In Before The Lock is a podcast from Erica Kuhl and Brian Oblinger about community, customer experience, and leadership at scale. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and everywhere that podcasts are found.
🧵 70: Behaviors and indicators
“How can you gauge the 'health' of a community? What indicators or behaviors do you look for?” – Jessica Erhart
🧵 69: It pains me to this day
“What is one thing you wish you’d done better in the early days of your community careers?” – Scott Baldwin
🔓 68: The real work begins
Erica and Brian discuss the actions and activities you need to engage in directly after launching your community.
Community Industry News:
Lalitha Wemel joined TechStars as Global Director, Engagement and Community
Nofar Ben Dror Paecht joined AppsFlyer as Head of Customer Community
Margaux Miller was promoted to Director of Community at Toptal
Maria Perminova was promoted to Community Operations & Strategy Manager at Miro
Kathryn Percy joined Workday as Manager, Community Operations
Piper Wilson joined Higher Logic as Consultant, Strategic Services
Related episodes:
🧵 67: Stuck in a loop
“Growing into management is an exciting opportunity, however, the team still isn’t large enough for you to step away from the IC work (yet). How do you balance the player / coach model in Community?” — Krystal Wu
🔓 66: Like magic
Taking an integrated approach to building the dream customer community experience.
Community Industry News:
Holly Schell joined Paper as Community Engagement Specialist
Madeline Johannsen was promoted to Team Lead, Multimedia Community Content at Alteryx
Jodi Meier joined Juniper Networks as Community Engagement Lead
Joshua Brown was promoted to Senior Community Manager at FuturLab
Andreia Tulcidás was promoted to Community Advocacy and Engagement Team Lead at OutSystems
Erica Moss joined HubSpot as Principle Marketing Manager, Community
Examples:
🧵 65: Try a bunch of stuff
“How can I manage and set engagement expectations/goals when our community members don’t use our service/product everyday therefore may not interact daily/weekly with a community space?” — Hannah Rafter
🔓 64: Inception
How to persuade others through the use of an age old framework.
Community Industry News:
Vincent Mayers joined Gradle as Director, Community Operations
Vinicius Camilo joined Distrito as Investor Community Manager
Saumya Bagga was promoted to Senior Community Specialist at G2
Allison Able joined Automation Anywhere as Senior Manager, Community
Christie Fidura started a new role as Director, Salesforce Developer Community at Salesforce
Persuasion
🧵 63: Just two?
“What would be your strategy for a community that holds two distinct personas? In this case, HR managers / People Ops and then their employees? Essentially these two different audiences would be coming together into one community.” — Lizzie LaCour
🔓 62: Read the room
Presenting your strategy to an executive audience.
Community Industry News:
Executive readouts and alignment:
Elements we discussed:
Opportunity Statement/Why
Scope
Research
Company/Community Goals
Business ROI
Health Metrics/Benchmarks
Integrated Approach/Collaboration
Strategy Components
Personas
Programs
Staffing Plans/Resources Required
Platforms
Milestones & Roadmap
Next Steps
Aftershow:
🧵 61: We have a couple
“What are the top reasons you see new communities fail?” — Vishwas Katti
Brought to you by Commsor.
🔓 60: Just a couple lines of code
Developer communities and working with DevRel.
🇺🇦
Community Industry News:
Luiza Drăghicean joined AhoyConnect as Community & Growth Advisor
Michael Shillingford was promoted to Director of Community at Brandwatch
Delphin Miloudi-Druelle joined Lifestory as Community Sidekick
Michel Da Silva promoted to Senior Community Strategist at Khoros
Mattie Fairchild joined Manticore Games as Senior Director, Community and DevRel
Developer Communities / DevRel:
Sponsored by:
Commsaur exists to provide education, empowerment, and experimentation for those exploring, learning, and building community in the world of web3. Check out Brian’s Commsaur.
🧵 59: A big difference
“What differentiating values, if any, do you see in having a new customer join a community versus one who has been using your product for a good amount of time?” — Avi Lekowsky
Brought to you by Commsor.
