Design for Community’s SakeBurton Group Catalyst ConferenceSan Diego, CAJuly 28, 2010

Session ID: 2081

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Gia LyonsProgram Manager and StrategistJive Software

jivesoftware.com/communitytwitter.com/gialyonsgiatalks.com

For more information about Jive Software, visit www.jivesoftware.com

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Snapshot

First, know your company objectives, user needs, and key scenarios

Then, design your social business community site for adoption

Next, avoid common pitfalls

Finally, routinely check your community design’s health

Before you design anything,know what you’re

designing for

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Answer these questions:

What are your company’s objectives for a social business community or platform?

Who are your users, and what do they want?

What are one or two key user scenariosthat map to both your company’s andyour users’ needs?

What is the community’s overall identity?

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Example: company objectives

Employee-facing social business platformBy participating in a social business platform, employees can:•Reach more people•Find information faster•Be more aware of others and the business

… which can lead to:•Better orchestration of customer interaction•More innovative conversations•Overall work transformation

… which supports these corporate initiatives:•Improve Customer Intimacy•Achieve Technology Superiority•Flawless Execution to Gain Market Leadership

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Example: company objectives

Customer-facing communityBy participating in a customer-facing community, employees, prospects, customers and partners can connect to, learn from, and share with others about our products and services – specifically, how to:•Develop and internally promote a business case•Implement, support, and innovate our products and services

… which can lead to:•Expanded business networks across employees, prospects, customers, and partners•The most trusted, single source of truth for information and best practices

… which supports these corporate initiatives:•Differentiate our brand as a thought and innovation leader in marketplace•Deliver a digital strategy that drives lead generation

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Example: users and their needs

Employee-facing social business platformOur company’s wireless business is comprised of 10,000+ employees across several business units who have no easy way to:

•Find and connect to wireless-related people or information

•Share wireless-related messages, ideas, insights and expertise with the greater employee community across geographical and cultural differences

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Example: users and their needs

Customer-facing community about implementing electronic health record (eHR) systems

Medical professionals are responsible for using an eHR for as part of daily patient care activities, and are concerned about the impact that doing so might have on delivering quality patient care

Researchers influence decision makers’ purchase of consulting services, and both groups are concerned with finding proof that success is achievable versus choosing to budget for the penalty fee

Employee subject matter experts (SMEs) are already recognized experts in the healthcare industry and are focused on delivering quality consulting services to healthcare professionals about implementing eHR

Knowing your objectives and users makes it much easier

to define key user scenarios, and the site’s overall identity and design

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Design your community

1. Identify community characteristics

2. Express them in purpose, calls to action, motivation, and examples

3. Define activity flow

4. Structure for ease of use

5. Seed with balanced company and user content and interaction

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1. Identify characteristics

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2. Express the characteristics

Purpose “What’s this site all about in five seconds or less?”

Calls to Action “OK, I’m here. What do you want me to do? Make it obvious.”

Motivation “What’s in it for me if I answer your calls to action? Is it what I want?”

Example “What behavior do you want me to model? Give me an example.”

Purpose? Calls to Action? Motivation? Example?Purpose? Calls to Action? Motivation? Example?

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3. Define activity flow

“What happens when I click here?”

Newbie Savvy

Member Attributes None Low Medium High

Familiarity with basic computer skills

Willingness to learn new technologies

Exposure to online community/social networking concepts

Perceived value of online communities or social networking

Social technology activity level

Knowledge level about your community’s topics

Level of Concierge Service

The higher the newbie score, the higher the design’s “concierge service”The higher the newbie score, the higher the design’s “concierge service”

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Example: concierge service

Newbie Savvy

C: “Introduce Yourself”

P: All about ProfilesC: Complete your profileM: Benefits of networkingE: Profile guidelinesE: Featured member profile

Open profile in edit mode Open profile in edit mode

C: “Introduce Yourself”

Primary characteristic: Relationships

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4. Structure for ease of use

Provide just enough structure to support calls to action, key scenarios

Weave the community’s characteristics into the structure

Make. It. Simple.

Photo credits: Randomduck and Leo Reynolds

Primary characteristic: ConversationsPrimary characteristic: Conversations

Primary calls to action: Register, Join the conversation, Ask a question

Primary calls to action: Register, Join the conversation, Ask a question

Supporting structure: a “vestibule” area for initial participation

Supporting structure: a “vestibule” area for initial participation

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5. Seed content and interaction

People do what they see other people do

People respond best to authentic examples, e.g., “community admin” shouldn’t be the primary contributor

Soft-launch to key users, ask them to enact the key scenarios before inviting others to the community

Photo credits: dmswart, Swami Stream, LadyDragonflyCC

Primary scenario: Employee posts content, customer views and comments

on it

Primary scenario: Employee posts content, customer views and comments

on it

Once you’ve soft-launched your community, talk with users to ensure

that you’ve avoided thesecommon pitfalls

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Avoid common pitfalls

One-way broadcasting

Over-branding the look and feel

Under-positioning with other applications and websites

Over-structuring according to org charts or product lines

Periodically, make sure your design is healthy

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Check design health

Can a visitor understand what the site is all about in 5 seconds or less?

Is it clear what users are supposed to do?

Is it easy for them to do it?

Is there just enough structure to enable key scenarios?

Are there examples of desired behavior and the rewards for doing so?

Is there a balance of company and user content?

Q & A

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Gia LyonsProgram Manager and StrategistJive Software

jivesoftware.com/communitytwitter.com/gialyonsgiatalks.com

For more information about Jive Software, visit www.jivesoftware.com