Oh Yeah? Prove It.

Is the proof really in the pudding?

On my recent post about Being a Director of Community, one question came up prominently in the comments and feedback on Twitter:

So, how exactly do you quantify and justify what you do each day?

Aha. We want proof do we? Proof that all the things I do on a daily basis are moving needles somehow?

I’m going to answer in two parts. I’m going to answer in the practical sense and give you some true, tangible benchmarks. But please pay close attention to the conclusions that aren’t so concrete, because I think they matter a lot.

Measuring the Impact: Hard Metrics

Given all of the communicating I do on a daily basis, there are a few things that are most certainly – and at least partially – influenced  by my activities across the web. I use Radian6 to track and quantify the workflow of all of my engagement on sites like blogs and Twitter, and combined with my offline work, we can map some of that activity to:

• Increased traffic, subscribers, and engagement for our website and blog
• Increased numbers of leads coming through online channels (and I can certainly track the ones that come through me directly)
• Leads from in-person events like conferences and seminars
• More positive word-of-mouth and awareness for our brand and company overall
• An increased proportion of positive sentiment in mentions of our brand
• An increase in mentions of our company in the media, both online and traditional (Share of Conversation)
• More engaged conversations on our corporate Twitter account

I’d also wager that having a community presence can help tie back to many of the metrics listed back on this post, some of which will be more directly attributable than others, and many of which are greatly affected by the fact that we have an engaged team of people that interacts in the community (not just me by any means). For us, it’s woven into our culture, and I think that’s part of what’s going to eventually separate the businesses that succeed with social media from the ones that will always struggle to make it work.

One thing to note: the most effective way to measure the impact of something specific is to benchmark beforehand. I know it sounds obvious, but it’s really hard to measure something over time without a starting point, and many folks flounder to find meaning in their stats because they never knew where they started from. Do the best you can to quantify where you are NOW on a few solid points. Track everything you can related to those points, and measure those same elements again later. Resist the urge to overcomplicate.

Anecdotal Counts, Too

There’s also a “smoosh” factor to all of this work, which means that some of the positive impact of having a community presence is intangible. It’s the equivalent of the business development and customer cultivation we’ve done for years. Think dinner with clients, rounds of golf, customer appreciation events.

We don’t do these things because they themselves have an immediate impact on the bottom line, we do them because we know they positively influence and contribute to relationship building, and in some cases, it’s just the grateful and human thing to do. It’s about working to increase the likelihood that your business is the one people choose.

So, part of qualifying the value of my work is in hearing, first hand, that someone reached out to learn more about us because they knew and trusted me on a personal level. That something on our blog prompted them to learn more about us, or to explore better ways to get involved and immersed in social media. That they learned something from a case study we developed, or that they had a great experience with our customer support team.

These days, we call a lot of this “social proof” and some of it you can capture (you can check out Radian6’s Twitter favorites for some of our anecdotal proof of the nice things people say about us, which is one way we track it). Some of it is more elusive, an overall association people draw between your company, your people, and the quality of their experiences with you. There’s no singlar metric that measures that.

So, when it comes down to it, are you capable of trusting a little bit of one of the oldest ideas? That taking good care of people is good for business, and ultimately what keeps them coming back?

Photo credit: juhansonin

Being a Director of Community

I often get asked what my job entails. Community roles are still a bit on the new side,  and I’d wager that other people in similar roles have differences in their responsibilities (and I’d love to hear from you guys here).

So here, I’ll try to capture a bit about my responsibilities and goal and the challenges of a role like this. In a future post, I’ll talk a bit about what I think it takes to do it well, should you be interested in a similar position yourself. There’s a lot of information here, but hopefully it’ll help answer some questions, or even prompt some more.

The Gig:

As a community director, I see my role as a bit of a blend: part business development, part client services, part communications (like marketing and PR all smashed together). In short, my job is to stay connected and engaged with the Radian6 community, which means our customers, potential customers, fans, and those that have an interest in what we’re doing as a company.

On a day to day basis, I’m often doing these sorts of things:

Listening for mentions of our brand across the web (yep, using Radian6 of course), and when appropriate,  engaging the people and discussions. For the most part, that’s blogs and Twitter for us, but occasionally a forum or other social network becomes an important place to chat.

