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As the year comes to an end, Chris and Nicole discuss best practices for community professionals to reflect on their accomplishments, communicate value to stakeholders, and set goals for the new year. Key topics covered: The importance of end-of-year reporting to benchmark progress, justify budget/resources, and set goals. Nicole explains how quantifying community ROI helps secure leadership support.Conducting quarterly reviews to zoom out from day-to-day tasks and ensure you're focused on the right priorities.Tips for end-of-year people management like giving timely feedback and documenting personal achievements.Recognizing community members' contributions through year-end impact reports and tokens of appreciation. Nicole shares examples like infographics, swag gifts, and social events.Collaborating cross-functionally and articulating community impact on business goals like product adoption, customer retention, etc.The episode ends with a recap of key takeaways to help community builders reflect on the past year and prepare for the new year ahead.

In this episode of Peers Over Beers, Christopher Detzel interviews Nicole Saunders, Senior Manager of Global Community Programs at Zendesk, about Zendesk's user group program. Nicole explains how the user group program got started based on feedback from Zendesk customers who wanted more opportunities to connect with each other. The goal of the program is to drive customer retention by building meaningful relationships between Zendesk, its users, and partners. She discusses how the user groups are structured, including interest-based and role-based virtual groups rather than geographic locations which was not what they initially expected. Nicole also talks about how they recruit and train volunteer chapter leaders, provide them with resources and assets, and help promote their groups. Key learnings from the first year include the importance of regular cadence for meetups, starting small and letting groups grow organically, and transitioning leaders from active community participants. Ongoing challenges include sharing insights with customer-facing teams and automating qualitative data. Overall, the user group program aims to provide a scalable way for customers to connect with Zendesk and each other, strengthening relationships and loyalty. Nicole reflects on the exciting growth after just one year, and opportunities still ahead to continue improving the customer experience.

This podcast episode is a discussion between Christopher Detzel and Nicole Saunders, two community professionals, about trends, strategies, and best practices for community management in 2024. Some of the main topics covered include: How community teams are adapting to doing more with smaller teams by prioritizing programs, leveraging cross-functional partnerships, and using technology like AI.Strategies for consistently engaging community members through innovative formats like "thought leader" sessions and getting customer feedback on new features.Optimizing virtual and in-person events to drive value, including hybrid models and facilitation techniques.Unifying data across platforms to get a holistic view of community metrics and tie back to business objectives.Leveraging community insights for product innovation by facilitating small group customer feedback sessions.Tips for community professionals like starting small by focusing on 1-2 metrics or partnerships to showcase value.Overall, Christopher and Nicole have an insightful discussion about community management best practices, especially around engagement, measurement, and showcasing value.

In this episode of Peers Over Beers, hosts Chris Detzel and Nicole Saunders are joined by special guest Jono Bacon, an expert in building online communities, to discuss how artificial intelligence and new technologies like large language models will impact the future of community building. They explore how AI chatbots may take over some routine community management tasks like answering common support questions, allowing community managers to focus more on building relationships and delivering personalized experiences. However, they acknowledge the need to pivot community roles to focus less on simplistic Q&A and more on engaging users in diverse ways like facilitating thought leadership and fostering connections. The hosts also dive into the influx of AI-generated content and how it may clutter community discussions. They debate whether the onus is on community managers to moderate bot-created content or if search engines will adapt algorithms to surface high-quality human-created content. Overall, they agree community builders need to embrace AI as an accelerator for engagement but must skill up on leveraging these tools to avoid disruption. With his extensive experience across various online communities, Jono provides thoughtful perspectives on AI's potential benefits and pitfalls for community professionals. His insights help paint a nuanced picture of how to prepare communities for an AI-driven future.

Partnerships play a critical role in building successful online communities. But how can you effectively engage partners without them simply using your community as a marketing channel? In this episode, hosts Chris Detzel and Nicole Saunders dive into creative tactics for leveraging partners as community advocates. Drawing from their extensive expertise running online communities, Chris and Nicole discuss the value partners can bring by sharing expertise, creating content, leading community groups, and more. However, they also acknowledge the common concerns around partner self-promotion and emphasize the need for clear guidelines. A major focus of the episode is around measuring the impact of partner participation through goal-setting, data analysis, and surveying partners directly. Chris and Nicole stress the importance of collaborating across teams to quantify the value of partners as part of the broader customer experience. With insightful stories and actionable advice, this episode explores how partners can become co-creators and advocates for community when given the right framework for engagement. Tune in to hear Chris and Nicole’s guidance on maximizing partners’ contributions while avoiding potential pitfalls.

