End content chaos. Communicate clearly.
Online communities must go through some initial setup phases, but once communities are up and running, several things should happen simultaneously.
As we create new communities or nurture existing ones, we must ensure we are always balancing needs in these three areas:
I just came today from the orientation for my master’s in information sciences program at the University of Tennessee. It’s a top-20 program in a field that for decades has trained our nation’s librarians. Today, graduates also go into information management fields.
Since our work often involves information architecture, I’ve been thinking about getting an IS degree for a while now. It nicely meets the intersection of content and technology where we work.
I’m not changing my work schedule, and fortunately, the program is designed for working professionals, so my classes take place at night and on the weekends.
I’m pretty excited because one of my first two classes deals with metadata — one of my favorite topics! More on this as my program continues —
[And for those who are wondering, yes, it was hard for a Vanderbilt graduate to apply to UT, one of our big athletic rivals. However, the quality of the program — and the fact that it’s entirely available via distance education — really made my choice easy. Now if I can just convince my Vandy-grad dad that good things can come from UT….]
Our work in content strategy often involves working with online communities. The principles we use to manage online communities are simple, but not always obvious.
Our three guiding principles:
Treat members like people.If you think of and treat your members like anonymous computers on the other end, they won’t demonstrate any loyalty to you, either. If you remember that they’re real people, with kids to pick up and dentist appointments and careers, you’ll build a long-term relationship with them.
Get the technology out of the way. If it’s too hard, no one will share. Well-managed communities anticipate and remove technical barriers.
The members own the community. Even mighty Facebook has dealt with user satisfaction problems related to their frequent privacy and design changes. Facebook likely won’t suffer much for its lack of user respect because it’s an 800-lb. gorilla, but smaller communities can’t count on members to stick around when they abuse the trust of their members. Likewise, corporate communities must demonstrate either value or C-suite buy-in, or ideally both, for employees to take them seriously.
We’ve decided to change things around a bit here. Starting today, we’re going to blog here as a company. I’ll still be blogging at LauraCreekmore.com on a regular basis, so please continue to visit me there, as well.
But we’re going to all share our thoughts here on content strategy, as well. Hope you’ll stick around and join the conversation.