Makin’ Whuffie

bytara ‘missrogue’ hunt

5 keys for maxing social capital and winning with online communities

wtf

is

whuffie?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/437288525/

boingboing

cory

is crazy

about

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/459418289/

he wrote

sci-fi story

his characters

actually live in

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/459418289/

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdon

instead of

money

thing he calls

whuffie

=

social capital

=

reputation

connections(both strong and weak)

influence

access to resources/access to more connections

favors added up (reciprocity)

public accomplishments

levels of trust

etc.

in cory’s future

when you

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notic/86343146/

whuffie

score

high score

=

good reputation

trust them

listen to their advice

it also buys you stuff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/2072543750/

but this should sound

familiar

this ain’t the future

& it ain’t science fiction

it’s real

right now

how

relate

online communities

2,000+ Facebook Friends

8,200 + twitter followers

1,150

I have strong or weak connections to

I’m not telling you this to show off

i’m not that unique

“there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” Mark Twain

!=

buy

whuffie

you see

whuffie

!=

currency

online communities

to make

connections

+ time

= trust

= the basis of whuffie

credibility matters

if you are known to take $$ to talk about a product

you lose credibility

without whuffie

you lose

will be seen as

if you want to become an

influencer

[someone who is whuffie rich]

credibility

it’s really as simple as that

but there is a catch

didn’t happen overnight

it required a different perspective

a lot of time and attention

involves

5 key components to raising your whuffie

#1.turn that bullhorn inwards

how marketing looked before the internet

then came the competition

got louder

and louder

led to

main characteristic

impersonal

http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-tal/179390300/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tin-g/90143310/

which is why

people we trust

if you are still

you are totally missing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/133146861/

if you want to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/klapow/39693385/

sounds easy, but it isn’t

focus on individuals

understand the needs of a community

that’s totally challenging

the 8 commandments of receiving feedback

1. Get advice and input from experts but design for the broader community

2. Respond to all feedback, even when you respond by saying, “No thanks.”

3. Do not take negative feedback personally; remember that when people give feedback, they are doing so because they care and have taken the time to improve their experience.

4. Give credit to those whose ideas you implement; nothing says “we are open to conversation” better.

5. When you a implement new idea, make sure that you highlight it, and ask for feedback.

6. Make small, continuous changes rather than waiting to implement everything at once.

7. Don’t just wait for feedback to come to you, go out and find it; people are probably talking about your product elsewhere.

8. No matter how many people like you, you will always have someone who doesn’t - mind the haters.

to really become

#2.become part of the

community you serve

getting out

the question is

figure out

who is it that you serve?

what problem are you solving?

for whom?

knowing that makes it easier

then join them!

not as market research

not as a voyeur

not to sell anyone anything

if you join a community with the wrong intentions

authenticity matters

what you need to figure out is

learn from that

integrate it into what you are offering

lastly figure out

why would they give a damn?

seemingly infinite choice

what is the difference between

you need to be remarkable

because then

some people may even give a damn.

and how does one achieve remarkability?

#3.create amazing customer

experiences

when I say amazing

I mean experiences that lead to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lugolounge/6780004/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teointarifa/490408075/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60852569@N00/242746787/

and then you will

this doesn’t need to be complicated

10 things you can do to create amazing experiences

1. The Dazzle is in the Details.

moleskinehttp://flickr.com/photos/confusedvision/226129765/

1. The Dazzle is in the Details.

2. Go Above and Beyond.

TED conferencehttp://flickr.com/photos/stewart/433935679/

1. The Dazzle is in the Details.

2. Go Above and Beyond.

3. Appeal to Emotion.

vosgeshttp://flickr.com/photos/quintanaroo/1516782327/

1. The Dazzle is in the Details.

2. Go Above and Beyond.

3. Appeal to Emotion.

4. Inject Fun into the Experience.

flickrhttp://flickr.com/photos/joshb/1408947023/

1. The Dazzle is in the Details.

2. Go Above and Beyond.

3. Appeal to Emotion.

4. Inject Fun into the Experience.

5. Make Something Mundane Fashionable.

method home productshttp://flickr.com/photos/schweb/2890697924/

6. Let People Personalize.

moo cardshttp://flickr.com/photos/schweb/2890697924/

6. Let People Personalize.

7. Be Experimental.

threadless

6. Let People Personalize.

7. Be Experimental.

8. Simplify.

37 signals

6. Let People Personalize.

7. Be Experimental.

8. Simplify.

9. Make Happiness Your Business Model: increase autonomy, competence and relatedness.

6. Let People Personalize.

7. Be Experimental.

8. Simplify.

9. Make Happiness Your Business Model: increase autonomy, competence and relatedness.

10.Be a Social Catalyst.

