In Before The Lock

Should your community be public, private, or a hybrid of both? What about free vs. paid? Erica and Brian break it all down.

And The Erica Goes To…Erica!

Erica and Brian talk about the bones of your community and how they work together to create a cohesive experience. Previous episodes about the “above the surface” bits:

Brian and Erica deep dive into customer awards programs and how to get them right.

Erica and Brian push back hard on the idea that measuring community ROI isn't important (we can't believe we had to talk about this or are typing this right now, but here we are). Measurement resources:

Erica and Brian talk about their favorite community activations for in-person conferences.

Brian and Erica discuss the launch of Community Strategy Academy. Use code INBEFORE at checkout for 15% off of any course, bundle, or membership.

The state of the market, why Customer Success is driving community inside of organizations, and how we can partner to deliver value. Resources about CS + Community: Podcast:

Erica and Brian navigate through developer landing pages and communities from Google, Salesforce, Apple, Visa, and more. Developer Community

Erica and Brian run down the most common interview questions and how to answer them. Community Industry News: Quinn McCully joined Vesta as Community Management and Engagement Specialist Maren Hamilton was promoted to Director of Social & Community at The North Face Ami Defesche joined The Wildcard Alliance as Director of Community Corey Strausman joined Weights & Biases as Community Manager, Growth Dominique Farrar joined Quantive as Director of Community Nick Emmett joined Alvaria as Senior Community & Knowledge Manager Marjorie Anderson joined Exos as Director of Community Paul Bradley joined Kaplan as Vice President, Kaplan Community Farhan Chowdry joined Deen Developers as Community Lead for Forge Jeremiah Haze joined Intuit as Community Moderator Mattie Fairchild joined OP Lab as Head of Developer Relations Top 10 interview questions and how to answer them: Role Specific: What has been the biggest thing you've learned at your current role that you think would be relevant to this role? How would it inform you in this role? What was the most recent community program you built and how did you build it? Tell me about what you saw when you looked at our community? Strategy: Provide an example where you encountered someone or a part of the organization that was not bought into Community. How did you overcome it? How do you balance the needs of the community and the needs of the business? What would you say is the most important element to building a vibrant community? What level of resources do you expect to need to be successful with the community here Metrics/Measurement/ROI: How did you measure success, what were your key metrics, and what insights did you draw from them? Collaboration: How have you brought community input/feedback to XYZ teams in your past experience? Content Strategy: What was your content strategy when building community?

How to build a career in community from scratch. Community Industry News: Hugh Lashbrooke joined Constantia.io as Director of Community Melissa Spinella was promoted to Principal Community Manager at UKG A word on Generative AI and communities… Giving ChatGPT a spin with community queries A thread about potential community use cases StackOverflow is already trying to ban AI-generated code samples How to get into the industry from scratch: Evan's top 10 list

Erica and Brian talk through the traits and skills required to become an elite community professional and people to look to for inspiration. Community Industry News: Amanda Boyle was promoted to Director of Community Engagement at GitHub Christina Brashear joined Colibra as Senior Manager, Community Success Erin Mikail Staples joined Heartex as Senior Developer Community Advocate Sean Dahlberg joined Cisco as Head of Developer Community Nicola Balkind joined Skillshare as Program & Community Manager, Creator Success Traits of a “10x Community Pro”: Business Acumen: Ric Navarro  Julie Hamel  Nicole Saunders Evan Hamilton Rachel McKool Outcome Focused: Rich Millington Jon Wishart Alex Angel Exec Comms: Holly Firestone Stephanie Grice Analytical + Storyteller: Stephanie Grice Erik Martin People Leadership: Evan Hamilton Kerri Williams Amanda Boyle Hugh Lashbrooke Budgets / Headcount / Resource Allocation: Julie Hamel Nisha Baxi Experience / Evidence of Repeatable Success: Erica Moss Sydney Sherman Operationally Sound: Trey Wadell Tiffany Oda Cassie Mayes Curious / Lifelong Learner: Joe Miller Phoebe Venkat Sofia Rodriguez Personable / Social: Tuvy Le Melanie Bond Jordan Scott Nikki Thibodeau Craig Foreman

How to operationalize your plans and collaborate for success from pre-launch to maturity. Community Industry News: Holly Rieke joined Board International as Director of Community Jay Elango joined Sprinklr as Community Manager Allison Fasching joined LogicMontior as Director of Customer Community Nichol Goldstein was promoted to Community Manager at Progress Daniel Cmejla joined Apollo.io as Vice President of Community

