An Overview of Internet Community Fundamentals and Operations Management - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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An Overview of Internet Community Fundamentals and Operations Management

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Title: An Overview of Internet Community Fundamentals and Operations Management


1
An Overview of Internet Community
Fundamentalsand Operations Management
  • by
  • Digital Places
  • www.digiplaces.com

2
Capitalizing on Community
  • Sponsor communities frequented by target
    customers
  • Participate in communities frequented by your
    high margin target customers, partners and
    employees.
  • Build communities to be frequented by those with
    whom you have the most valued relationships

3
The Online Service Equation
  • Communities are more cost effective than
    content-focused services because they positively
    influence each of the four factors in the online
    service equation
  • Members create content which reduces the cost to
    produce the service.
  • Active members establish reputations within the
    community, become committed to remaining and tell
    friends about it. These dynamics contribute to
    increasing the average customer life and
    decreasing the average cost of customer
    acquisition.
  • Marketers will pay more for access to committed,
    active community members who constitute a
    tightly-focused target market.

4
Operational Highlights
  • Organize internally for success
  • Manage the Social factors
  • Carefully select and train Caretakers
  • Support the Motivators
  • Provide
  • Value for their information
  • Applications
  • Presence Infrastructure search/browse

5
Community Applications
  • Msg boards, chat, listserves, IM
  • Homepage/Profile building and search

6
Agenda
  • Membership and Presence
  • Community Profiles
  • Community Management Roles

7
What Is Community?
  • Any online group wherein the site developer
    provides facilities that enable communications
    among members. May be
  • typical message boards and chat
  • feedback mechanisms like eBay
  • elaborate virtual worlds like Palace WorldsAway

8
Organizational Goals
  • Why are you investing in developing an
  • online community?

9
Defining Your Membership
  • Who is your Target Audience?
  • Demographics
  • Psychographics
  • Wants and Needs

10
Online Presence
  • Enable individuals to express their identity
    and/or develop a reputation online
  • Expanding presence increases interaction
  • Presence gt Member communications gt Community
    Experience

11
Creating Presence
  • Individual Profiles
  • Information about the member
  • Provided by the member
  • Structured by Community Developer
  • Contains information important to the community
  • Richness increases depth of engagement

12
Member Involvement
  • Caretakers - .5
  • Motivators - 3
  • Actives - 15
  • Passives - 80

13
Figallos Community Profiles
  • Interactivity
  • Focus
  • Cohesion

14
Interactivity
  • Shrines -------- Theatres --------- Cafes
  • Cafes
  • Dont impose strict controls
  • Advertisements are more tolerated
  • Shrines
  • Host knowledge of subject is very important
  • Heavy participation by host required

15
Focus
  • Bazaars -------- Malls ---------- Boutiques
  • Bazaars
  • Games play, little focused interaction
  • Malls
  • May act as portal sites, ads more tolerated
  • Boutiques
  • Deliberate participation, subscription models
    more likely

16
Cohesion
  • Loners ------- Associates -------- Families
  • Loners
  • Warning sign
  • Associates
  • Core of loyal users, lots of interaction
  • Families
  • Pre-packaged, value history and traditions
  • Message boards more effective than chat

17
Management Roles
  • Executive Producer
  • Responsible for fiscal success of the business
  • Community Manager
  • Responsible for social success of the community
  • Online Staff
  • The bridge between you and your community

18
Management Relationships
19
Executive Producer
  • Duties/Responsibilities
  • Directs creation of total service
  • Content, e-commerce, and community
  • May decide business direction and models
  • Keep community consistent with these goals
  • Revenue attainment cost containment

20
Executive Producer
  • Qualifications
  • Conscious user of online media
  • Technically savvy
  • Business savvy - understands cost/return
    tradeoffs
  • Performance Measurements
  • Total membership, growth
  • Revenue, Profit/Loss

21
Community Manager
  • Duties/Responsibilities
  • Selects, trains and monitors hosting staff
  • Guides social aspects as they relate to the total
    service (content, e-commerce, etc.)
  • Liaison between community members, hosts,
    producers
  • Enforce/Implement site policies

22
Community Manager
  • Qualifications
  • Naturally sociable person
  • Sensitivity and knowledge of legal environment
  • Able to motivate staff and participants
  • Performance Measurements
  • Member retention (quality quantity)
  • Ratio of community staffing costs to total members

23
Online Staff Roles
  • Advisors, Allies, Ambassadors, Community Proxies,
    Feedback Gatherers, Greeters, Mediators,
    Moderators, Representatives, Role Models,
    Supporters, Teachers.

24
Online Staff Skills/Qualifications
  • Helpful, patient, tolerant
  • Initiator, entrepreneur, leader, respected within
    community
  • Natural enthusiasm, know their tools, know their
    own limits

25
Online Staff - Special Skills
  • Chat
  • Message Boards
  • Events
  • Backend Tools
  • fast typist, efficient communicator, attentive
  • higher degree of communication, summarization
  • moderation, motivation, preparation
  • broader technical savvy, feedback solicitation
    and summarization

26
Recruiting Online Staff
  • Online communities are a burgeoning training
    ground
  • Recruit from services you respect
  • Balance observation with application process

27
Training Online Staff
  • Set expectations of effort and conduct
  • Train to meet those expectations
  • Teach how-to not do-for sowing the seeds of
    future staff

28
Managing Online Staff
  • Motivation
  • Lessons to be learned from DOL versus AOL
  • Compensation
  • The 10th best worker is a volunteer you cant
    make them do what you want to do
  • Scott Kurnit, CEO of MiningCo.com
  • Burnout
  • Only you can prevent forest fires.

29
Question
  • What is the most important element of any
    community?

?
30
Answer
  • The Members

31
Trust is Central
  • The community belongs to the members. Serving the
    members is the first and foremost goal. Decisions
    that subordinate this goal can undermine trust
    and jeopardize the stability of the group.

32
Violating Trust
  • Things that undermine trust

33
Generating Trust
  • One idea for generating trust in community
    members
  • Ideas will be posted on www.digiplaces.com by
    April 30.

34
Keys to Successful Communities
  • Establish trust
  • Make visitors feel welcome
  • Participate with the users
  • Select Caretakers carefully
  • Control membership influx

35
Where is Your Community Going?
  • Plan your community to meet organizational goals
  • Costs vary based on Interactivity Cohesion
  • Control and guide this to meet business goals

36
Where is Your Content Going?
  • Is your content appropriate to your members
    needs?
  • To your needs?
  • Control your content, dont let it control you.

37
What are Your Goals for ...
  • Interactivity?
  • Cohesion?
  • Focus?

38
Wrap Up
  • What one thing will you change, and when will it
    be done?
  • What resources are you missing?
  • Where will you get them?

39
Community Management
  • Digital Places
  • www.digiplaces.com
  • 650-224-4567
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