Name:
Building communities with an online forum
Description:
Building communities with an online forum
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T00H16M07S
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https://asa1cadmoremedia.blob.core.windows.net/asset-16e1f06f-0a66-40b8-842e-16f96fa978ce/Track 1 - Charles Thiede.mp4
Upload Date:
2022-04-28T00:00:00.0000000
Transcript:
Language: EN.
Segment:0 .
CHARLES THIEDE: Thank you so much, Simon, for having us. And it's a small group. So feel free to ask questions as I go. And I will go ahead and start. So in a sense, this presentation is not about Zapnito. This is about a partnership with the Federation of European Biochemical Societies-- Wiley and Zapnito as a provider. But we are a SaaS community platform. We help build expert networks.
CHARLES THIEDE: So we are a technology provider but also work with our clients as a partner. And just to give you a little bit of background on Zapnito-- so I was chief technology officer at Informed Business Information and saw a bit of a big need, actually, for creating expert networks. And we actually started out as an expert network. We were going to be the brand. And there's about 300 million bloggers out there professing their expertise.
CHARLES THIEDE: So we wanted to curate the experts and deliver content and have experts on demand and peer-to-peer learning. Along the way, we realized how hard it is to build a trusted brand. And we decided to pivot and to create a white label version of the platform and offer it to trusted brands as a SaaS platform. So that's kind of our story.
CHARLES THIEDE: We're very different from a lot of the community platforms that are out there. So we're not about forums and chit chat, if you will. We're much more about creating content and collaboration and networking and peer-to-peer learning. So a lot of what we do is about delivering content. And again, we're the tech behind the scenes. So we work with trusted brands. So anything from OECD, Wiley, Vitality.
CHARLES THIEDE: But anything that has kind of a intellectual overhead. So if it's a product or a service or a value that actually requires intellectual overhead and is difficult to explain, that's what we're about. So it's very much about B2B and delivering content and value. So we typically wouldn't work with a manufacturing company or a shipping company, unless it was with engineers discussing important topics that is complicated.
CHARLES THIEDE: So the use cases that we typically focus on but they kind of merge is really building communities as a hub of communication and networking for your members or for your authors, you researchers. It's not about having a community that's sort of standalone. It's sort of this virtuous circle between the core products, like the publications, the events, and the value-added services, and an online community.
CHARLES THIEDE: So a lot of what was talked about today was around community and around networking. So we'll never replace face-to-face events and conferences. It's about augmenting that and supplementing that. So really, it is about creating these hubs of knowledge sharing through experts delivering content of value. So thought leadership is a big part of what we do and also, mentorship, as well.
CHARLES THIEDE: So we create a profile around the community and create a network-- a bit like what LinkedIn does, except its niche and it's small. And it's focused on that one topic or that one area. So I think probably everybody here-- how many people are not familiar with FEBS? OK, so FEBS is the Federation of European Biochemical Societies. There are 35,000 members.
CHARLES THIEDE: And they bring together 39 member societies. So it's very much a federation of societies. And their role is to communicate to the wider community around what they're doing and what the societies are doing. So it's very much about collaboration with those societies and the wider audience. And how many people are familiar with or not familiar with Wiley? OK, everybody knows who Wiley is.
CHARLES THIEDE: OK. [LAUGHS] So Wiley is one of the largest, if not the largest publishers for societies. I think they have actually more than 600 society partners. And those can range from small to large and also federation societies. So they publish the FEBS journals, now, through Atypon and they also act as our client.
CHARLES THIEDE: So that Wiley is our client. And then FEBS is the client of Wiley. But we work very closely with FEBS and Wiley to get together as more of a partnership and collaboration. So when it says, what we did, so, again, these aren't my slides. So I'll do my best. What Zapnito did-- this is really, again, about collaboration.
CHARLES THIEDE: So the FEBS group had a vision which was to create more value beyond their events and beyond their journals and, really, start to engage with their experts and to have, again, a communication hub with their experts where their experts could network with each other. But this can also be people that are coming up in their career. So early scientists, people that are wanting to develop their network and learn from maybe their more senior peers.
CHARLES THIEDE: That is also a key part of it. So this is actually having a direct collaboration and communication with their society members. And also, to go beyond the society members and publish content on a general basis to provide more insights about what FEBS are doing and also as society partners. So what I think one of the great things-- this is a quote from Violeta Wiley.
CHARLES THIEDE: One of the great things that FEBS decided to do early on was to open up the community. So it is an open community with a hybrid model, so members have access to private areas, like rooms. And we definitely encourage that because it creates more trust and more insights for the wider public. And it helps search engine optimization as well. So what is the FEBS network? We've been working with Wiley and FEBS for a few years now.
CHARLES THIEDE: There're really some key themes. So every network will have a theme or several themes. I mentioned early career scientists, educators, researchers. So those are the constituents that are participating. And when they're participating, they're creating content around broader themes in various topics. And then they have rooms, which can be, rooms are kind of, like, this is a room, a group of people.
CHARLES THIEDE: It's private. People can come in. But they have to be invited by, I guess, by Simon. And the idea there is that they're collaborating in that room. And so sometimes the rooms are around events or tracks of events or specific themes. But they can also be open-ended. So they can be a group of, like, an advisory board.
CHARLES THIEDE: Or they can be mentors or educators. Or they can be students as well. So user-generated content or expert-generated content is really key to the FEBS network. One of the models that we really encourage is that expertise is not necessarily created equal. So FEBS really curate the experts that can publish. So not everybody can publish. So they really focus on who the people are that have strong voice and also, something to say and add value.