On this special Thanksgiving episode, Erica and Brian dig into the things that make their personal and professional lives easier. Community Industry News: Anne Mbugua joined Analog Devices as Community Content Manager Neval Dalgic joined BARTKA INOVASYON as Community Lead Francisco Fonseca joined Lymbus as Community Manager Biswajeeta Rath was promoted to Senior Online Community Manager at BMC Dennis Lemoine was promoted to Principal Community Experiences Program Manager at Anaplan Some of our favorite things: Erica: Asana Slack Five Star 3 Subject Notebooks  Audible CMX Summit Brian: Calendly Stratechery 1Password The Accidental Community Manager by Adrian Speyer Chartr AirPods Anker GaN Chargers

How to get started collecting feedback and ideas from your community when you can't commit to full-blown ideation and complex processes. Community Industry News: Jessica Mendez joined Contentsquare as CX Specialist, Community Manager Steven Demoya joined TelevisaUnivision as Help Center Community Manager Mariana Rodriguez joined Coinshift as Community Manager V.J. Watkins joined FinancialForce as Community Manager Faruq Hammed joined RECUR as Community Manager Rima Sengupta joined Automation Anywhere as Community Manager

“There are lots of new community platforms and tools coming up. How to keep up with all of them?” — Tiffany Oda

Why community is one of the best investments a company can make during an economic downturn. Community Industry News: Rachel Basoco joined Fidelity Investments as Digital Communities Advancement and Growth Director Jeffrey Roe joined DecisionLink as Senior Community Manager Manouska Jeantus joined Miro as Community Lead  Blake Ethridge joined Plex Systems as Community Manager Devan La Spisa was promoted to Manager, Community Engagement at Zendesk Lisa Wilberding joined Grafana Labs as Customer & Community Manager Christina Garnett was promoted to Principal Marketing Manager, Offline Community and Advocacy at HubSpot Daniele Bozzi was promoted to Community Manager at Personio Arielle Nissenblatt joined SquadCast.fm as Head of Community & Content  Mike Silberg joined NFX as Community Value Creator Olga Koenig joined mogenius as Community and Developer Relations Manager Monique van den Berg was promoted to Head of Online Communities at Atlassian James Dakota Monk joined Digits to lead community Joe Farrar was promoted to Community Manager at Matillion Community During a Downturn Doing More With Less: Community Is Good Business Brian on stage with Jon Wishart at CMX Summit 2022

“What do you do if you don't have access to relevant data to be able to measure the impact your community efforts are having on the business?” — Alex Angel

How to make navigating your community intuitive and fast for your users. Community Industry News: Colleen Curtis joined Reddit Will Manchin joined AWS as Senior Community Manager Vera DeVera joined Vareto as Head of Community Lauren Clevenger joined Block as Square's Global Head of Seller Community Adrian's book is out. Go get it. Navigation: Comcast Portal Community Swisscom Optimizely Apple Fitbit Bunnings

“Thinking more about ambassador programs. The problem with most is that the benefits to the ambassador don't immediately benefit them personally or professionally. I think that needs to change. Any good examples from programs you've seen?” — Joshua Grose

How to handle the archiving of old, outdated, and irrelevant content from your community. Community Industry News: Work with Brian Work with Alex Angel Work with Noele Flowers Maria Ogneva was promoted to Sr. Director, Community and Customer Marketing at Invoca Andrew Mishalove joined Matillion as VP, Community Michael Pascucci joined Validity, Inc as Sr. Manager, Online Customer Community Mike Rizzo joined Stack Moxie to assist with community Francis Murphy joined Braintrust as Vice President, Community and Social Adrian Speyer's upcoming book

“What are some crucial qualities of a community leader? Do you suggest promoting from within and how do I know who to target?” — Kelly Klein

Erica and Brian take a close look at how to create compelling community user guidelines. Community Industry News: Evan Patterson joined tender.ai as Head of Community & Partnerships Lizzie LaCour joined Softr as Community Lead Gabrielle Leith joined Grapevine as Community Manager Paola Johnson was promoted to Director, Community and Customer Advocacy at Thoughtspot Kristen Meren joined TalkBase as Community Manager Jessica West joined Temporal Technologies to manage Developer Relations and Community Caroline Valitutto joined Well Traveled as Community Manager Stephanie Salsini joined G2 as Community Manager Matt Cross joined Pros & Content Community as Community Manager Community User Guidelines: Xbox Gong Sephora Nanit terms and participation guidelines Flickr

“Are there certain company characteristics that are indicators whether a community will have a higher chance of success?” — Brian Koffler

