Previously, I mentioned a poorly supported community of practice behind the firewall which was showing steady decreases in traffic over time. Fortunately, a small group of early adopters from the business unit approached me about rebooting the community and making it happen. We’ve decided to implement a very basic content strategy.

Ask why
The first thing we did was spend 30 minutes brainstorming why people would ultimately use the community. Once we had a good understanding why people would want to participate, we shifted gears.

How could we present our value proposition in such a way as to make trial of our community easy? We decided we would take turns posting “conversation starters,” discussion threads on timely topics, in the forum.

Schedule
As only three of us were able to attend this first meeting, we decided to come up with three conversation starters; one apiece. For the next three Mondays in a row, we would take turns posting to the forum. Then, each of us would make a point of responding to the discussion, as well as sharing the conversations with other, potentially interested parties across the organization via hyperlink.

Evaluate
We set our “threshold of success” at 9 total forum posts – 1 conversation starter and 2 replies each.  At the end of three weeks (3 February 2012), we will evaluate our progress based on a very loose adaptation of ROI (return on investment).

Did we deliver what we set out to deliver? How many people outside our small group participated? Did our actions inspire anyone to pose their own topic? How did this strategy play out?

In our first week, we made our three posts each (the initial conversation starter plus one reply from the other two of us), but we ended up with 15 total posts, six of which were by people other than us. So, at the risk of inciting the wrath of Olivier Blanchard, we calculated our “ROI” as follows.

(15 posts – 3 posts)/3 posts = 400% “ROI”
(6 posts by others – 3 posts by us)/3 posts by us = 100% “ROI”

*ROI is in quotes here because, as we’re not yet tying this social activity to revenue, this is not actual ROI.

Next steps
We’re very excited at how well this is playing out. So far, for every post one of us makes, someone else in the company replies. Will this trend persist?

Before the end of this week, we’ll be meeting again to come up with our conversation starters for the month of February. We’re also reaching out to various members of management whose staff would be part of this community to get their feedback on potential performance indicators we can keep in mind when brainstorming our new conversation starters.

What do you think?
Have you ever tried anything like this with your community development efforts? What did you do differently? How did things play out for you and your team?

In the glovebox:

• Wyld Stallyns on Community Development
• Social Networking: Is 1 Hour a Day All It Takes?
• Building Communities for Multi-Generational Sustainability

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Community Development: A Simple Content Strategy

I was thinking about a reboot strategy for a poorly performing community behind the firewall the other day.

We need people to get people participating. We need management to support these initiatives beyond lipservice. And we absolutely need something better than SharePoint 2007 to power all of this. Of course, nobody is going to try out our community if there’s no clear value in doing so, which means management isn’t going to see much value either, which means no budget for even a free forum program.

Chicken-and-the-egg territory, for sure, but it got me thinking – if Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted, Theodore Logan had been in community development and Wyld Stallyns was going to be their super community…

Ted, while I agree, in time our community will be most triumphant, the truth is, Wyld Stallyns will never be a super community until we have Eddie Van Halen in the house.
One of the best ways to demonstrate value to would-be community members is to get big names to join the community. From a social media standpoint, having an a-lister like Chris Brogan or Scott Monty join a community is all but a shoe-in for overnight success. Behind the firewall, leadership can play this role; from team managers to the CLO. People like to feel they have a connection with authority.

Yes Bill, but I do not believe we will get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant community.
So how do we attract those big names to participate in our communities if our communities aren’t triumphant? No doubt the big names – on either side of the firewall – have limited time to invest. They need to see immediate value in participation. The CLO might be willing to participate in forums and do a little blogging, but he needs to see these as efficient and effective communication tools.

Ted, its pointless to have a triumphant community before we even have decent tools.
Which brings me to tool selection (or lack thereof). How many tools are available to those of us looking to build a community these days? A lot. I’ve personally built communities on phpBB and Simple Machines forums and used numerous others like DCforums and the now-a-household-name vBulletin. Behind the firewall, there’s Chatter, Yammer, Jing and Jive, and SharePoint.

Ah, SharePoint. There’s no way we can build a triumphant community using SharePoint 2007. Right?

Well how can we have decent tools when we don’t really even know how to use them?
Technically, we don’t need any special tools to build community. We’ve got phones and email and conference rooms, don’t we? We need vision more than we need tools. If we know why we’re investing in community development and how said community will benefit our people, what we can do with our current tools is multiplied.

