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Lunch & Learn: How to Turn a Brand-Owned Community Initiative into a Reality

Published on ‎10-19-2021 10:55 AM by Khoros Staff | Updated on ‎11-05-2021 11:27 AM

Tuesday, November 2nd

1pm ET | 12pm CT | 10am PT

View the on-demand recording here.

Catch Erica on "In Before the Lock" podcast with Brian Oblinger https://ib4tl.fm/ 

Join us for a 30 minute Lunch and Learn session where experienced community consultant, Erica Kuhl, will discuss how to make the case for a community budget and move forward with a community initiative after receiving executive approval. 

While most organizations recognize that an online community is a good idea, turning that idea into reality can be a daunting project. Working against competing priorities and finite resources, obtaining executive buy-in and budget for a community program is half the battle.

The other half of the battle? Making an actionable plan to turn an abstract initiative into a tangible, vibrant hub for customer engagement - and with ROI to show for it.

Erica has been working in enterprise communities for over 18 years, notably building  Salesforce’s community program from scratch and scaling her team to over 35 people. For the past two years she has been running a community consultancy helping organizations plan, design, launch and manage their communities.

 

 



Start:
Tue, Nov 2, 2021 12:00 PM CDT
End:
Tue, Nov 2, 2021 12:30 PM CDT
5 Comments
Khoros Alumni (Retired)

If you have questions for Erica or Khoros, please share them here and we can address during the event!


Working against competing priorities and finite resources, obtaining executive buy-in and budget for a community program is half the battle.

What is the most common metric or statistic one can use to start creating interest from executives in allocating resources? For example, 3 Ways an Online Community Improves Customer Support says, "while phone support has only a 42% consumer satisfaction score, many brands, like Centrify, earn customer satisfaction ratings as high as 92% for their community customer service."

Is that a good, or best, place to start? Is there something better?

Khoros Alumni (Retired)

Great question! @ericakuhl I hope we can chat about this at the event.

Khoros Alumni (Retired)

You can see more resources and updates from Erica at https://www.ericakuhl.com/ and her podcast In Before the Lock (ib4tl.fm)

Khoros Staff

Missed Tuesday's session? Watch it on-demand here.

 

Here are some of our key learnings from our discussion with Erica Kuhl:

  1. As a first step to building a case for a community, use a V2MOM (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, Measure to Metrics) process to create alignment, transparency, and buy-in across the organization. Erica's V2MOM template HERE.  
  2. After securing executive approval, meet with stakeholders to understand their interest in the project and how they believe it will impact the business. Use this as an education opportunity to highlight how a community will add value to their role. Leverage stakeholder feedback, and feedback gathered from your customer via surveys, to transform higher-level planning documents into an operational strategy.
  3. Roll out your community in phases. Set realistic, bite-sized goals that align with your budget and resources. Phase 1 of your community roll out should focus on small changes that have immediate impact.

 

For more helpful resources for this discussion, check out Erica's free tools & templates below: