Posted by Shaun Callahan
Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:43:00 GMT
This week’s success story comes to us from Amy Holloman in Baltimore, MD.
Here’s what Amy shared:
“I was part of a Yahoo Group for a little over a year that started as 10 people with very little structure and quickly grew to around 50 members. Like most Yahoo Groups, about 50% of our members were active contributors, 25% were lurkers who enjoyed following the conversations, and the other 25% were dead weight.
I attended a local networking group that was demonstrating a new online engagement tool they were planning on using called CollectiveX and instantly knew that this was the future, not just for my Yahoo Group, but perhaps for all groups who wanted to take a basic list-serve to the next level.
After setting up a free Groupsite on CollectiveX to demo to the co-managers of our Yahoo Group, we quickly decided to move to CollectiveX as our new platform.
At the time, we had 50 members. Of these, just over 50% made the switch. But here is what matters, 100% of our active contributors made the switch and none of the dead weight came along. Overnight, we significantly increased our quality %.
We now have grown to 184 members in our CollectiveX Groupsite. 75% are active users (contributing content Daily or at least weekly) up from the 25% when we were a Yahoo Group and the other 25% are “lurkers” who actively value seeing what is happening within the group. Our dead weight has gone to 0%.”
Amy’s group currently has 184 members, 1 pending member and only 9 declined invitations. She has set her Groupsite up to be “Limited” which means anyone can see the Summary page, but to see any other area of the site, you must request to join. All requests to join are handled personally by Amy or her two other manager. All those who request membership are contacted in person, by phone or email first to manage expectations and ensure that there is a meaningful fit with the group.
Great job Amy!
Here is how Amy describes her group on her Summary page intro:
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Posted by Shaun Callahan
Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:41:00 GMT
Many of our Groupsites are created for a set number of members (boards, project workgroups, company intranets etc.). If that is the case with your group, this tip is not for you.
For those of you who are trying to grow your group, here are a few ways to help make that happen.
1. Go Public – Under the “Manager Tab”, select “Overall Group Settings”.
In the “Groupsite Visibility & Membership Settings:” section, choose the following:
This will allow anyone to view your entire Groupsite (except members profiles – until they join) and anyone can join your group by simply selecting the “Join” tab or the “Join this Group” link at the top of the page.
2. Go Private (and let members invite others) – Under the “Manager Tab”, select “Overall Group Settings”.
In the “Groupsite Visibility & Membership Settings:” section, choose the following:
By selecting “Private – not visible to outsiders” you have created your own sanctuary that cannot be seen by the outside world. Since you have also selected “Invite Only”, here’s how you can help grow the group:
Under the “Manager” tab, select “Permission Controls”
Set the “Invite new group members” option to “Allow all members”.
This will allow the trusted members of your private group, to invite other members who they trust and feel should belong as well.
3. Go Limited – Under the “Manager Tab”, select “Overall Group Settings”.
In the “Groupsite Visibility & Membership Settings:” section, choose the following:
By choosing the “Limited – Public summary page only” anyone can see your summary page and get a feel for how many members your group has and how much activity is happening within the group, however, if they try to click on any of the links, they will be taken to a page which invites them to request approval to join”
You as a manager will receive this request and can approve or deny their membership.
As you grow and make decisions based on quantity and quality, pick the features above that work best for you and your group.
Posted in Groupsite Manager Tips | no trackbacks
Posted by Shaun Callahan
Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:19:00 GMT
We love feedback. Feedback is one of the things that makes groups work. At the bottom of every page of a Groupsite you will see a “Feedback” link.
Clicking on the “Feedback” link brings up an area that looks like this:
Please note that there are two places you can direct your feedback. The first is to “The managers of your group name”. This feedback goes directly to the managers of your group only.
The second option is to send your feedback to “CollectiveX Support”. This goes straight to the CollectiveX team and we read every one. Your feedback is how we keep getting better.
You will notice that some of the types of feedback choices are for reporting things that you wish would go away:
Bug – Did you press a button expecting one thing and something else happens? Let us know.
Abuse – Is someone in your group not playing by the group rules? Let your manager (or us) know.
Fraud – Is someone portraying themselves as something they are not? Let your manager (or us) know.
Spam – Are you receiving unwanted emails? Let your manager (or us) know.
We also provide you two choices: “Suggestion” and “Other” where you can let us know what you do want to see happen. This is a great way to make a feature request, give us feedback on how to make the user experience an easier, more effective one or simply share a good thought on how to increase engagement in your group.
We give you as much room to type your message as you need so don’t be shy.
Try it out, we love to hear from you.
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Posted by Shaun Callahan
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:41:00 GMT
This week’s Groupsite success story comes from Anne Conderacci who was in Atlanta, GA at the time. Here’s what Anne shared:
“I was working as an intern at the Women’s Economic Development Agency, Inc. in Atlanta, GA. Their mission is to assist women in achieving economic independence through a holistic approach to business development and wealth building that encompasses classroom training, technical assistance, mentoring and access to pertinent resources. When I arrived, they were already an important resource to hundreds of business women.
