here’s an article/some articles that touch on getting outside that echo chamber:
Extending Your Brand’s Personal Reach – Connie Benson (thanks to Connie Reece for the heads up. I accidentally gave her credit!)

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Please either e-mail me or leave other solid additions in the comments section featuring posts about engaging your community or stepping outside of the echo chamber and I’ll keep this post updated with your additions!
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Have you taken your blog to the next level? If so, what was the hardest thing for you to overcome, and how did you finally do it? If you haven’t, what is holding you back? Are you guilty of being a “me too” blogger? How do you try to engage your community? Don’t be shy, I LOVE hearing from you!

Does Apple need a Community Evangelist?

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This is something that I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of weeks, and thought it would make interesting conversation fodder. I was quick to judge OfficeMax’s viral video campaign (and hold true to my sentiment) despite the campaign’s great success, but it is tough to question companies that aren’t (in the scheme of things) struggling.

I know I’m probably incapable of helping Apple in the way that John Moore could be helping Starbucks if they subscribed to his blog, but with the help of you, my readers, I’m confident we can have an interesting discussion about a very reputable brand and a real life scenario.

So Why a Community Evangelist?

Not quite a year ago, A-list tech blogger, Robert Scoble was having issues with his Mac, and didn’t get treated the way he wanted to, or the response he may (or may not) have anticipated from someone at Apple. It’s true that there are currently countless Mac advocates out there that would be more than willing to help someone out having problems, or someone thinking of converting.

One of the reasons Apple has probably avoided most of these problems is because they typically have the superior product, but in having a great product their machines will continue to become a lot more mainstream.

Andy Beal mentions both this notion and the idea that when this happens the Apple evangelists may eventually be spread too thin. He also discusses whether or not Apple really wants these ‘intense’ fans defending the company’s reputation?

Other Companies are Already Doing It

Dell, Comcast, Intel, IBM and other tech savvy companies are already listening and participating in conversations with respect to their brands. How satisfied is a Comcast customer that is having an issue that gets a response within an hour or two or Twitter, as opposed to tying up their phone line for over an hour to speak with someone in customer service?

The thing is though; Apple is not a company that likes to do anything second, much less be one of the last to the party. The company prides itself on innovation and being first. This is in large part, the reason they’re so secretive and tight lipped with all of their products and their respective launches. Rumor has it, that there are often times when the various departments within the company do not even know what each other are up to.

So What’s the Solution?

I was speaking with a professional that I admire very recently and he proposed that perhaps Scoble is the exception, and perhaps Apple would rather have their advocates or their community reps answering these types of questions. Initially, I think I might’ve been swayed on account of he knows more about (and has more experience) with marketing than I do, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that he was probably right.

I still think there’s room for a community evangelist and a social media strategy though.
Chris Lynn, of Social TNT, and admitted Mac fanboy purposes his five suggestions, and they are definitely worth taking a look at. Sure, having so many loyalists is phenomenal for Apple, and the company probably wants them sharing their experiences, but could they not benefit from a community evangelist that provides them with the necessary tools and information to excel in their role? I mean, I doubt campus reps actually monitor online conversations and the blogosphere.

What Do You Think?

This post doesn’t work as a standalone, so please offer your insight into what you think Apple’s social media strategy should be. Should they have a community evangelist? Is it ludicrous to critique a company that has been so successful of late? Your opinion matters to me!