🔓 58: Be yourself
How to tell your story and build your personal brand.
Community Industry News:
Linda Haviland was promoted to Lead Community Manager at DataRobot
Sara Leslie joined Katalon as Sr. Director, Online Communities
Jana Iris joined PlanetScale as Head of Community & Experiential Marketing
Elizabeth Kinsey was promoted to Director, Community at Slack
Marian Lemus joined Mulesoft as Community Events Associate Manager
Building Your Brand:
Sponsored by:
Take on inSided’s 8-week customer health challenge and go from red to green as you burn the churn.
Explore C School’s growing library of courses to help you master concrete community skills and specializations.
🧵 57: Don’t take the bait
“How do I deal with competitors in my community?” — Seth Wylie
Brought to you by Commsor.
🔓 56: I don’t want flowers
Why it’s time to leave CMAD behind and level-up as an industry.
Community Industry News:
Let’s all move forward together:
Communicate the value you generating often
Reassess your personal value and have conversations with your leadership
Explore roles that are more aligned to your value
Help others tell your story and promote your value
Get mentorship from others in the space and learn from their experience
Take leadership and business courses to level up
Think about the ways you contribute to push the industry forward
Sponsored by:
The Community-Led Report unpacks the now and future of the community industry, with trends, highlights to celebrate, and areas of opportunity for growth, with insights and resources to help.
Take on inSided’s 8-week customer health challenge and go from red to green as you burn the churn.
🧵 55: Fractions of fractions
“Do you think there is a minimum size of customers/users that you need to have to make a community successful?” — Yeori Hokken
Brought to you by Commsor.
🔓 54: A secret weapon
How motivating Partners to engage in your community can accelerate outcomes.
Community Industry News:
Katie Bapple joined Building Brave as Chief Community Officer
Christine Gritmon joined Agorpulse as Senior Editor, Community
Kelly Schott joined Pragmatic Institute as Manager of Community Programs
Noele Flowers was promoted to Director of Community Education at Commsor
Chris Detzel was promoted to Director of Customer Community and Engagement at Reltio
Sara Ott was promoted to Head of Community Experience at hound.vet
Lauren Hagerty joined PowerToFly Director of Marketing and Community
Aftershow:
Sponsored by:
Commsor combines software, community, and strategic services to give your team the complete, integrated solution you need to succeed.
Boulder County Wildfire Fund: On December 30th, 2021 the most destructive wildfire in the state's history, the Marshall fire, destroyed nearly 1,000 homes in Boulder County. Lend a helping hand with a donation of any size.
🧵 53: What’s in it for me?
“What is the best way to get stakeholders excited about getting involved and engaging in your company community?” — Tessa Kriesel
Brought to you by Commsor.
🔓 52: Out of scope
What is Community Operations, why is it so important, and why should you hire someone specifically to execute it? Erica and Brian give you the rundown.
Boulder County Wildfires:
Community Industry News:
Ops:
Sponsored by:
Vanilla Community Predictions 2022: Vanilla and Higher Logic sat down with 22 community management experts to discover what's coming for community in 2022. Together, they worked out ten key takeaways for the coming year. If you run a community, are part of a community, or are debating whether or not to launch one, check out their eBook is for you.
C School Coaching and Career Tracks: Taught by industry experts, these small cohort-based-courses combine real-time instruction, collaborative work with other talented professionals, work-applicable projects, and 1:1 coaching to help you go to the next level.
🔓 51: Top 10ish
We close out 2021 by talking about our favorite happenings in the community industry.
Community Industry News:
Top Stuff:
Aftershow:
Sponsored by:
C School Coaching and Career Tracks: Taught by industry experts, these small cohort-based-courses combine real-time instruction, collaborative work with other talented professionals, work-applicable projects, and 1:1 coaching to help you go to the next level.
Vanilla Community Predictions 2022: Vanilla and Higher Logic sat down with 22 community management experts to discover what's coming for community in 2022. Together, they worked out ten key takeaways for the coming year. If you run a community, are part of a community, or are debating whether or not to launch one, check out their eBook is for you.