In this episode, Christopher and Nicole discuss the idea that community exists everywhere, not just on a company's own branded community platform. They talk about how community management is evolving to be more cross-functional, with community professionals embedding in other teams like social media and customer success. Inspired by FeverBee: The ‘Community Everywhere’ Era Has Arrived: Don’t Waste This Opportunity Check out the blog: The End of Walled-Garden Communities Key points they cover: Community happens across social channels, forums like Reddit, and other informal spaces online. Companies need to think about how to participate in these spaces, not just drive people back to their own community platform.It's important for community managers to align strategies and data across all community touchpoints, though this requires breaking down silos and working cross-functionally.No technology alone can solve the problem of managing community everywhere. Human insight is still critical to connect the dots.At its core, community professionals love building relationships and connections. The challenge is balancing that with showing business value.To understand your customers, you need to know them as whole people, not just their interactions on your community platform.They conclude that managing community everywhere is complex but critical for the evolution of community management. More collaboration across the organization is key.

In this episode of Peers over Beers, Nicole Saunders and Christopher Detzel have an insightful discussion about building relationships between community and customer success teams in order to drive greater customer engagement. They discuss tactics for integrating community into the customer journey from the outset, including onboarding new customers to the community. They also talk about creating aligned goals and metrics to demonstrate the business impact of community on customer success KPIs.  Other topics covered include enabling customer success teams through content sharing, facilitating community events for customers, and optimizing program offerings based on data and impact. Overall, Saunders and Detzel provide a wealth of practical tips for leveraging community to enhance customer success initiatives and foster collaboration between the two teams. Their conversation offers valuable lessons for community leaders looking to strengthen cross-functional partnerships within their organizations.

"Peers Over Beers," hosted by seasoned community experts Chris Detzel and Nicole Saunders, is a podcast that dives deep into the world of online communities. In this particular episode, the duo explores the challenging topic of navigating change and maintaining stability as a community manager amidst management turnover and significant organizational changes. Nicole opens up about her experiences at various startups and at Zendesk, sharing insights from a roller-coaster career where she had to adapt to five different managers over a span of 6.5 years. The conversation centers around the crucial importance of adaptability in a community manager's skill set. Chris and Nicole discuss several essential strategies for managing change and uncertainty, beginning with the necessity of a clear vision for your community. They emphasize that the vision should remain constant, regardless of the organization's changes. It should inherently drive value for both the business and the end-users, being independent of any single organization. They further elaborate on the importance of documenting your community programs and their impact, along with building cross-functional relationships as internal advocates within the organization. They advocate for showing urgency, delivering results, and welcoming change rather than dreading it. Nicole's quote, "Your community should have an objective that is kind of agnostic to all of that. It should be something that drives value for both the business and the end users that is not dependent on a single organization," encapsulates their philosophy. Chris concurs, adding that community managers must consistently show the value they bring to the business. He says, "I think people do to some degree, right? I think we have to continue to build out the programs, build out the value and act as every other department does to show what value we bring to the business." They further discuss how a community manager can smoothly transition knowledge and programs through organizational changes. For instance, Nicole recommends having quarterly reports to track and showcase community progress and impact. Lastly, Chris emphasizes the importance of forging cross-functional relationships and nurturing champions within the organization, thus amplifying the influence and reach of the community manager. The episode is a treasure trove of wisdom and practical advice, offering community managers the tools and mindset they need to thrive, even in the face of constant leadership and strategic changes.

Welcome to this in-depth analysis of the podcast "Peers over Beers," hosted by two seasoned professionals, Nicole Saunders and Christopher Detzel. The engaging discourse revolves around the transformative role and significance of community in today's organizations, offering invaluable insights and perspectives for both veterans and newcomers in the field of community management. Understanding the Community RoleCommunity Integration: The Embedded ApproachThe Shift to DecentralizationRole of Community in Feedback ManagementBusiness Alignment and Trust in CommunityThe Evolution of Community Roles The "Peers over Beers" podcast offers a refreshing perspective on the value of community in an organizational setup. As Saunders and Detzel articulate, incorporating a community-led model into business strategies can revolutionize traditional structures, enhance customer interactions, and drive sustainable growth. It's an eye-opening conversation that invites us all to rethink the way we understand and integrate the community within our own organizations.

