Data to Dialogue: Measuring and Showcasing Community Value

"Peers Over Beers" hosted by Nicole Saunders and Christopher Detzel. In the transcript, they are discussing topics related to work-life balance, the value of community management, and the importance of telling a compelling story using business metrics.

The podcast starts with a casual conversation about Nicole's busy schedule and how she balances work with personal projects, which in her case involve DIY home renovations. The hosts acknowledge the importance of stepping away from work and indulging in activities that one enjoys. They stress on the need for community managers to take vacations for their overall well-being.

The discussion then segues into the main topic of community management. Both hosts agree on the passion and dedication it takes to excel in the field. They identify the challenge of linking community management efforts to tangible business outcomes, which is crucial for showcasing the value of the community to different stakeholders within the organization.

Christopher introduces the idea of translating the value of community management into the language of business. He emphasizes the necessity of presenting metrics and numbers in a way that different departments (like marketing or customer support) can understand and appreciate. This involves crafting a compelling narrative around the data to demonstrate the impact community management has on the organization. They point out that community management can touch every aspect of a business and it's important for community managers to demonstrate this value.

Nicole brings up the expectation for metrics to be automated or handled by a data science team, but stresses that community managers should understand what's being measured and why, in order to interpret the data correctly. This understanding helps them to spot anomalies and investigate further.
Nicole and Christopher underscore the importance of storytelling and discerning the right metrics to showcase the value of community management to various stakeholders in a business. They touch upon the challenge of understanding what's important to different parts of the business in order to report on what's relevant to them. The hosts also allude to their own projects and achievements in the field, potentially hinting at the content for a future episode.

This is quite a lengthy exchange, but it's fundamentally about Account-Based Marketing (ABM) and the role that community plays in this strategy. Let's break down the key points.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM):
Christopher Detzel explains that ABM is a marketing strategy where a company focuses on individual accounts (businesses) rather than individual leads. Unlike the Marketing-Qualified Leads (MQL) approach where a company follows up on any lead that shows interest, ABM is about focusing on key accounts and nurturing multiple contacts within that account.

Detzel explains that this strategy waits for a set number of people within an account to show interest (like three people from a company downloading something from your website, for example) before following up. This is to ensure that the account is truly interested and ready to engage further.

Role of Community in ABM:
Detzel goes on to explain how his team is integrating community interactions into their ABM model. They're tracking community interactions such as logins, posts, replies, likes, and downloads from different accounts. If they notice multiple interactions from the same account, it could signal an opportunity for expansion, upsell, or cross-sell within that account.
Detzel sees the potential of tying community engagement to the ABM model, believing that it could provide specific insight into what the community might be interested in, and what content should be produced.

Aligning Community Metrics with Business Metrics:
Nicole Saunders agrees with Detzel and discusses how she tried to align community metrics with the rest of the business metrics. She says that by reporting community metrics in a way that aligns with the rest of the business, community efforts can be compared with other initiatives like webinars and events.
Saunders believes that reporting community metrics in the same way as other business metrics has been successful in her experience, as it gives executives a better understanding of the community's value and impact on the business.

Embedding Community Throughout Business:
Saunders discusses the importance of embedding the community throughout different parts of the business. She believes that this not only makes the community indispensable to many parts of the business but also amplifies the impact that the community can have on the users.
The conversation ends with Saunders emphasizing the benefits of integrating community metrics into the reports of different teams and co-reporting with various departments. By doing so, the community data is seen by different executives, and they have partners throughout the business who can champion the community cause. This approach allows a small community team to have a broad impact on the business.

In the podcast, Christopher Detzel and Nicole Saunders discuss the importance of using data to measure the effectiveness of business processes, specifically in the context of community building and customer support within a company.
Christopher discusses the use of search tools such as Search Unify within their documents and community support platforms like Zendesk. He expresses his aim to demonstrate that their efforts are deflecting a certain number of support cases and thereby saving the company a significant amount of money.

Nicole stresses that implementing such systems takes time and effort. She shares her experience at Zendesk, where her work has involved embedding herself with different teams to understand their processes. She highlights the importance of methodically building each component of the system in collaboration with various teams.