Erica and Brian dive deep on how to translate your strategy into action. Community Industry News: Danhel Fajardo joined Vyond as Senior Community Specialist Jephtah Abu joined AhoyConnect as Product Community Manager Krystal Wu joined OpenSpace as Sr. Community Program Manager Dani Weinstein joined SAP as Director, Community Strategy Jennifer Hudnet was promoted to Sr. Community Manager at Salesforce Karolina Linda was promoted to Director of Community Management at Dynatrace Sabrina Hockett was promoted to Manager, Community Advocacy and Marketing at Mulesoft Aaron Weiss joined Procore Technologies as Senior Community Manager  Corey Denis was promoted to Head of Community, Social, Content - Small Business, CS at Intuit Anne Traeger Young was promoted to Director, Trailblazer Community Strategy and Operations at Salesforce Julieta Cygiel joined Venafi as Community Manager Oana Filip joined Pixieset as Communication and Community Manager Carmelito Bauer joined ZAM as Contractor Associate Community Manager Nicole Long joined Campus Founders as Community Manager Commsor, Insided, and Gainsight have partnered to launch a new FREE on-demand course on how to drive customer success through community Translating Your Strategy To Action Asana, Monday, Trello, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Quip Aftershow: Community Life #3 with Brian Oblinger Having fewer kids will not save us from climate change - Vox 

“What are the biggest things you tell companies to watch out for when they come to you with the idea of ‘I want to launch a customer community' for the first time?” — Udit Lakhotia

Erica and Brian explore how Autodesk, Splunk, and Salesforce built pages for their superuser programs. Community Industry News: DL Grant joined Commsor as Community Operations Manager Isabel Ruiz joined Mews as Community Manager Cody A. was promoted to Community Support Specialist at Reddit Mike H. was promoted to Community Engagement Manager at Reddit Leah Knowles joined Vanta as Community Lead Thea Silayro joined G2i as Community Manager Melissa Ly joined Auditboard as Community Manager Emily Hanssen Arent joined Hibob as Head of Community Jessica Hobbs joined CMX as Director of Community Programming Community Launch Guide — now in German! Superuser Program Pages: Autodesk Expert Elite Program SplunkTrust Salesforce MVPs

“NFT and Web3 communities: does financial incentive dilute the sense of community? Is financial incentive/interest a good 'common interest'?” — Ilker Akansel

Erica and Brian explore how OpenSpace and Guru delivered great engagement programs. Community Industry News: Valentina Ruffoni joined Disciple Media as Community Experience Lead Caroline Park joined Atlassian as Senior Manager, Community Engagement Kristie Presten joined Tasktop as Community Manager Carla Doty was promoted to Community Director at Yelp Celina Zamora joined ServiceNow as Community Engagement Manager & Strategist Shane Whaley joined FareHarbor as Head of Community Ben Garrison joined Zscaler as Technical Moderator and Knowledge Manager Katie Ray joined metadata.io as Head of Community Kimberly Ndola joined Wonder as Community & Content Strategist Cat Martinez joined Twilio as Principal Developer Community Engagement Manager, Developer Programs Donna Nicholson was promoted to Community Engagement Manager at Reddit Melodie Malfa was promoted to Senior Community Manager at Yelp Erin H was promoted to Community Engagement Manager at Reddit Clare Stager joined Seed Health as Employee Experience and Internal Community Manager Nicola Lyons was promoted to Head of Community at Andela Engagement Programs: OpenSpace Easter Egg Hunt The 12 Days of Guru

“How best to approach when you work for an org that already has a wider community - but you're asked to build a secondary community for something more niche? The wider community is managed by a different department than yours, also.” — Gabrielle Leith

Erica's Mom, Donna, joins Brian on this extra-special birthday episode to talk about an award Erica won in high school, her history as a criminal mastermind, and how the daughter of a dentist became addicted to candy. Happy Birthday, Erica!

Expanding the number of use cases your community addresses beyond Support. Community Industry News: Sarah Wylie joined 6sense as Communities Marketing Manager Lauri Wansley joined HubSpot as Senior Manager, Community Managers  Karina Meza was promoted to Community Manager at Fiverr Amanda Petersen joined Siemens as Community Innovation and Incubation Lead Angela Keck joined Understood as Senior Community Manager Saumya Bagga was promoted to Manager, User Community Support at G2

“How do you rebuild trust in a community where trust has been shattered?” — Cole Zerr

Erica and Brian explore Zendesk and Atlassian community landing pages. Community Industry News: Katharina Koidl joined Equalture to run Community & Events Emily Lakin was promoted to Head of Creator Community at Patreon Yurii Lazaruk joined CodeControl as Community Manager Ramona Hategan joined Nordcloud as Community Manager Punnya P joined Gurucul as Manager of Online Global Communities Grace Cheung was promoted to Sr. Manager, Community & Social at Lattice Danny Wurst joined Atmosfy as Head of Community Lorena Seco de Herrera Ortega joined Quantexa as Senior Community Manager Kristian Ugguccioni joined Goose Chase as Head of Community Combo home pages: Zendesk Atlassian Aftershow: #vanlife jessica.over.yonder