The Executive Director came to me with a project to develop a “directory” of members that could be used to help facilitate interaction between members. My assignment was to simply compile this information in an Excel spreadsheet.
Being the Facebook-junkie that I am, I immediately thought, “how boring and old school is that? Wouldn’t it be cooler to build a Facebook-like online community instead of just a spreadsheet?”
Of course I had no idea how to actually pull-off such a task so I did the only thing a good intern knows how – I asked my Dad. It helps that my Dad is a certified marketing guru (see www.goodgroundconsulting.com for his expertise).
He suggested I take a look at CollectiveX.
The rest is history. What started out as an assignment to make a “spreadsheet” is now a vibrant online community of close to 400 active members who are engaging to fulfill WEDA’s mission.
Pretty cool.”
Thanks Anne. And thanks to your Dad for recommending us.
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Posted by Shaun Callahan
Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:00:00 GMT
Last Thursday and Friday I had the pleasure of participating in the ASAE’s Association Technology Conference & Expo with over 100 other technology companies and over 1,200 association executives. While this was a tremendously productive two days, one of the most powerful sessions was the one lead by Robert Wolfe, Jr. (Training Manager for the Solid Waste Association of North America) entitled “Are Your Members Ready for Web 2.0?”
Robert’s comments were on point, down to earth and simply made good sense.
His emphasis was not on the technology but on what members were trying to get done – the experience and conversations they were having.
Here are some of his quotes I scribbled down while in the session:
“If they already have a destination in mind – help them get their quick.”
“Look for members who are “having a conversation” and ask yourself, “how can I enhance this dialogue?”
“The technology should be transparent. Members’ energies should be focused on the conversation or the experience not on accessing or learning the technology.”
“Members don’t care about the social network, they care about the conversation.”
“Members care about the destination – not the vehicle.’
“Content is king. Experience is king. Technology is just a way to enhance the conversation or experience.”
“You want it to be about the conversation.”
Manager Tip – Heed Robert’s advice – Help your members get to their destination.
Here are a few ways:
- If you learn of a conversation that is generating increased interest among your members, you could create a new Forum with that conversation as a topic.
- If a particular group of constituents are embarked on a specific project, you may want to create a separate Groupsite dedicated to those folks who are involved in that project.
- On the “Summary” page you may want to add links to sites that are resources that support the conversation or add an RSS feed on key topics around the conversation.
- You may want to locate experts on the topic and invite them to join your group and become part of the conversation.
Posted in Groupsite Manager Tips | no trackbacks
Posted by Shaun Callahan
Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:17:00 GMT
Remember the Magic Eight-ball? We used to say it was always right (it was just the questions that were sometimes wrong).
Remember your teachers saying, “There are no stupid questions?”
I once saw a presenter who said there are 2 types of questions: “good questions” and “great questions”. He went on to say, “A ‘good’ question is one that I have an answer for. A ‘great’ question is one that I have a Powerpoint slide for.”
The best way to get answers from your Groupsite is to ask questions.
User Tip – Ask
One way to ask a question of your group is through a discussion forum. Simply select the “Discussions” tab, select the Forum that you feel best fits the general subject of your question and then click the “Create Topic” link to ask your question.
You can type your question as the “title” and elaborate within the “message” area.
Below the message area you have a few options such as “email me whenever a reply is posted to this topic” which will let you know when someone as feedback for you.
If your manager allows discussion blasts, you can choose to “email the entire group immediately” to expedite the conversation.
Before you know it, other members of your group will weigh in with their answers. Cool.
Maybe the question you have has already been answered by someone in the group before you even joined. How would you know that?
Easy.
Select the “Discussions” tab and look for the “search all forums” field.
Simply type what you are looking for and hit the return/enter key on your keyboard. Instantly you will see which discussion topics contain your key words.
In fact, did you know that this “search” capability is also available on the “Members” tab (so you can search members profiles easily) as well as the “Summary” tab which allows you to search throughout the entire Groupsite?
Even better, if you belong to more than one Groupsite (which most of our users do), from your CollectiveX Network view, you can search across all of your groups to find the answer you need.
Why not ask a question today and put the “collective intelligence” to work for you?
Posted in Groupsite User Tips | no trackbacks
Posted by Shaun Callahan
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:33:00 GMT
This week’s Groupsite success story comes from the home team – the CollectiveX intranet.
The old Hair-Club for Men commercials used to state, “I’m not just the President, I’m also a member.”
With key members of our executive team based in Maryland, Virginia and Atlanta, the CollectiveX team relies very heavily on our corporate intranet to share calendars, manage projects and share thoughts about future direction of our Group Engagement Network.
Of course, we accomplish this all through our own Groupsite on CollectiveX.
Along with email, video conferencing, iphones and plenty of instant messaging, our intranet is a key component of how we continue to stay in the loop with each other and get things done.
