Rachel Happe’s talk on ‘How a Community Approach Scales Your Impact’ at INBOUND15 was centered around all things communities, where she shared how taking the community approach can help you truly amplify the results of your inbound marketing.
Having worked with hundreds of communities, Rachel shared some super useful learnings that can be implemented to create great engaging communities. It comes as no surprise that she is referred to as the ‘Chief Wonk’ at The Community Roundtable and that she absolutely nailed it in her session!
Here are 12 major takeaways for all community managers on community building from Rachel’s session at INBOUND15.
#1. What’s the missing piece in the inbound marketing puzzle? Community.
Inbound mkg mostly abt producing more (content) and measuring it. “Relationship building/ community mgt” is missing. @rhappe at #INBOUND15
— Celine Schillinger (@CelineSchill) September 10, 2015
#2. How do you get people to do what you want without telling them what to do? No, controlling them is not the answer. Great communities require engagement, not control.
Precisely. @rhappe at #INBOUND15 pic.twitter.com/klzdgdwuyc — Celine Schillinger (@CelineSchill) September 10, 2015
#3. Refer this incredibly useful community maturity model developed by The Community Roundtable, and understand where your community is and where you want it to g(r)o(w).
.@rhappe points to the community maturity model, developed by @TheCR. #INBOUND15 pic.twitter.com/oz35uSBpqh
— Erica Moss (@ericajmoss) September 10, 2015
#4. People crave connections. That’s why communities make so much sense from an inbound marketing standpoint.
People crave space, connections & challenges. @rhappe #INBOUND15 — Erica Moss (@ericajmoss) September 10, 2015
#5. Shared purpose, values and interests are the very heart and soul of a community.
Scaling impact with a community approach #INBOUND15 @rhappe pic.twitter.com/uordBetNYu
— Laura Tyson (@lilfrahminator) September 10, 2015
#6. Derive the shared purpose of your community by determining the problem that your product is solving. Center your community around the solution, and not the product itself.
Create a community abt your new product? They don’t care! Think abt the problem your product is trying to solve instead. @rhappe #INBOUND15 — Celine Schillinger (@CelineSchill) September 10, 2015
#7. Communities are built on common interests, relationships and trust. So enable conversations between people, and create safe, calm spaces with clearly defined boundaries.
You should enable relationships between people who care about the same things you do. This is how you scale trust. @rhappe #INBOUND15
— Laura Tyson (@lilfrahminator) September 10, 2015
Build safe, calm spaces for your community where the boundaries are clearly defined. @rhappe #INBOUND15 — Erica Moss (@ericajmoss) September 10, 2015
#8. Reward your loyal community members from time to time and enable them to lead.
Don’t make yourself the leader. Enable & reward the stand-outs in your community to take the reigns. @rhappe #INBOUND15
— Erica Moss (@ericajmoss) September 10, 2015
#9. A quick fact: Best-in-class communities engage up to 44% active users.
Heard the usual 1%-9%-90% engagement split abt communities? @rhappe says best-in-class communities engage up to 44% active users #INBOUND15 — Celine Schillinger (@CelineSchill) September 10, 2015
#10. Be clear on what purpose would the community serve and how it would add value.
For community maturity, first define shared purpose/value and behavior change (what they will use community to do). @rhappe #INBOUND15
— Christin L. Davis (@christinldavis) September 10, 2015
#11. Engage the stakeholders. Make them build, grow and manage the community rather than hiring community managers from outside.
Community management: one person is not enough. Hire more CMs? Engage more stakeholders instead. @rhappe #INBOUND15 — Celine Schillinger (@CelineSchill) September 10, 2015
#12 The success of a community lies in attracting, engaging and retaining the users.
Interesting share by @rhappe about building engaged communities #INBOUND15 Worth a closer look! pic.twitter.com/aUGhLDnvaF
— Matt Golueke (@MattGolueke) September 10, 2015
“People come for the content, but stay for the community” ~ @rhappe #INBOUND15 — Celine Schillinger (@CelineSchill) September 10, 2015
If you missed out on the live talks at INBOUND15, take a look at these quick recaps and popular updates on the coolest of sessions on our INBOUND15 coverage page.