“How do you handle 'turning off' when your community is always on?” — Alex Angel

How to bring Thought Leadership into your community to expand your reach, engage senior personas, and inject your perspective into an industry. Community Industry News: Brittany Edwards joined NinjaOne as Technical Content and Community Manager Tracy Maurer joined LumApps as Customer Community Manager Ricardo Navaro joined Stripe as Developer Community Marketing, Global Lead Jami Diaz joined LG NOVA as Sr. Manager, Ecosystem Community Thought Leadership + Community: Community Club Alteryx Culture Amp Hubspot Drift Marketing Nation Salesforce

“What are your thoughts on an in-person Community summit? When is a good time in the Community lifecycle to consider hosting one? What benefits/ROI do you expect from it?” — Lauren

How to build a successful advocacy program. Community Industry News: Jessa Brown joined Alma as Senior Manager, Community Engagement Tess Brown joined Outreach as Senior Program Manager, Community Engagement Marjorie Anderson joined Product School as Director of Community Manuel Hernández joined Thrivable as VP, Community & Partnerships IIham Boulghallat joined Cisco as Head of Community Programs Samantha Sorscher joined Fiverr as Team Lead, Community & Social Impact Victor Rubio Rivera was promoted to Sr. Manager, Community Engagement at Public.com Jocelyn Hsu was promoted to Director, Creator Community at Picsart Sokwo Gospel joined YOGO as Community Manager John Yates joined Higher Logic as a Senior Analyst Marie Sinkova joined MedVidi as Community Manager Jennifer Serrat joined CoachHub as Coach Community Manager Peter Broadley was promoted to Manager, Community Strategy and Engagement at CSA Group Aaron White joined WalkMe as Community Events Manager Christopher Shernaman joined CiscoMeraki as Community Platform Operations Manager Evan Hamilton joined HubSpot as Director of Community  Advocacy: Our episode on Superusers Erica's Customer Marketing Ecosystem slide

“How do you see the role of email in connecting with your community? And how do you see it changing?” – Hannah Whalen

“How can you gauge the 'health' of a community? What indicators or behaviors do you look for?” – Jessica Erhart

“What is one thing you wish you'd done better in the early days of your community careers?” – Scott Baldwin

Erica and Brian discuss the actions and activities you need to engage in directly after launching your community. Community Industry News: Aima Atigari joined Remotebase as Community Manager Tom Norman joined Craft Docs as Community Manager 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 Mark Pergola joined AWS as Sr. Community Content Manager Kathryn Percy joined Workday as Manager, Community Operations  Piper Wilson joined Higher Logic as Consultant, Strategic Services Emma-Jade Whightman joined n8n as Sr. Community Manager  Alexandria Fuertes joined Keepler as Director of Community Sarah Connor joined Tackle.io as Community Manager Related episodes: Episode 40: The unsexy reality of launch planning Episode 36: The stress test

"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

Taking an integrated approach to building the dream customer community experience. Community Industry News: Chitra HL joined Oracle as CX Community Manager 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 Cheryl Rasmussen was promoted to Manager of Community, Strategy, and Development at Palo Alto Networks 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 Sydney Sherman joined Tray.io as Community Manager Examples: Intuit Dataiku GoodData

“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

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 Ahmet Uysal joined Sunrise UPC as Community Manager Tuvy Le was promoted to Senior Program Manager at Github Nic Tolstoshev joined Gravitee as Senior Community Manager Saumya Bagga was promoted to Senior Community Specialist at G2 Robert McIntosh joined beThirsty as Community Builder Allison Able joined Automation Anywhere as Senior Manager, Community Christie Fidura started a new role as Director, Salesforce Developer Community at Salesforce Persuasion Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice Brian's framework

“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

Presenting your strategy to an executive audience. Community Industry News: Sweta Shetty joined Hindustan Times as Community Manager Amanda Martin was promoted to Head of Community at Unbounce Kemi Kale was promoted to Head of Community Management, Community and Impact at Meta  Jelena Zanko was promoted to Director, Community Management at Imply Commsor raises $50M in a Series B round Brian joined Commsor as SVP, New Products Community-Led Product Ideas Survey Executive readouts and alignment: 23: Be bold. Be brief. Be gone. 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: Jada on the process

“What are the top reasons you see new communities fail?” — Vishwas Katti Brought to you by Commsor.

Developer communities and working with DevRel.

“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.