The goal: Building a strong network of relationships across the web based on trust, familiarity, and professional insight.

Acting as a liaison for our customers on the front lines of communication across the web. It’s related to above, but sometimes I’m not the best person to answer a question, so I can help act as a conduit to our internal team members and make sure our customers are supported at each point in their relationship across our company. I’m both ambassador for our brand, and advocate for our customers.

The goal: Streamline communication between our customers online, and our backstage teams at Radian6.

Writing for the Radian6 blog, focusing on topics that are relevant to our corporate and agency clients, and the social media space as a whole.

The goal: Sharing thoughts, best practices, and generating discussion about topics that are important to people working in social communications.

Framing out and executing a community strategy to empower and engage our customers, both with us and among themselves . This is community building at its core, including supporting user groups, creating online destinations, sharing best practices, and connecting people within existing communities.

The goal: To make being a Radian6 customer a truly valuable experience. We want to create a network among our customers, get to know them as people, and tap the insights of our users to continually improve our platform and our role as thought leaders.

Internal education with our business development and other team members to discuss the web 2.0/social media landscape and how it works, as well as trends and issues that are cropping up among our own community.

The Goal: Helping everyone inside the company understand and feel comfortable with how social media and community outreach relates to their job, as well as carry feedback from the community back to our team. Lucky for me, it’s easy in my company.

Contributing to all of our content marketing efforts, and including media creation and community outreach efforts. That can include press releases, online content, podcasts, case studies, you name it. And we work hard to listen to what people are asking for, rather than what we think they need.

The Goal: Be a source of information to the community at large about our industry best practices, what we’re up to, and what we’re planning next.

Participating in the communities we cultivate. I can’t stress this one enough. My job is not only to listen to the community, but I need to be an active and engaged participant myself. Otherwise, what kind of credibility do I have? This also entails my getting on lots of airplanes to go to events where our customers and prospects are. Being available and accessible offline and face to face is important, too.

The Goal: Lots of connections and relationship building, both online and off.

The Challenges:

Being in this kind of role isn’t a clock-punching kind of job. I’m hyper-connected, and I actually thrive on that kind of pace. But it certainly isn’t for everyone, and being incredibly connected to a community means that you’re never entirely “off duty”. It’s a perk and a challenge at the same time. Being trusted is immensely gratifying, but it also means that you have increasing responsibilities to the people that count on you.

Scaling can be hard. The trick is in empowering your colleagues to be engaged in the community, too. You’ve got to integrate listening and engagement practices into as many aspects of the business as you can, and that often means internal education for others so they can feel comfortable being part of that ecosystem. For companies not in the social space, this can take more time and effort, but it’s the key to being able to truly scale social media efforts. Social media isn’t strictly for communications types.

Balancing personal and professional interactions. For instance, if someone’s talking about my company on Twitter, following them is a natural progression. But if they’re talking about my competitor? Some might see my connection as intrusive. It’s always a delicate balance to read the pulse of any given community and gauge your interactions appropriately. There’s no perfect answer, because we’re dealing with human beings here, and everyone’s experience and expectations are unique.

Negativity happens. It takes a certain amount of temperance to properly address critiques and complaints while understanding when negativity is happening just for the sake of it. Above all, it’s about remembering that most people simply want to be heard and acknowledged, and taking negativity as a catalyst for good conversation, either internally or externally.

Keeping a workflow. Communities don’t keep schedules, nor do they stick to routines. It can be a challenge to balance ongoing, strategic projects with the need to be available, connected, and responsive to the community when they need you, or when the situation warrants.  It takes a bit of discipline and a high level of organization to keep projects moving forward while taking the time to engage and communicate effectively and in a timely manner.

What I’ll say about all of this? This job was made for me. For a person who’s always been plugged into what’s *right* about communicating with customers but balked at what felt contrived in marketing, being in a community role is the kind of job that I’ve always sought. Challenges aside, every interaction and connection is well worth it, and each day brings me new insights and the validation that social communications really are on the right track.

So that’s the lowdown, at a high level. Is this what you expected? Are you in a similar role but doing different things? I’d love to hear your feedback and help answer any other questions you might have. Let’s chat in the comments?

This post was cross-posted to the Radian6 PowerShift Blog.