Community development is all about connecting people and ideas – neither of which is dependent on platform. Get people together. Get them talking about something relevant.

That is why we need Eddie Van Halen.
So we’re back to getting people to participate; not just celebrity A-listers and/or C-suite executives, but exceptional people at every level. But where do we find exceptional people? Simple. Treat everyone as if they were exceptional. People who feel important tend to act the part. Ask them for their feedback and act on it. Give them status, access, power, and stuff. Give them a sense of ownership in their community.

And that is why we need a triumphant community.
Which brings us back to thinking about why anyone would want to participate in the first place and how to make sure our community has a clear value proposition. We need to make it (painfully) obvious that joining this community delivers the goods. Our members enjoy the time they spend within our digital borders, their lives are better for it – whether for business or pleasure. This is the place where stuff gets done.

EXCELLENT!!!
Now that we know why people are going to want to be part of our community and how the community is going to support them, what we need to do is gather our early adopters, develop a strategy, and get to implementing. (And I’ll share that story very soon.)

And, if none of the above made any sense at all, I hope considering the source material at least brightens your day.

In the glovebox:

• Community Development: A Simple Content Strategy
• Social Networking: Is 1 Hour a Day All It Takes?
• Building Communities for Multi-Generational Sustainability

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Wyld Stallyns on Community Development

How disappointing it is to invest all that time and energy into a project, only to release it to lukewarm response and minimal – if any – adoption! We want to get people excited early and keep them excited throughout the process, laying the foundation for trial and adoption. We do this through a series of communication cycles generating buzz about our projects through our communications strategy.

 START WITH WHY
This project was given the green light because it is expected to deliver value to the business. In order to realize that value, we need to ensure the project delivers value to the people directly impacted. We start generating buzz by sharing with these people – WHY will this project benefit them, how will it to benefit them, and what can they do to help us ensure delivery of the absolute best possible product.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Success depends on our knowing where we are relative where we would like to be. We start our journey by sharing the reasoning behind the upcoming change; explaining WHY the change is needed, HOW those most affected or passionate can contribute feedback, HOW said feedback will be handled, and WHAT comes next.

This doesn’t have to be a big production. Keep it simple. Post to your discussion forum or blog, making sure to explain why the change is coming, but open it up to the audience. Why are they excited/concerned? How should things be setup for them to get the most value? What does that look like?

THE FEEDBACK LOOP
We repeat this process through every stage of the project. Each time we begin a new stage, we share why we are entering this stage, how the results will benefit our audience, and what they can do to help us deliver something of value to them.

THE FEEDBACK LOOP
We repeat this process through every stage of the project. How many times we repeat this process depends on how many stages or sprints there are to our project plan. The benefit of the feedback loop is twofold:

BETTER PRODUCTS
Intrinsically-motivated SMEs provide better feedback.

GREATER ADOPTION
Products deliver meaningful value to stakeholders.
Participants feel a vested sense of ownership in the product.

THE PROMISE
Buzz is not managed. It is not lead. Buzz is built, and built on a foundation of promises. We must be careful to say what we mean and mean what we say, lest we do more damage than good. Feedback should be acknowledged promptly and community members should be able to spot their impact from the field.

NEXT STEPS
Try introducing the WHY > HOW > WHAT feedback loop into your current project communication strategy.

 WHY
Why are we taking on this project?
Why are we sharing this information with everyone?

HOW
How do we expect this project to benefit everyone?
How can people with questions, comments, & concerns contribute?

WHAT
What does the best feedback look like?
What does the timeline look like?

In the glovebox:

• Communication Strategies: Starting with Why
• Community Development: A Simple Content Strategy
• Update: Evolution of a Blog

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Communication Strategies: Building Buzz

Right Writing
I’ve come to realize there are two types of writing present in my life. The first is casual; conversational, with a desire to enlighten, educate, & empower my community in entertaining ways. The second deals with inspiring my community to participate; to join us in starting a global movement which helps us all build high performance machines & lives.

I know why this stuff matters.
I know how it stands to genuinely benefit my peers.
I don’t know how to bring these two styles together.