#4.embrace the chaos

controlling the message?

heh

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiseacre/153532248/

lay the foundation

set a template

then get ready to discover

another list

7 ways to embrace the chaos

1. Stop moving and look around you until you see everything clearly.

2. Transfer the knowledge.

3. Every time you feel anxiety, acknowledge it.

4. Define your own measure of success.

5. Get outside of your personal circle.

6. Realize that everything is out of your control anyway.

7. Have patience.

in no time you will feel

we’re just one more step away from

here is some food for thought

while money is part of the

market economy

whuffie is part of the

it acts kind of opposite

the more you give away, the more whuffie you gain

whuffie is only valuable when it circulates

and as it circulates, it

but we still need to make $$ to pay the rent

so the question is...

what can you give away that won’t leave you broke?

#5.find your higher purpose.

born out of passion?

serving a need?

fighting the good fight?

maybe that stuff doesn’t interest you

maybe you just want to

does it mean that you will be whuffie poor?

nah.

you just have to find a way to give back to the community

the more you give, the more that comes back

5 gifts to give that won’t leave you broke

“nerd values”

do well by doing good

“...compared check-writing and volunteering to cutting the leaves and

branches off a tree, where the heart of the business and its ability to impact the world

positively is the tree itself.”

Gary Hirshberg, CEO, Stonyfield Farms

think customer-centrically

not customer-centric• You do everything you can to keep

your customers on your website.

• You measure number of visitors and time spent on your website as whether you are successful.

• When budgets get tightened, you make cutbacks in areas like customer service, marketing, support staff and design.

• You are bothered by a customer describing your product in their own words that doesn’t match your brand.

• You have a long list of customer relations policies. Any exception to those policies has to go up the chain of command for approval.

• You need to create multiple instructional videos so that your customers will understand how to use your product.

• You demand social media strategies that win over the ‘influencers’ to blog or tweet about your product.

customer-centric• You send customers to other

websites.

• You measure how many people refer their friends to you as success.

• You let people feed in their content from other sites easily.

• When budgets get tightened, you tighten operational costs.

• Your only customer service policy is to do right by the customer.

• Your customers are doing things with your product you never dreamed and are posting videos.

• Influencers are adding you as friends on social networks.

• You work with your competitors towards better customer experiences for all.

• You know you compete for your customers’ attention with everyone.

help others go further

spread love

akoha.com

value something bigger

• do well by doing good

• think customer-centrically

• help others go further

• spread love

• value something bigger

whuffie

will grow over time

so combine all of the

• turn the bullhorn around

• become part of the community you serve

• create amazing experiences

• embrace the chaos

• find your higher purpose

you will raise whuffie

whuffie rich

=

better word of mouth

repeat sales

customer loyalty

=

big, fat increase to your bottom line

which will help you buy stuff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brraveheart/2072543750/

which is why makin’ whuffie is the here and now.

end.

licensing:

http://www.slideshare.net/missrogue

about those rockin’ images:

• Many are from iStockphoto.com (totally cool site)

• except as marked on the photo...

• a screenshot of my friendwheel: http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel

• and the logos & screengrabs I stole from all of the respective sites...

some references

• Akoha.com http://www.akoha.com

• Microformats: http://www.microformats.org

• OpenID: http://www.openid.net

• Creative Commons: http://www.creativecommons.org

• BarCamp: http://barcamp.org

• Coworking: http://coworking.info

• Ma.gnolia: http://ma.gnolia.com

• Friend Wheel: http://apps.facebook.com/friendwheel

• Great internet stats: http://pewinternet.org

• Whuffie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whuffie

Tara Hunt

tara@citizenagency.com415.694.1951

skype: tarahunt747

www.citizenagency.comwww.horsepigcow.com