Connecting Expectations and Experiences

If I’m reading a book, I expect an analog experience. If I’m reading an e-book, I expect that experience to be different, even if the “medium” is still based in text. They may both be books, but they’re distinctive experiences that manifest different expectations.

If I’m staying in an inexpensive hotel, my expectation for my stay is different than if I had booked a posh suite in an exclusive hotel. I might tolerate things in a roadside motel that I wouldn’t at the Four Seasons. It’s a different set of implicit promises.

Expectations matter a great deal when it comes to the quality of any experience, any interaction. The danger area – or at least the challenge – is where expectations and experience don’t line up.

When that happens, whose fault is it? What leads to misguided expectations, or not delivering on that anticipated experience? How do you diagnose it, and what do you do about it?

This is why it’s so critical to understand what your customers *expectations* are for their experience with your brand. It’s not enough anymore for you to craft aspirations for your brand, or a vision for how you’d like to be seen.

It’s the perception and experience reality for your customers that’s defining you, and how well you level  expectation and actuality.

If there’s a disconnect between the way you see your company and the way people are talking about you, perhaps you’re in the midst of an expectation rift.

So the choice becomes: shift the expectation, or amend the experience. Each probably have their place, but I know which way I lean. How would you handle it?

Photo Credit: Daquella Manera, because it made me snicker

When Trust Breaks

As a company, one of the single greatest assets you have is the trust of your community. The people that care enough to do business with you for any number of reasons.

Protecting that trust is critically important, and it’s the entire basis for having continuing open dialogue with your customers and community. It gives them a sense that you’re not only listening and paying attention, but that you value their place among your network enough to be on the level with them.

So what happens when that trust breaks? Can it be repaired?

There are minor things that can happen – mistakes – that can rather readily be repaired with an apology and a correction of some kind. Oops, sorry we sent you that email twice. Our apologies that the product info we put out was incorrect. We’re sorry we didn’t answer your inquiry in a timely fashion.

But there’s one thing that seems to be nigh on impossible to recover from: dishonesty.

When you’ve discovered that you’ve been deceived, even flat out lied to, you’re instantly suspect of every interaction you’ve had with a person or a business. You wonder what else they aren’t telling you, or what other omissions might be escaping your notice. It’s as though your relationship has a permanent question mark on it. And as a client, customer, or business associate, you wonder a bit about just how little you were valued to start with if dishonesty was part of the equation from the beginning. And won’t you wonder about doing business with that person or company again if you’re not sure that their motives are true?

Integrity and honesty are two of the deepest and most human traits, and I say they absolutely translate to a business level. So can you repair them once they’ve been broken? Or is dishonesty a permanent scar on the face of a relationship that can’t be mended?

I turn the comments over to you.

Photo credit: Peter Kaminski

Adding Social Media Means Editing Well

Let’s assume for a moment that you’re already in the “yes, we need to incorporate social media” place. You’re thinking:

How on earth are we going to add social media to the mix of things we’re already doing?
How are we going to make time for this?

Great design (and writing) is achieved through careful editing, not rampant addition. Removing the elements that don’t work or retooling them slightly in favor of a more harmonious whole.

Social communication design is the same thing. We run into scale issues when we constantly think in terms of “and”. But we need to be looking at our communication ecosystem with a critical eye. If the bandwidth is the same, it becomes a matter not of addition, but of editing and refining.

•    Instead of voicemail, we rely on email. It’s more portable and linear.
•    Instead of email, we rely on text message or IM. It’s real-time and streamlined.
•    Instead of IM, we use Twitter. It’s many-to-many instead of one-to-one.
•    Instead of a newsletter, we have a blog. It allows for a self-sustaining conversation.
•    Instead of direct mail campaigns, we produce downloadable and sharable content bites. It encourages sharing and continuing a cycle of communication instead of being an endpoint.
•    Instead of expensive corporate promo videos, we shoot customer interviews with Flip cameras and post them on the blog for comment. We shine the spotlight on others and give them a voice.

More isn’t always better. We know this, but we keep piling on. Why? Can you audit what you’re doing and find where there’s redundancies? Maybe things that could be tweaked or scaled back in order to accommodate new communications? What about things that just aren’t working that it might be time to ditch?

Are you editing your communication practices to socialize and maximize them, or are you just
adding on?

Photo Credit: PburghStever