mobilizing your community through research-lunch and learn
TRANSCRIPT
Caroline Wilson@carolinevireo#communitymatters@acreativespace #lunch&learnMay 1st 2014
Mobilizing Your Community Through Research
Community matters.
We live with unprecedented connectivity.
There’s a lot of communities out there.
FIVE MAIN TYPES OF COMMUNITIES
Consider the prevalence of these communities, and the frequency and depth with which we
interact with them.
FACILITATING, DEEPENING AND CROSS POLLINATING
Sometimes it feels like there are new communities and new ways to connect and
collaborate created every day.
That’s because there are.
“Over and over again, connecting people with one another is what lasts online, some folks
thought it was about technology but it’s not.”- Seth Godin
“The best way to get people to do things for you, is to join them in what they are already doing.”
- Tom Merilahti, XING Forum
It’s with this understanding and this starting point that we can start to explore these communities, and
support their creation.
A social gaming platform looking to
demonstrate it’s effectiveness by
creating a community actively engaged throughout
the game development
process.
A Board of Trade with funding for a
Youth Social Enterprise Program, ready to get started,
but with no information or
connection to local youth in this
emergent area.
An international non-profit looking to understand and
mobilize their online community, and the
effects of community on donation
behaviour via a Qualitative MROC.
We were challenged to embed, understand, and mobilize around community for all of these projects.
CREATING A COMMUNITY FOR SOCIAL GAMING PLATFORM
PLANNING WHILE IDENTIFYING GAPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING
• Males and females with an interest in and desire for casual gaming, social gaming & experiencing content in new ways
• Emotionally-driven, plot-heavy content.
• Entrenched in the connected culture of today and extremely social.
• Their decisions to play and download games and content are heavily driven by friends and family, user reviews and advertising promotions.
DEVELOPING A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ECOSYSTEM FOR YOUTH
PEER-LED DISCUSSION GROUPS IN THE COMMUNITY
We needed information, but we also needed to understand and build community in the long term.
WE WERE ABLE TO CO-CREATE AND DEFINE THE ECOSYSTEM
• The level of understanding needed around Social Enterprise
• Programs and services were a combination of actionable information combined with guidance
• The expected community and the expectations of that community
AN INTERNATIONAL NON-PROFIT WITH A GREAT ONLINE COMMUNITY TO START WITH
WE RECRUITED AND INVITED FANS INTO THE MROC
OUR FOCUS WAS CREATIVE ASSIGNMENTS THAT UNDERSTOOD CURRENT ACTIONS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FUTURE – ONLINE AND OFFLINE
DonationBehaviour
FundraisingBehaviour
Advocate Behaviour
WE EXPLORED AND DISCOVERED…
• Powerful, relevant content is key to advocacy and action
• Social Media is a tool for commitment
• Fundraising is an emotional rollercoaster
• Community members want a platform for protest and passion
Understand and leverage the power of our networks.
Define the communities we want and decide on the communities we need.
Become a part of those communities in a real way, by talking, listening and empowering members.
“The future of marketing is not about doing and saying things to people, the future of marketing is
about doing things with and for people.”- Tom Merilahti, XING Forum
Your community is out there.
Thanks so much!
Any questions?
Caroline WilsonVireo Research
[email protected]/carolinevireo
ca.linkedin.com/in/carolinewilsonatvireo/ facebook/vireoresearch
twitter/vireoresearch