Jumpstart your SharePoint Community Efforts

transcript

19 May 2012

Jumpstart Your Community Efforts

Christian Buckley@buckleyplanet #SPSJHB

Christian Buckley, Director of Product Evangelism at Axceler

• Microsoft MVP for SharePoint Server

• Most recently at Microsoft, part of the Microsoft Managed Services team (now Office365-Dedicated) and then Advertising Operations

• Prior to Microsoft, was a senior consultant, working in the software, supply chain, and grid technology spaces focusing on collaboration

• Co-founded and sold a collaboration software company to Rational Software. At another startup (E2open), helped design, build, and deploy a SharePoint-like collaboration platform (Collaboration Manager), onboarding numerous high-tech manufacturing companies, including Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), and Seagate

• Co-authored ‘Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects’ link (MS Press, March 2012) and 3 books on software configuration management.

• Twitter: @buckleyplanet Blog: buckleyplanet.com Email: cbuck@axceler.com

Get the BookAvailable from Microsoft Press

Order your copy at http://oreil.ly/qC4loT

Tackle 10 common business problems with proven SharePoint solutions

• Set up a help desk solution to track service requests

• Build a modest project management system

• Design a scheduling system to manage resources

• Create a site to support geographically dispersed teams

• Implement a course registration system

• Build a learning center with training classes and resources

• Design a team blog platform to review content

• Create a process to coordinate RFP responses

• Set up a FAQ system to help users find answers quickly

• Implement a cost-effective contact management system

Improving Collaboration since 2007Mission: To enable enterprises to simplify, optimize, and secure their collaborative platforms

– Delivered award-winning administration and migration software since 1994, and for SharePoint since 2007

– Over 2,000 global customers

Dramatically improve the management of SharePoint– Innovative products that improve security, scalability, reliability, “deployability”– Making IT more effective and efficient and lower the total cost of ownership

Focus on solving specific SharePoint problems (Administration & Migration)

– Coach enterprises on SharePoint best practices– Give administrators the most innovative tools available– Anticipate customers’ needs– Deliver best of breed offerings– Stay in lock step with SharePoint development and market trends

Axceler Overview

Email Cell Twitter Blog

cbuck@axceler.com 425.246.2823 @buckleyplanet http://buckleyplanet.com

The Evangelist Role

• Product

• Partner

• Community

Your Role

Why develop community?

• SharePoint is the fastest growing server product in Microsoft history, rivaling the success of MS Office

• The SharePoint partner ecosystem fills the platform gaps, and helps deliver solution ROI

• Many credit the SharePoint community with making SharePoint the success that it is

• Microsoft is looking at ways they can tap into key learning from the SharePoint community, extend it to other product areas

Why Community Development?

• Proactively drive perceptions

• Visible member of the community

• Thought leadership

• Connect to experts, partners, customers

• Microsoft relationship

• Awareness of the brand and our products

The Consumer Decision Journey

Consider & Buy

• Companies overemphasize this phase, allocating more resources to awareness through traditional advertising and encouraging purchase with “retail” promotions

Evaluate & Advocate

• This phase has increasingly become relevant. Marketing investments that help consumers navigate the evaluation process and then spread positive word of mouth are as important as building awareness and driving purchase

• If a consumer’s bond with a brand is strong enough, they repurchase it without cycling through the earlier decision-journey stages, and influence others in this same decision

HBR 12/2010

Why Involve End Users?

• Executives• Managers• IT Department• Consultants• Partners• The SharePoint Fairy• End Users will determine the success

of your SharePoint deployment

Studies show that end user participation in the design and

development of a system dramatically increases the

chance of success

What is so hard about developing community?

Case Study

How to Jumpstart Community

No registration required http://bit.ly/aiYKWR

Strategy 1: Events

1. Start a company user group

2. Join your local/regional SPUG

3. Join your local/regional technology organizations

4. Attend or help organize a SharePoint Saturday

5. Attend or host a SharePint

6. Attend a regional conference

7. Create your own event

Strategy 1: Events

While at these events:• Bring a friend, family member, co-worker• Introduce yourself to someone new, every time• Take notes on what worked, what you would

do differently• Get to know the people who run them, the movers

and shakers within the community• Help out• Provide feedback

Feedback Mechanis

msI find your lack of faith

in the community disturbing…

Strategy 2: Social Media

“Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one-to-many) into social media dialogues (many-to-many).

It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.”

Definitions

Wikipedia.org

• Understand your corporate culture before you try to change anything

• Explain what it is you’re trying to do, and get end users onboard

• In addition to executive buy in, you need your end users to buy in

Cultural Battle

1. Create a Twitter personal profile

2. Create a Twitter company profile

3. Join a Facebook group

4. Start a Facebook group

5. Join groups on LinkedIn

6. Bookmark the MSDN/TechNet forums, create a profile

7. RSS feeds for your favorite blogs and sites

8. Use Google Analytics

9. Use Hubspot and other tracking tools

10. Utilize social bookmarking on all content

Strategy 2: Social Media

Social Media is about consistency

Social media visits

Blog subscription growthTwitter follower growth

Blog daily activity / visits

Strategy 3: Content

More than any other activity, content creation drives thought leadership, and is the cornerstone of building community.

The Power of Content

1. Create a blog

2. Read and comment on other blogs

3. Create an editorial calendar, write with intent

1. Blogs lead to

2. Articles, which lead to

3. Whitepapers and presentations, which lead to

4. Books, featured content, and other content opportunities

4. Create a metadata strategy

5. Present at a regional event or conference

6. Create content for an aggregator (Squidoo, About)

7. Write an ebook

Strategy 3: Content

8. Publish a newsletter

9. Host a webinar

10. Create a podcast

11. Create videos

12. Partner with other authors and experts, cross-market

Strategy 4: Take Action

1. Create a metadata strategy for your intranet

2. Create a user adoption strategy

3. Brand yourself

4. Use free press release services

5. Use free event services (Evite, Lanyard)

6. Create branded bling

7. Hire a publicist

Strategy 4: Take Action

Define Success

• Have success defined up front:o Number of end users participating

o Number of events held

o Articles written

o Views / downloads

• Make it part of your formal commitments

• Communicate your planso Tell people your plans

o Give people visibility as you work

o Tell people what you’ve accomplished

Measuring Success

1. Bring a friend

2. Get involved

3. Keep learning

The Secret to Community Success

• Christian Buckleycbuck@axceler.com+1 425-246-2823@buckleyPLANETwww.buckleyPLANET.com and http://info.axceler.com

http://bit.ly/aiYKWR

Jumpstart your SharePoint Community Efforts

Technology