She further emphasizes the importance of planning every project with success in mind. It is crucial to consider the story you want to tell about your project, how you will tell it, and the data you will need to support your narrative. She notes the need to set goals, tag measurements, and regularly record growth.

Christopher shares his experience of building the Realtier community from the ground up. He notes the process involved: establishing the community, developing programs such as webinars and blog programs, and automating the collection and analysis of data. He speaks about the challenge of finding relevant data and creating a dashboard for reporting.

Nicole highlights the importance of understanding what is important to other teams and how your work connects to their priorities. She underlines the need to have data to back up your assertions, make it accessible, and determine which data points are most critical.

They discuss the importance of not just sharing "sexy numbers," such as the number of event attendees, but also giving the context and impact of these figures, such as how they have influenced pipeline growth and increased enthusiasm among participants.

Nicole talks about conducting a Quarterly Business Review, focusing on outcomes and learnings, and using this to inform future actions. This process ensures that there is always a story to tell, backed up by data, about what was done, why it was done, and how it will impact future operations.
In summary, the podcast centers on the significance of data in telling the story of your work, demonstrating its value, and driving future business actions.

Harnessing the Power of Data: A Deep Dive into Community Impact Storytelling
On the vibrant platform of "Peers Over Beers", experienced community managers Nicole Saunders and Christopher Detzel unmask the enigma of how to effectively communicate the impact of community management. They bring their diverse backgrounds to the table, providing insightful anecdotes and practical advice. Their key argument? The importance of storytelling - grounded in data - to convey the value of community management.

Telling the Story of Community Impact
Both Saunders and Detzel assert that being able to articulate the story of community impact is a crucial skillset for community managers. It's not just about having a wealth of data; it's about distilling this information into meaningful insights that are relatable and impactful to various stakeholders.
Detzel's journey as a freelance community manager underlines the importance of this skill. As an independent professional, he needed to convince clients of his value and impact. The challenge lay in gathering his own data, identifying the most relevant metrics, and then crafting a narrative that could effectively communicate his contribution to clients.

Saunders, on the other hand, shares an interesting trend that has emerged among newer community managers - the expectation that data analysis will be automated or that the task of storytelling will be undertaken by someone else. She strongly disputes this assumption, arguing that being able to understand and narrate the data story is a fundamental task that should be executed by the community managers themselves.

Beyond their personal experiences, both Saunders and Detzel firmly believe that storytelling is an essential skill that can significantly boost a community manager's career prospects.

The Power of Storytelling in Community Management
So, why exactly is telling the story of community impact so vital? Here are a few reasons:

1. Showcasing Value: Storytelling around community impact allows for a vivid display of the importance of community management, reinforcing its value within the broader organizational context.

2. Building Relationships: Compelling narratives can help foster connections with stakeholders and decision-makers, forging crucial relationships for success.

3. Securing Funding: A well-articulated data story can be instrumental in securing necessary funding for community initiatives.

4. Attracting and Retaining Talent: Showcasing success stories and impactful results can help attract and retain top talent within the community management sphere.

Crafting Your Community Impact Story: Some Tips
While it's clear that storytelling around community impact is a critical skill, the question remains - how does one actually go about this? Here are some guidelines:

1. Data Collection: Begin with gathering data relevant to your role as a community manager. This can range from the number of members, active users, posts, views, etc.

2. Identify Key Metrics: Once you have the data, identify the metrics that are most relevant to your stakeholders. Remember, what is crucial to one organization may not hold the same weight for another.

3. Craft Your Narrative: Now comes the crucial task of creating a narrative around these metrics. Use clear, concise language that is easily digestible for your audience.

4. Visualize Your Data: Visual aids can significantly enhance your narrative, making it more engaging and memorable.

5. Share Your Story: Finally, let your story be heard. Use different mediums - blogs, articles, presentations, social media - to disseminate your story and engage your audience.

In conclusion, data isn't just a collection of numbers and figures. It's a treasure trove of stories waiting to be uncovered and narrated. As community managers, the challenge and opportunity lie in harnessing this data to craft compelling narratives that convey the value and impact of our work to the world. So take up the mantle of the storyteller and let the world hear your tale of community impact!