FIGARODIGITAL.CO.UK
EVE CRITCHLEY, DIGITAL COMMUNITY MANAGER AT MIND
1 GET REAL
Conversations fall flat if you don’t have a real person in mind. When
developing
Elefriends.org.uk, Mind’s online community, we created a series of personas to cover every level of engagement – from the unaware to the super-user. These were composites rather than actual
community members but the level of detail made them feel real. Give each persona a name, think about where they work, their ambitions, what
technology they use. Add more detail until they feel real to you. And don’t forget your lurkers – it’s easy to be
led by those who shout the loudest. Create low level actions, like quick polls, to look after this level of your ecosystem.
2 FIND YOUR VOICE
A strong community speaks its own language. By that, I don’t mean that it becomes a terrifying army of
replicants, but you might notice community members mirroring
words or turns of phrase. If you can, get a few members of your
community together and play some
word association games. What words do they associate with your
community? Are they different to the words they’d use to describe your brand? Use what you learn about your community’s self-image and draw up some tone-of-voice guidelines to steer future content.
3 BE SEEN AND HEARD
In the early days of our community’s development, elefriends told us that they were put off by long lists of dos and don’ts. And really, who isn’t? So we created a short series of animations to help newbies settle in. To keep fresh and engaging content flowing, we’ve built our social
reporting skills. You just need a mobile phone to create images, videos and podcasts using tools like Instagram or Audioboo. Aim to create at least one piece of multimedia
content a week, even if it’s just a six second Vine.
IT’S GOOD TO TALK
Real communities rely on real communication. Eve Critchley, Digital Community Manager at Mind, presents five tips for
creating a strong, supportive and self-sustaining online environment
4
LEARN FROM THE ALFA ROMEO OWNERS CLUB
My dad says he prefers to get his news via his favourite online
community - the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. Aside from discussion of the MOD4 performance upgrade, you can also find some surprisingly nuanced political commentary. As AROC understands, its members’ interests extend beyond engine
performance. While it’s important not to forget your specialism,
remember to look outside your area of interest from time to time. Create conversations around upcoming documentaries or relevant news
stories and your community will keep coming back.
5
EMBRACE BUGBEARS Unlike Elefriends, your online
community may not have a resident elephant. But you’ll develop the hide of one as a community manager. It’s by inviting feedback and listening to
community members’ bugbears that you’ll keep improving. We’ve reserved an area on our site for
collecting feedback. That way, we don’t lose valuable suggestions and more emotional conversations aren’t derailed by technical questions. Don’t forget to close the loop and
report back on any action you took. We’ve collected hundreds of
suggestions and comments over the last year. We won’t be able to act on
every one, but it’s satisfying to see an idea from the feedback wall become a new piece of design or functionality.
mind.org.uk
10 issue 21 july 2014
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