Jake McKee wants everyone to go home happy. In a community, that means the members get what they want and so do the hosts. Here are his six ways to make sure everyone goes home happy.
- Redefine success. It’s more than just membership numbers. Find a way to track real success.
- Share. A lot. Let people in on your inside story.
- Constantly adjust. Take suggestions from the community.
- Skip the NDA. I’d guess this rarely comes up in online discussions, but whenever an NDA is involved, it decreases the amount of real discussion that can go on.
- Set and maintain expectations. If your site can’t always be free or without ads, it’s important to let the community know.
- Train your colleages. Share your experiences with the community.
(This is part of the CommunityNext Week in Lists)
I enjoyed Jake’s talk a great deal.
NDA: I really think it depends on the business you’re in. I personally never had an issue having people sign an NDA at PayPal, nor did it inhibit my communication with the customers and/or their feedback. A software company that wants feedback probably does require one to make sure that information isn’t leaked to the competition.
Thanks for the kind words Damon. And thanks for the recap, Adam.
So to detail my point about NDAs… not talking as much about communities like Dogster that are community in and of itself. That’s the business, that’s the end run.
Rather, I’m talking about traditional businesses who have a product or service and want to either build community associated with it, or interact with community that already exists around it. This is, in my opinion, the majority of the businesses around today.
Damon, I’d actually challenge the notion that all NDAs are fine all the time in any context. My question for you (and I don’t have a position here, just a challenge) is whether word of mouth is actually being shut down by the NDA.
NDAs are meant to stop discussion. One of the multiple reasons that businesses interact with communities is to help spread the word about the fact that they are, indeed, listening to consumers. Putting that listening activity behind an NDA nearly requires that that information doesnt’ get out, that the story of a business listening to their consumers doesn’t get told.
On top of that, you set up a situation where the people you get under NDA (typically the best and brightest, the most vocal within a community) now get into a situation where they don’t feel comfortable sharing the details of what’s happening with ANY interaction with the company, not just the ones specifically covered by the NDA.
Community (i.e. city) planners often run into this as well. The best and brightest in a community are often recognized and then pulled off their grassroots projects for jobs at city hall, or wherever. This is great to see them recognized and moving up, but in doing so it can leave a wasteland in their trail.
Hope that helps better explain.
Hi Jake,
Nope, if anything the NDA helped strengthen the bond with the particular folks I was working with (they felt more like part of the company). I also think it depends on how you preface the NDA when you need to ( need this for these reasons, etc.). This is where communication from me was very, very important.
I was trying to state that the requirement of an NDA is probably dependent on the type of industry you are in (I understand you are basing it on your experiences with a specific company). Lego, however, is relatively monopolistic in nature & doesn’t have the same type of competition PayPal was having with eBay’s competing Billpoint product.
If a company does require one for competitive reasons, I would say it is up to the Community Manager to explain why it is needed.
Yeah, so there are absolutely cases where it makes sense and is an absolute requirement.
But the point I was trying to make is that it’s not a handshake… don’t use it just because you always do. Think about whether you need the additional work and potentially problematic perception issues.
Maybe you do, then as you say, it’s up to the community person to explain.