Change an Industry
Ultimately, I want to be known for bringing gearheads together around the world, helping us help each other realize our full potential, sharing our lessons learned, best practices, & success stories, and turning the automotive publishing industry on its ear. I want Gearbox Magazine to be something gearheads believe in tomorrow as much as I believe in it today.

I’ve exited the highway.
I’m trying to wave down passers-by.
How do I get people to see me and come along?

It’s Time to Shift Gears
Two plus years in, I know we’re sharing exceptional stuff, and I know people are enjoying it, but it feels like we’re missing something. How confident can I be in this endeavor if our truly exclusive and original content gets buried under reams of commoditized, press release bullshit? How confident can I be in our model if, after two years, the people I am willing to devote my life to serving still don’t seem interested?

What are they missing?
What am I missing?
I need traction.

I’ve Not Yet Begun
This post is 14 years in the making. It’s a decade plus spent learning how to build, break, and buy cars on forums where the bulk of your reputation is determined by how you present yourself in writing. It’s 25 months of Gearbox Magazine evolving from a tiny digital rag about Mitsubishis and rally racing to the foundations of a global movement which empowers people to get more out of their lives.

And it’s my entry in The Damn Fine Words contest. Up for grabs is a 10-week writing program developed by professional writer James Chartrand of Men With Pens (where I lurk, but seldom comment). I’ve looked into this course a couple times, pored over the details, clearly see the value, but simply cannot afford it.

To Write
If you know me personally, you know I like to write, perhaps too much. I write here, Gearbox, and the half a dozen forums I still frequent with any regularity. What I want to do now is take my writing skills to the next level so I can do a better job of helping the gearheads of the world.

In the glovebox:

• Community Development: A Simple Content Strategy
• Communication Strategies: Building Buzz
• Communication Strategies: Starting with Why

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about I Have Not Yet Begun to Write

We want our audiences to listen to us, to hear what we have to say, and take appropriate action. We achieve this by consistently communicating in ways which show the audience we have their needs in mind. This document is a high level guide to effective communication during the iterative release process associated with agile project management.

START WITH WHY
We are inundated with information. Meetings, webinars, phone calls, social media, and email are never far. It can be like drinking from a fire hose. We have fractions of seconds to consider new messages.

What’s good for the business is ultimately good for us – we know this – but we naturally gravitate toward information which we find immediately valuable to us, personally. For this reason, it is critical we begin our communications by clearly explaining WHY the information is important to the receiver.

FOLLOW WITH HOW, CLOSE WITH WHAT
Once we know WHY the information is important (why we should care), our concern shifts to HOW to get the most benefit out of the information. Finally, we need to know WHAT steps need taken to effectively ACT on the information we’ve received. Consider the examples below. Which speaks to you more as an individual?

THIS?
The Office of Knowledge Management promotes meaningful knowledge sharing and innovative collaboration through partnerships that maximize employee potential, research, and technology.

OR THIS?
We believe everyone should be able to connect and share information in meaningful ways that support personal and professional development. We facilitate these connections through development of relationships and technology. We are the Office of Knowledge Management. We connect people and ideas.

WHY > HOW > WHAT
As you can see from the two examples above, the first comes close, but why should I care about “meaningful knowledge sharing and innovative collaboration?” Who cares about “maximizing employee potential, research and technology?” Does anyone actually talk like that?

The second example, on the other hand, comes strong. “We believe everyone should be able to connect and share information in meaningful ways.” Hey, I have good ideas! These people want to help me share my good ideas. I can make a difference in this organization. I want to learn more about the Office of Knowledge Management.

NEXT STEPS
Try introducing WHY > HOW > WHAT to your communications today. Before you send that next email blast, pause for a moment to think about your audience. Put yourself in their shoes. Then try this outline.

INTRO: WHY
Why should I care about this?
What’s in it for me?

CONTENT: HOW
How will this information help me?
How do I get the full benefit?

CALL TO ACTION: WHAT
What happens next?
What do I need to do?

This was something I whipped up behind the scenes at the office to help spread the word about the power of starting with WHY. I love seeing how the message changes by simply re-arranging the pieces. What do you think?

In the glovebox:

• Communication Strategies: Building Buzz
• Community Development: A Simple Content Strategy
• Update: Evolution of a Blog

I'd appreciate hearing what you think about Communication Strategies: Starting with Why