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TWICs XXX

DR1665 — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:00:48 +0000

The Week In Comments, 30th Edition.

The Week In Comments (TWICs): Creating raving fans, ways B2B can use gamification, & the most engaging reasons to embrace social now.

HBR: How to Create Raving Fans
(04.25.12)

The difference between a participant and a fan is belief. The participant will lay a few bricks, but the fan wants to build that cathedral. Get them thinking about what they want relative what you’re offering. If you’ve got systems in place to empower them, light the fuse and get out of the way.

Social Media B2B: 6 Ways B2B Companies Can Use Social Media Gamification
(04.24.12)

Perhaps the most powerful – yet most frequently overlooked – component to social media growth is also very simple. It’s recognition. The simple, high level ideas above present solid ways of driving engagement.

Inclined to Design: 12 Most Engaging Reasons Why Brands Need to Embrace Social Media Now
(05.03.12)

Community is continually evolving. There’s a clear life cycle in place where missions change over time. Today, brands are in a unique position to have simple tools readily available which would help them build relationships with their customers as equals. I think they could save a ridiculous amount of time and money if they’d stop trying to own and control the conversation and just joined us where we already are as equals.

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).

In the glovebox:

Social Workplace V: Storming

DR1665 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:23:44 +0000

Rock the boat. (Don’t rock the boat.)

STORMING
It can seem an eternity passes between the day we launch our new community and the day we know it’s clearly growing without our constant intervention and support. And then, almost overnight, we enter the storming stage. Differing opinions butt heads and tensions rise, making it feel like the whole thing is on the verge of falling apart.

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?
It’s important to know this is perfectly normal. Community done right means people begin to feel empowered to play leadership roles. Like minds connect, self-organize, and come up with different opinions on which course to plot. It could be as simple as deciding whether to sail to Cannes or Nice, France, but it could also be a disagreement over whether to sail the Caribbean or head north to Alaska.

As the community begins to pick up steam, there will be disagreements as to how best to proceed. Our most active members, inspired by collaboration and efficiency, will begin to have differing ideas of which direction the community should now go. If we do not proactively address these perspectives, we will lose many of the members we worked so hard to attract in the forming stage.

Our natural instinct in situations like this is to shut the splitters down, but we don’t want to let cognitive dissonance get the better of us. As uncomfortable as the storming phase might be, planning for it in advance can mean the difference between a thrilling afternoon thunderstorm and a Category 5 hurricane.

HOW DO WE MITIGATE THESE RISKS?
We start with a brief introduction to cognitive dissonance. Wikipedia introduces cognitive dissonance as a “discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions) simultaneously.” That is, when we expect one thing and experience something else, we feel uncomfortable, tense, and even angry. It can be as simple as our dinner not being what we expected based on the description in the menu, or as incensing as discovering the new job isn’t all that it was cracked up to be in the interviews.

If we did our initial marketing right, we sold our new community on possibilities; a place where those who care about something can feel the wind in their sails, propelling them forward. It’s only natural that different people will see – and want to pursue – different possibilities. How do we make everyone happy all the time?

PLAN TO SUPPORT THE SPLITTERS.
Think back to all those questions we worked through in the warming stage and how we established a vision of our community performing at its best in the future. Looking back, they seem pretty intuitive, right? We must remain flexible to handle the growing pains associated with the storming phase. This includes working with those whose view of the community differs from our own. We support (and potentially disarm) splitters by facilitating the warming stage for them.

“WARM THE SPLITTERS”

Discuss things in front of everyone.

Ask them why they want to go the other direction.

Ask them who, among them, is willing to take the lead.

Ask them how the two communities will support one another.

Transparency builds trust. Discussing things out in the open shows potential splitters we are receptive to their criticism and feedback. It shows we take this collaborative, community-thing seriously. We are making efforts to fully understand their position. If we ask enough whys, we may discover a simple change we can make to keep everyone happy where they are, but we need to be prepared to support the splitters in their initial efforts so as not to have animosity hold us all back.

This is the difference between that invigorating thunderstorm (building allies) and destructive hurricane (building enemies). Splitters might present a threat to the longevity of our new community, but by extending them our trust and support, we support them in their risk-taking, earn their support in the process, and stand the best chances of success together. Many hands make light work.

