Comments on: Share your community building wins

By: Revedablogspot

Revedablogspot — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:16:31 +0000

Thanks Connie for visiting my blog but then i was disappointed not to have your feedback. please let me know your views. I am also trying to build a community that you have refered to in your blog.

take care

best

By: revedablogspot

revedablogspot — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:48:26 +0000

Hi Connie, my name is Reveda and I am 21 day old girl who is writing her own blog using my dad. He is my voice and he is writing for me as he can feel what iam feeling; after all iam his part only. Plese do let me know how i can improve my effort and be read by more and more people. All my thoughts are original…..

Come and see my blog at

http://reveda.blogspot.com/

By: Connie Bensen

Connie Bensen — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:26:01 +0000

Thanks Martin & Caryn for sharing your ideas. I agree that bringing people together is an awesome thing!

The most gratifying thing for me is providing resources to my community. And thanks Emil for your very kind words!

In the first community that my sister & I built, we heard our resources referred to as the ‘ACDSee bible’. When I was in San Francisco someone whom I’d only exchanged an email or 2 with said, “Your blog is the bible for community management.”
And I have the utmost respect for THE book, so I view them as total compliments & they make me melt inside.

By: Emil Wisch » Blog Archive » Sharing is caring. I like to share.

Emil Wisch » Blog Archive » Sharing is caring. I like to share. — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:08:37 +0000

[...] is a comment I made on THE Connie Bensen’s post, Share your community building wins, and I thought I’d share [...]

By: Emil Wisch

Emil Wisch — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:25:32 +0000

As you may remember, I have a side project called UrbanMelt (social network for local, independent businesses). My best friend/partner and I are building the community slowly. We had to decide whether or not to proceed with our idea in the earliest stages of planning. It was concluded that if we could help just one business get more exposure, it would all be worth it. Obviously we thought the idea had more legs than that.

Here are three of the most rewarding wins I have experienced in building this community:

1. Our first member joined the first day we began testing. At that point I knew we had something we want to be a part of. We just had to continue evolving and nurturing the community in order to grow it.
2. One of our members said, “Thank you”. That’s the stuff, right there.
3. I always thought I was a good listener, but I’ve continued to get better and really listen and care what the people are saying or not saying.

We’ve continued to grow very slowly. However, we have much left to do in perfecting the product before we market it effectively.

You may have thought I was finished…

I’d just like to say thank you to my friends and teachers who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to help me over the past 2 years or so (that includes you, Connie). Being a part of smaller communities within super-communities has been profoundly rewarding. I’ve become real friends with great people: 1. I never expected, 2. who have helped me through some tough personal times, and 3. who, I believe, I will share lifetime friendships with.

By: Caryn

Caryn — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:28:33 +0000

Great question — I think any time you can make a sincere connection with your community or help foster one among your community members, it’s a huge win. It’s a strong motivating factor for their happiness in your community. Any time I read someone post “I am so glad you are here” — it helps me feel great about what we do. And as Martin mentions, those bigger bonds and offline translations of online community — best friends, meetups, help when a user is in need and weddings — a true testament to the reality of these “virtual” worlds.

By: Martin Reed

Martin Reed — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:48:49 +0000

There have been four or five weddings as a result of people meeting in one of my online communities.

What can be more rewarding than knowing you helped two people find love, settle down and start a family?

- Martin

By: Connie Bensen

Connie Bensen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:12:15 +0000

Thanks for sharing Laura! Isn’t it amazing how a community can surprise us if we give them a chance? I think that’s where large companies are challenged – it’s hard to trust their customers.

In terms of live chats – they are a GREAT opportunity for comm mgrs to give the brand/product a personality. Rohit Bhargava has a great book – Personality not Included – which is a marketing must read.

By: Laura Roeder

Laura Roeder — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:49:39 +0000

I recently facilitated a live ustream interview w/ a client.

This was my first time doing a live event and I was a little worried about the live chat box on ustream – I had seen people be pretty crass and rude on there and we were actually planning to not even have the chat box. What blew me away by the community was how nice and respectful everyone was! There were zero rude comments or questions, and people didn’t complain about anything. It showed me that we really have been able to form a real connection where people see my client as a friend, not a distant “celebrity”. It was a really cool feeling.