In this insightful episode of "Peers Over Beers", Christopher Detzel converses with Nicole Saunders from Zendesk about community building and user group management in a business setting. The episode commences with a light-hearted discussion about personal exercise routines in the summer before shifting gears to Nicole's extensive experience in fostering communities at Zendesk. Nicole outlines her journey from managing Q&A topics to orchestrating an all-encompassing community strategy at Zendesk. The strategy entailed merging the five product communities into a singular one to facilitate user experience. Additionally, Nicole shares her success with Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions and webinars, which were introduced as tools for community engagement. These webinars eventually paved the way for the creation of the digital events team at Zendesk. The team hosts deep-dive sessions following product announcements, helping users understand new features better. However, the growth and popularity of these events led to the challenge of scaling, with resources being stretched thin due to increasing requests for specialized topics. To navigate this issue, Nicole and her team initiated user groups. The user groups, designed to empower end-users to host meetups, experienced enthusiastic participation. From starting with five groups, they soon grew to eleven, with some groups boasting over 150 regular attendees. The global pandemic led to these gatherings transitioning to a virtual format, yielding groups arranged around job titles or industries rather than geographical locations. Nicole discusses how these user groups were promoted using community events, forums, and even paid social media. To maintain engagement, a Customer Advocacy Program was launched to recruit volunteers desiring to be more involved with the community. On the subject of data management, Nicole emphasizes the company's responsibility in using data strictly for user groups, prioritizing trust-building with customers. The conversation culminates with a discussion on the business value of these community engagement efforts. Nicole argues that user groups significantly contribute to customer retention, revenue generation, and account expansion. This episode of "Peers Over Beers" offers a comprehensive look at the intricate process of community building, user group management, and their impact on business outcomes. It serves as an enriching resource for professionals interested in community engagement, user group operations, and the balance between customer satisfaction and business objectives.

This podcast originated and is a copy from Data Hurdles episode Leveraging Online Communities for Business Growth: Insights from Burke and Detzel.  In their conversation, Michael Burke and Chris Detzel explore the crucial role online communities play in the modern digital business environment. Detzel, an expert in building these communities, outlines how they offer spaces for users to connect, collaborate, and resolve product-related issues. From a business standpoint, these communities can reduce support costs, generate marketing leads, and encourage product adoption, boosting upselling and cross-selling opportunities. The discussion delves into why customers often prefer peer support from community members over professional services or support tickets. Detzel explains this preference arises from the ease of access online communities provide, creating an environment conducive to knowledge sharing and swift problem resolution. Interestingly, Burke shares his personal experience with online community participation, underlining the emotional connection it can foster towards the product and the company. Detzel builds on this point by detailing how communities allow users to share their expertise and ideas, enabling the development of long-term customer relationships. The conversation also touches on the more analytical aspect of community management. Detzel suggests that the metrics used to measure a community's success should align with its maturity level, with more established communities tracking marketing, product adoption, and customer success metrics. Burke and Detzel both stress the importance of fostering network effects within communities and discuss strategies to achieve this, such as automated emails, reward systems, and recognition. Overall, the conversation underlines the pivotal role online communities can play in business growth, providing platforms for customer feedback and idea generation, while also building trust and empathy. Despite the potential challenges in managing these communities, especially on a global scale, Burke and Detzel highlight the substantial benefits and strategies for successful management.

Welcome to the Peers Over Beers podcast, "Behind the Scenes of Community Management: Metrics Matter". Nicole Saunders and Chris Detzel give their thoughts about Community Metrics: As the world grows more interconnected and businesses strive to build authentic relationships with their audiences, community management emerges as a critical element of organizational success. But how do we measure its impact and effectively communicate this to various stakeholders? This podcast unravels the mystery and shows you the art of telling your community's story using data-driven insights. Check out: The Power of Community Metrics for Data-Driven Storytelling Join our industry experts as they share their vast experiences and dive deep into the nuts and bolts of community management. They will explore how to collect and analyze relevant data, identify key metrics, and weave a compelling narrative to highlight the community's impact. From newer community managers to veterans in the field, there's a lot to learn about building relationships, securing funding, and raising awareness about the value of community management. Moreover, we'll highlight the importance of visuals in enhancing your narrative and the channels you can utilize to share your story. In essence, this podcast will equip you with the tools and knowledge to transform raw data into an engaging, comprehensible story that amplifies the value of your community management efforts. Whether you're a community manager eager to demonstrate your impact or a business leader seeking to understand how community engagement drives success, this podcast is your roadmap. Tune in for enlightening discussions, expert insights, and actionable advice on harnessing the power of community management!