Tag: strategy

Building & Sustaining Vibrant Online Communities

Answering foundational questions early in the process will:

  • Set you on the right path
  • Help you sift through technology decisions, especially giant feature lists
  • Support you if a crisis arises

Questions to Answer

If you don’t answer these questions sooner, you will answer them later.
An answer is better than no answer
It’s about process, research, analysis, discussion, alignment.

Who?

Clients? Donors? Advocates? Activists? Volunteers?
Who are they in terms of age, gender, profession, social technographics (how they participate online)?
If your potential community members exist on Facebook, but you have something to offer more than Facebook and you don’t want to be locked into that particular tool, it’s perfectly okay

Where?

Where are they online? Offline?
Who will the community NOT serve?

  • Age
  • Country

It’s about setting expectations. You can still welcome those outside direct service (diversity is good).

Why?

Why are we doing this?

What?

What is our mission, vision, purpose, focus, goals?

What values do we hold? What are your areas of distrust? What does success look like?

How?

How does change happen?

How is our organization limited?

  • Budget
  • Time
  • Development resources
  • IT support

How involved do we want/need to be in the community?
How will we sustain the community?
How will we support diversity/dissent?

When?

When do we expect results? When should be expect results?
Don’t expect any results in first 3–6 months.
1 year = hint of results
2 years = solid results

Strategy:

  • Start with a purpose in mind
  • Slowly build your audience/collaborators
    • the first 10 members set the tone
    • recruit people who set the standards for participation and achievement
  • Experiment and get the tool mix right
  • Understand and nurture your community
  • Segment your community
    • Heavy contributors
    • Intermittent contributors
    • Lurkers

Community management

Empower your super users
Make it easy to find, join, and act: welcome your community members
Engage with your community
Learn from your mistakes

Wrap Up

It’s about people and processes.
Hit as many of the big questions as you can.
Reflect back on your answers while reviewing technology options.
Be flexible — experimentation is okay!
Review your questions and answers and update as necessary.

Session wiki: http://ntc09-communities.wikispaces.com

Mission First: Achieving IT Alignment

Breaking Down Silos

Usually, IT misalingment occurs in one of two models:

business strategy –> business process –> IT process
IT strategy –> IT process –> business process

In this example, there is never any overlap between business strategy and IT strategy. We need to break down these 2 silos. Business teams should come to IT not asking for software or more computers, but actually to solicit solutions for problems at a strategic level (not at a tactical level).

Ideal Process

Ideal Process
IT strategy–> business strategy –> business process –> IT process

Once IT and your organization’s mission are aligned, THEN you can think about adding social media and other Web 2.0 elements.

Think of IT as propelling business, not driving.

What the CEO needs to know about technology:

  • IT drives business
  • IT is here to stay
  • caution & cost
  • cost ≠ value
  • don’t reinvent
  • everyone has a better idea
  • avoid the bleeding edge
  • one size does not fit all
  • know your assets
  • standardize & unify
  • develop a philosophy
  • define direction

Changing a Culture

  • Aligning IT with the mission
  • Relationship Building
  • Transparency

The IT Director

  • Selection Process
  • Role of the IT director
    • alignment focused
    • relationship builder
    • business partner
    • orchestrates people & process
  • Commitment to the org’s mission

If your technology group doesn’t have a people person running it and talking to people and creating a strategy, IT alignment won’t happen.

Workshop Day 2

Strategy Map

  • Make videos more humorous, shareable, useful
  • Facilitate the content for them — mobile phones FLIP cameras, extranaires (volunteer by your phone service), mobileactive.org
  • Continued listening offers value:
    • Internal value
    • relationship building
    • indentifies influencers
    • incremental campaign improvements

Social Media Strategy: First Draft

  • Form an action group of those on campus (staff, faculty, students!) interested in Twitter and other social media
  • Hold a Twitter sandbox
    • Show how easy it is; how little time it takes
    • Showcase tools to make it even easier: TweetDeck, twhirl, Firefox extensions
  • Ask folks who are active on Yammer to consider posting on Twitter
  • Encourage these new Twitterers to tweet about work projects but also their personal interests — these Twitter accounts need personality and a face behind them
  • Emphasize the need to follow others: find counterparts at other higher ed institutions, people with similar personal interests, anyone you find interesting
  • Stress importance of having conversations on Twitter
    • If someone has a question about obtaining a visa, and you are qualified to answer — go for it! Link them to the video you made or the blog post you wrote!
    • Your conversations don’t directly have to benefit MIIS; they can establish your credibility and help craft your digital personality/identity.
  • Listen to Twitter chatter: assign people specific listening areas/terms that are relevant to them and have them monitor conversations regarding these topics
  • Use Google Alerts/Twitter Search
    • Possible search terms: MBA, Monterey, policy, MIIS, Monterey Institute, translation, interpretation, translate, interpret, language, language teaching, language education, localization management, TESOL, grad school, financial aid, visas
  • By summer, brainstorm goals and tactical approaches
  • Determine which tool(s) best suit what we want to accomplish
  • Develop standard operating procedure for the Twitter team
  • Audience: 2010 enrollment targets(?)
Sites DOT MIISThe Middlebury Institute site network.