FerroGate

The tools you use to manage an online community are of course not as tangible, nor as beautiful, as the ones found in Renzo Piano's studio above. But you'll need the same level of experience with your virtual toolbox, or the community you're trying to build could crumble and fall apart.

Last week at TechCrunch Nordic I promised to share some insights about the tools and approaches I use to manage Issuu's community. Here's a pretty lengthy post. I'd always advise you to split up long posts to get shorter and more frequent posts, but personally I sometimes like to just let it all hang out at once to create one definitive source. Bookmark it for later and read it when you have time.

Email newsletters
What? Email? Yeah, I know some people argued that email soon would be obsolete. I find the contrary to be the case. Why? Because people generally do not ignore an email, provided they think they'd be interested in the content. And consider this: Even hugely adopted 'disruptive' services such as Facebook Messages and Google Wave and Buzz all send you emails to notify you of new content. Make your newsletters relevant, make signup easy and irresistable (but always opt-in), and you're in a good place to reach a lot of people at once, set a postitive tone and highlight the good stuff your team is doing.

I use Mailchimp. It's an awesome service and it actually make newsletters fun. Just don't call them that because your community finds that word boring. Mailchimp has a terrific HTML/Wysisyg builder and excellent contact management that'll sync with your own databases. And it has a cute mascot too!

As I argued in my presentation last week, giving out email addresses for anything is a pain, and I see people using third party authorization more and more. That's OK too, just make sure you maintain the option to communicate directly with the people who enlisted this way, e.g. through updates or bulletins. Having a direct line of communication is essential to retain your community.

Emails and alerts via Gmail
Enough with the emails, give us something new and radical! Sorry, but in terms of managing a lot of inbound information, Gmail is my first choice. It's a powertool unlike any other, and it keeps all your info safely in the cloud which your Android phone loves it for (the Gmail app for Android is awesome, nothing like what you get on iPhone). I use a plethora of filters, labels, keyboard shortcuts, advanced searches, loads of Labs features, and Google Notifier for those really important mails. Basically, nothing really important happens without me knowing about it through Gmail. I was inspired by Steve Rubel's post about using Gmail as a personal nerve center (PNC). It's a strategy that could soon fill up your 7+ GB, so check out my post on freeing up Gmail storage.

Make sure you become a Gmail Ninja, don't linger over a single mail, deal with it in less than a minute. If it's important, save it for later once you've cleaned out the Inbox. Use Read/Unread/Starred as your simple sorting system. Use multiple email addresses, one for each type of communication (feedback, business, press etc.), it makes it easy to sort, forward and manage. Add several accounts to make it look like you're sending from the right place--it adds credibility around your person and, again, keeps the conversation correctly labeled.

The alerts I get to are too many to mention here, so I'll just recommend a few services:

• Google alerts - a classic that does the job.
• TweetyMail - a newcomer that collects all tweets relative to a query. I only use it for reading, not posting.
• Your own - setting up your own mailserver can be a cost-effective way of monitoring important events on your own site.

Twitter via IM
What's the most lightweight Twitter client you know of? Wrong. It's your IM client. I'm using Twitterspy, an XMPP bot that IMs you every time someone tweets you. I like it because it simple and runs on your default IM client (both desktop and mobile). You can also post with it, but I only use it to track certain brands and keywords in the ongoing conversation. Basically you just add im@twitterspy.org to your contacts. It's easy to manage using short commands (e.g. 'off' when you want silence--type 'help' to get the lowdown).

I've tried a host of different Twitter apps and generally think they're either too buggy, too limited or too memory-hogging. I'm pretty particular like that. But right now I'm using Twhirl, Seesmic and Brizzly (via Fluid) for my desktop, and Seesmic on my Android. I find it best to use a different app with each Twitter account or you will eventually screw up when you're posting. I also use autoposting via RSS (e.g. from our blog or specific Issuu folders that has their own RSS feeds) using Twitterfeed, an outstanding service that offered syndication even before it was a word in the public's mind.

Social networks
You need to link from your site and various communications to your presence on major social networks. People use them to keep up with you on their favorite social networks. Different services usually form different kinds of communities, with only little overlap. Think about it when you post on Twitter vs. Facebook and so on. Make sure you're active, at least in the beginning, and that you offer exclusives and other goodies to make membership exclusive. A lot can be done in terms of autoposting from one source to many, but don't forget that each social service is a community in its own right and should be managed with that in mind.

And the biggest argument about auto-syndicating one post to multiple networks? Originality! People can sometimes find it hard to engage with content that was shared from your blog, autoposted to Twitter and then pushed to Facebook. So, give 'em something unique once in a while.

Press and awareness
The press is an important stakeholder in terms of raising awareness of your brand. However, I've never had good results going the traditional route with press releases and a newswire service. Especially if you're trying to get US/UK media attention. I'm guessing your press release just drowns, and unless you're a known brand you won't get picked.

So how to get any media attention? For a startup the path of least resistance goes through industry events and awards. Compete for the awards you think you have a chance at winning, and partake in the events where you can get a speaker slot or pitching time. The media uses these venues as a guide for what's hot or not. In fact, some of the biggest media attention we've got so far was when a different media said we were hot (Time picked us for the best 50 websites of 2009).

Finally you need to know that journalists are always busy and rely heavily on their personal network. I shouldn't say that as it would probably mean a sad day for democracy. But it's a mere practical truth. So, if you know someone who knows a journalist, you should work that angle too; but only when you have relevant news to announce. News startups launch every day and the average journalist couldn't care less. What makes you so special? Timing is always essential when dealing with the press. Finally, when approaching tech blogs, offering an exclusive can be a way to go. It won't get you coverage if your project is no good, but it can help motivate them to cover a promising new service or feature.

Support
Support is a fact of life. You can count on it, and whatever you do you need to come up with a strategy for it. I'm not going to go into detail here, as it's a huge subject. But consider this: If you don't create a channel where your users can complain (or suggest features, give praise etc.) they're going to do it anyway elsewhere, e.g. on Twitter. So, I'm leaning towards either creating your own support forum or simply inviting feedback via email or forms. Take the (negative) conversations somewhere you're in control.

You need to allocate resources for whatever setup you choose, as it invariably creates expectations that you'll a) answer or at least b) fix whatever problem the user has. Responding is important for a newly launched service: Always listen and try to answer as much as you can. If you can't or won't fix the problem say that you're sorry as it helps people to see you understand their frustration. If you don't have resources to answer anything at all, then jump to the next paragraph:

Damage control should be on the top of your to-do list. Always seek out the haters in your community. Follow/friend them at least. When people know you're listening they tend to be nicer. If they're getting the facts wrong then correct them in a friendly way, and stick to the facts, not their opinion. Try to keep conversations private. If that's not possible, maybe leaving it alone is better. Always assess the damage before taking action, e.g. how many followers does the skeptic have on Twitter?

You can't make everyone happy at once, but try to make the most people happy with every single thing that you do. OK, I'm going to stop now, although I've probably left something out. But at least I think I left in quite a bit!

Finally I'll offer you a graphical nugget of how I think about communities. Use it to structure your thinking about community building:

Loading mentions Retweet