“SPITE SITES”
Over the years, I’ve seen a number of communities started out of animosity. Active, passionate members who felt their opinions weren’t valued – even stepped on by the established site team – went out and started their own communities. Careless leadership (myself included) treated these folks like mutinous troublemakers, showing them to the plank.

We might as well have drilled a hole in the bottom of our boats. Where things could have been handled with professional courtesy – you go that way, we’ll go this way, and we’ll meet up on the other side to compare notes – now there were multiple communities competing for the same resources (members), some even actively pursuing each other’s downfall.

So much for progress. Many of these hastily-launched “spite sites” end up wrecked on beaches. They might not sink their competitors before they do, but know this: keelhauling the splitters will only result in your ship taking on water for some time to come.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How do you deal with differing opinions in a new community? Or in an established one dealing with serious growing pains? (These skills come into play consistently from here-on out to beyond the norming and performing stages.)

In the glovebox:

TWICs XXIX

DR1665 — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:00:06 +0000

The Week In Comments, 29th Edition.

The Week In Comments (TWICs): Consumer or citizen, actions and words, lessons in creativity.

Fearless Revolution: Consumer or Citizen?
(04.20.12)

The path of consumption only leads to emptiness, fear, and regret, while citizenship – even if only to the extent of being present in the moment – brings purpose, joy, and inspiration.

Kommein: Community Management Responsibilities Outside the Brand
(04.24.12)

On the one hand, I don’t think we should have to filter ourselves. We are what we do and, more to the point, we are what we do *when nobody’s watching us.* The hyper-transparency afforded by social media is smothered in old school marketing mentality subconsciously pushing a words-over-actions vibe. The line between being respectful and being disingenuous is a slippery slope.

Conversation Agent: Lesson in Creativity from Hitchcock
(04.26.12)

Where creativity and customer-centricity are fundamentally woven into the fabric of the organization, compelling, valuable, and entertaining experiences come more naturally and frequently. This, to me, is a more comprehensive picture of “virality.”

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).

In the glovebox:

TWICs XXVIII

DR1665 — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:00:41 +0000

The Week In Comments, 28th Edition.

Last Week In Comments (TWICs): Priorities, passion for learning, following through.

This European Life: The Life I Have Chosen!
(04.10.12)

Your last paragraph sums it up perfectly. We should not wake each day with a feeling of dread, but rather excitement at the opportunities ahead of us. “Wherever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.” I think about what I’m looking for when I reach for my phone in the morning. Seems that’s what I should be doing with my life.

Better Mess: Finding Your Passion for Learning
(04.12.12)

The name of the game is relevance. And assembly line, rote memorization of exercises bereft of context or meaning commoditizes the joy of personal discovery and learning.

Craig McBreen: Become a Pro at Follow-Through
(04.01.12)

One empathizes with a fellow visionary. The big pictures are so inspiring, but zooming in and considering all the individual brush strokes required to paint them tend to take the wind right out of our sails.

Taylor Davidson: “Let me not be so vain to think that I’m the sole author of my victories and a victim of my defeats.”
(04.12.12)

http://youtu.be/RYlCVwxoL_g

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).

In the glovebox:

TWICs XXVII

DR1665 — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:47:19 +0000

The Week In Comments, 27th Edition.

Last Week In Comments (TWICs): Concept cars, customer fairness, communities & pricing.

Metacool: Concept Car at Your Peril
(04.01.12)

The message we, the vocal minority, receive on our end is, “We could do better, but the mindless, consumer sheep demand more cookie-cutter mediocrity, so we’re just going to keep doing that. You should totally buy a new Camry, though. They’re really sweet in beige.”

Conversation Agent: How Lufthansa Handles Customer Fairness
(04.01.12)

Some years ago, Lufthansa trialed a non-stop between Phoenix and Frankfurt. Their introductory price was less than US$600 including taxes and fees. I thought that would be the highlight of the purchase, but the experience – even in coach class – was something I’ve yet to experience on any other airline. Definitely my airline of choice, even though I’ve only flown with them that one time.

Confused of Calcutta: Musing About Communities & Pricing
(04.01.12)

I think the future will see new communities built around more democratic, modular scalability. Instead of having centralized teams coordinate growth and operations, I see things being far more distributed. For example, rather than having 1 moderator for every 10-100 users, we strive for a 2:1 ratio, moderator to user.

Want to see more TWICs posts?

Thank you for inspiring me this week. Keep going fast with class, pressing on regardless, and doing it yourself (or doing what you can).