By the way, we do also occassionally all sit in the same physical room (It’s hard to eat pizza on a Groupsite).
Posted in Success Stories | no trackbacks
Posted by Shaun Callahan
Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:01:00 GMT
There are a number of ways to customize a Groupsite to make it more personalized to your group.
Our Premium Branding option (one-time fee of $79) allows you to give your Groupsite header and color template your own look and feel consistent with your current branding or website.
Here’s a before and after shot:
Free header:
Premium header:
There are a number of free ways to customize your Groupsite as well. Here are 4 ways to customize your Summary page:
Manager Tip – Customize your Summary page.
1. Edit you introductory paragraph. By default, we provide you with a “Welcome to the Groupsite…” intro. You can easily edit this content by clicking the “edit” link.
You will see our familiar WYSIWYG editor where you can add, delete and edit the intro to read exactly as you choose. Some groups simply have a welcome. Others state their mission or rules of conduct. You can also use this space to embed graphics, photos, videos or any flash-based elements.
2. Edit the sidebar. The same “edit link” is available to managers on the right sidebar just below the block ad. Here you can also use this space to embed graphics, photos, videos or any flash-based elements.
3. Choose what elements of you Groupsite you want summarized in the “This group consists of:” section.
Roll you mouse over the “This group consists of:” header and you will see an “edit” link. Selecting this link will show the following views where you can choose the most important elements you want to roll-up to your Summary page.
4. Add “Headlines and Links”. By selecting “add link” under “Headlines and Links” you can easily add links to other websites that are resources for your group. RSS feeds can be added the same way by selecting “add feed”.
Taking the time to customize your site to focus on the specific needs of you group will increase the rate in which your users will become engaged with the Groupsite, its content and with each other.
Posted in Groupsite Manager Tips | no trackbacks
Posted by Shaun Callahan
Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:28:00 GMT
Groupsites are about engagement. Engagement means sharing and communicating with other members in your group. There are lots of ways this can be done within a Groupsite. Today we will look at 4 features and discuss the benefits of when it makes sense to use each one. The features are:
• Discussion Posts
• Email Blasts
• Private Messages
• Personal Objectives
Of course nothing’s better than being face to face, shaking hands and actually engaging in person. So remember, CollectiveX is a group engagement tool. We want you to be engaged with the tool but more importantly, we want you to be engaged with each other. That’s how we build trust and get things done.
User Tip – Use the Right Tool at the Right Time
Discussion Posts
This is the easiest way to begin a dialogue where the entire group can choose to actively (or passively) participate. By posting a statement or asking a question, all interested group members can weigh-in with their contributions and answers or simply learn by passively viewing others contributions.
Email Blasts
Email Blasts are a quick and easy way to get the word out to every group member’s “inbox”. I emphasize “inbox” because just because it hits their inbox, does not mean they are going to pay attention. In today’s world where many of us get 100’s of emails a day, plenty of things get lost in the noise of spam and chain emails where recipients simply hit “reply all” before asking themselves “does everybody on this list care about my response?”
Many groups have set their Groupsite permissions so that email blasts are a “manager-only” function. Rule of thumb: think twice before you blast.
Private Messages
Private Messages are a great way to personally introduce yourself to a group member who you might not know yet. This is also an easy way to communicate one-on-one with those members you already know well. Here’s the caution, Private Messages are just that – private. The rest of the group does not see what you are saying which means they cannot benefit from hearing good questions and answers. If you think other group members would benefit from the communication, it’s better to use Discussion Post where all can view.
Personal Objectives
This is a great way to let the group know what you are trying to accomplish (personally or professionally). These objectives can be long-term strategic ones like “Looking to partner with web design firms to form strategic alliance to serve mutual clients” or short-term tactical ones like “Looking for a house cleaner 3 days a week”.
Communication is good. Effective communication is great. By choosing the right tool to deliver your message, you will achieve a greater return on involvement.
Posted in Groupsite User Tips | no trackbacks
Posted by Shaun Callahan
Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:47:00 GMT
This week’s Groupsite success story comes from Della Curtis in Maryland.
Here’s what Della shared:
“Targeting a group’s need for both information, time, and efficiency. CollectiveX supports and ensures success for a group manager with a great toolbox and many bonus features! User stats, email blasts, great organizational structure, and as I understand it, some fantastic features to come!
As a busy coordinator of the Office of Library Information Services for the 24th largest school district in the U.S., CollectiveX provides me with the opportunity to work smart, not hard, reduce the number of f2f committee meetings, increase the efficiency and quality of tasks and work assignments, and direct needed/requested information and resources to specific groups. I am using CollectiveX to manage a graduate class I teach, committee collaborative writing projects, network a group of busy teachers who don’t have time during the day for their own professional development, facilitate strategic leadership and problem solving, and much more!
CollectiveX allows me the opportunity to effectively and efficently manage my job responsibilities, and thus my destiny!”
Thanks Della. We are excited to see you using our tool in so many different ways for so many of your groups.
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