CHARLES THIEDE: So it's not like a Facebook or even a LinkedIn. It's about the experts publishing meaningful content. And that's an ongoing journey. I guess we'll talk about there's a learnings. We've definitely been on a journey with FEBS along the way and Wiley, of course. So how it came about-- Zapnito was quite early in terms of our journey as well. So I think FEBS and Wiley were looking at some of the more established players that are a little bit more focused on forums and that model that I mentioned before.
CHARLES THIEDE: So Salesforce Jibe was one of the vendors. And so Wiley actually found us a bit by accident. So we were at the AP Conference, I think, in 2016, talking about expert networks. And a guy named Chris grabbed me at the lunch line, says, we need to talk to you. And so we were kind of found by accident. And I think to give Wiley and FEBS a lot of credit, they took a chance on us.
CHARLES THIEDE: And we developed the platform with them. A lot of information and requirements were coming back. And so we're constantly working very closely with the clients on that. So it's very much a three-way collaboration. So sometimes we have direct input with FEBS. And sometimes we have direct input from Wiley about what's happening. And I think a lot of research was put forward.
CHARLES THIEDE: There was conversations and meetings, looking at personas, looking at who the constituents are, and what their goals were. And then they put together a requirements document. And we spent quite a bit of time talking about our journey and where we're going. So FEBS and Wiley really bought into our roadmap as much as where we were at that point. So it is very much an ongoing partnership with FEBS and Wiley.
CHARLES THIEDE: And the network was launched in 2017. What you see today is actually the combination of all the hard work that's been-- has gone into it. And so it doesn't just start out with what you see. It takes time to build the content, build the community and get the experts to contribute. So it's definitely a journey. It's a bit of a crawl, walk, run approach.
CHARLES THIEDE: And then once the community gets up and running, then it's about managing that community. So this is from Carolyn. I'll let you guys read this. And these are the targets that FEBS basically crushed, which is good. And so a lot of engagement metrics were produced. And again, this is kind of an ongoing moving target. So as you hit the targets, you want to continue, to Carolyn's point, you bring people onboard and get as much from the market as you can engaging the community.
CHARLES THIEDE: Great. So what we learned-- so there's a good framework I learned about a couple weeks ago, which talks about, you have essence at the bottom. And you have dreamland, which is, like, all the concepts and all the features and all the amazing things that tech can do.
CHARLES THIEDE: And then you have consensus reality at the top. And so I think you want to kind of dip into the essence of why you're doing this and also, think about the dream and then build that consensus reality as an ongoing thing. So it is very much about what we learned but then also, driving towards the vision which is engagement, networking, and community collaboration. So Jen put these really big font for you guys.
CHARLES THIEDE: So do your research. Jen was our chief product officer. And she's gone off to build a consulting business. And she is really kind of focused on research to really identify the needs before you go out to launch a community. Now, you can get kind of too focused on research. So you can also be agile.
CHARLES THIEDE: You can launch the community, get your feedback. So you don't want to get into paralysis by analysis. But understand the needs of your constituents is super important. And then having a future proof model around where they're going what they want to see. So a clear vision and goals-- that's the kind of the essence if that makes sense. Without a purpose, there's no point doing a community without it being kind of core to what you do.
CHARLES THIEDE: There's no point in doing a community. So anytime somebody comes to us and says, we want a community-- and we say, why? What's the vision? What we want to community. We know that's just not going to work. And a vision can be around a theme. And that could be something that evolves as well as you go. And then part of that can also be around revenue growth, right?
CHARLES THIEDE: So that can be really important. It can be about membership value. But it can also be about sponsorship growth. So that's really going back to the goals and then establishing KPI as early on and then updating them as you go. And I think contribution from the experts is really important for driving that KPI around engagement. And then you're constantly checking in on them and monitoring what's happening and adapting.
CHARLES THIEDE: I know this sounds all very obvious. It is very much like a product that you're delivering, versus, just sort of throw it over here. So communities are, it's a bit of a recipe to get them to work. They need to have a sponsor. They need to have a vision. They need to have a purpose. And they need to have resource.
CHARLES THIEDE: And they need to be really kind of key to the strategy. Without that, then, there's not that much point in doing it-- sort of sits inside. And you've got to put the effort in. But what you put into the community, you get back. So if you're not putting a lot into the community, then you're not going to get back the value and the goals that you define. So it's very much like a product.
CHARLES THIEDE: At some point, you will need a dedicated community manager. And a FEBS hasn't had one totally dedicated. And they've done an amazing job kind of without that resource. But at the same time, a community manager doesn't have to be necessarily a very expensive resource. You can also allocate marketing and communication people to be acting in that role. So it's very much a role. You don't necessarily have to hire somebody.
CHARLES THIEDE: They might exist in your organization. But it's very important to have that community manager-- that person that's curating the experts and getting contribution from the experts and driving engagement. Obviously, there's a little bit of bias here-- buy versus build. But people have spent millions of pounds, dollars developing community platforms.
CHARLES THIEDE: So from my perspective, the job that you're doing is engaging with the community. The job you shouldn't be doing is building software, per se, that people have already built. And but finding the right partner-- so finding the right partner is really important, obviously. And that's going to be a fit based on requirements but also, whether or not they're a partner with your goals and vision in mind.
CHARLES THIEDE: I think I said that. So take the time to find the right technology partner-- talk to their clients-- talk to their employees. And I think the most important thing is to great collaborative relationship. And that doesn't necessarily mean it's all going to be beautiful and amazing all the time.
CHARLES THIEDE: So you constantly have to check in and be honest with each other and adapt. So that's the case-setting conversation. [APPLAUSE]