It’s not about you! Or is it? Creating online community content that serves your audience
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It’s not about you! Or is it? Creating online community content that serves your audience

In an effort to get information out of email and flowing more easily across silos, many companies have launched knowledge sharing platforms, or online communities. Employees use the communities to find information, post files, ask questions, and share expertise in order to solve problems together and get their work done. The employee community is usually given a name such as The Hub or The Hive, and is typically powered by an enterprise social network / collaboration platform such as Yammer, Jive Software, or Igloo (see Appendix below to learn more).

Have you ever needed to share your knowledge with colleagues in your company’s employee community or intranet but don’t know how to start?

Has your manager requested that you “get our team’s content in the collaboration hub” so you can stop answering the same questions over and over again via email?

Before you plunge in and start uploading files or writing blogs, take some time to do an assessment of what might already exist on the topic, to think through who your audience is, and to map out how the information fits into the larger whole. In other words, do a scan and make a plan.

What frustrates you when searching for information?

Before I share some tips about what I have found helpful when planning to post content, put yourself in the shoes of your colleagues who will be looking for information in the future. Think about your own experience trying to find information in your online community or content management system. Have you ever searched for content but just given up because of:

  • UNCLEAR TITLES & DESCRIPTIONS: You find a file titled ‘Sales_Presentation_032116.pptx’ with no description explaining the purpose, why it was uploaded, or how you might be able to use it. Is it still current? Can you share it outside of your company with a prospect?
  • MULTIPLE VERSIONS: You find four versions of what seems like similar content, but each one is slightly different. Which one is the most current?
  • YOU FEEL LIKE AN OUTSIDER: You find a blog post riddled with acronyms and insider references and no links to more basic overview information that will help you get up to speed. References are made to other content without hyperlinking to it, assuming you know how to find it.

When you are creating your content, avoid these common mistakes by remembering it is NOT about you. Keep the eventual reader in mind so you inform and help rather than frustrate and cause friction.

Creating content can be intimidating.

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed and even intimidated when faced with sharing your expertise. You know how to write an email...you’ve been doing that for years. But creating content that has a longer shelf life and will be viewed by people you may not know seems a bit daunting. What should the title be? What the heck are tags and why should you use them? Where do you post the content once you write it? Will anyone be able to find it?

Most of us are not trained as digital marketers who are skilled at creating engaging online content or librarians who organize content so it can be easily found. Research by Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley found that many of us are wary of using social collaboration tools at work because we have only used social media with friends outside of work and find it unsettling to connect in this way professionally.

Content Creation Guiding Principles to Follow: Preparing to Publish

In my work advising individuals and teams to effectively share information and ideas outside of the silo in which they work, I have landed on some guiding principles for creating good content, regardless of the content management, community, or learning management system platform used. By good content, I mean that it can be easily found and consumed by people who need it, but also that it adds to the body of knowledge in the community without just adding more noise.

The principles listed below apply to the planning phase of creating content -- what to think about before you publish. NOTE: This post is not focused on writing well. See the Appendix below to find some writing and communications resources.

1. Search First: Avoid duplication and version control nightmares

In order to avoid creating yet another copy of something that already exists, I recommend searching to see if it has already been posted by someone else. Remember that it may be uploaded outside of the employee community, especially if it is intended for customers, partners, or other external audiences. Do a comprehensive search that includes not only the employee community but also other platforms where content is published, such as your company website, documentation, or other knowledge bases. This has the added benefit of connecting you to other people who care about the topic, enhancing your professional network.

  • Does the file already exist somewhere else? If so, include a link to it in what you plan to share rather than uploading a second copy. If you are writing about how to use a standard operating procedure, for example, just link to it rather than attaching it a second time.
  • Has someone else written similar content? Ask yourself how your content relates to or connects to her content. Can you add to what is already shared by just making a comment on it or asking to work with the author to enhance what is already posted?

Whenever possible, I recommend overwriting the older version of the file with a new version. In most systems, this will keep a unique URL and avoid having multiple versions in the system which frustrates people. Plus, there are often many links around the community pointing to the older version of the file. Keeping the same URL provides a better experience for the employees searching for it; they just want to get the most recent version and get on with their work. Once you update the file, then put a note in the description indicating what you changed and why. If you must keep the older version, then add a note to the description that points people to newer version.

2. Identify Your Audience

Too often, people start writing before figuring out who they are writing for and why.

  • Who is your primary audience? Will the content be used by all employees? By Sales? By Customer Support?
  • Is it specific to an office location, a country, or a Sales region?
  • Who else might be interested?
  • What do they need?
  • Why should they care?
  • What does a new employee who will find this in the future need to know about the topic?
  • What areas (sometimes called spaces, groups, or forums) in the community does your audience typically pay attention to? Who manages those areas?

If you aren’t sure how to answer these questions, go ask someone from the the group you are trying to reach. For example, what does a sales account manager need to know and care about in order to sell your product? Being clear on your audience and what they need will also help you figure out where to publish the content since there are typically many groups and departments spaces in an online community.

3. Think Globally

The content you are about to publish fits into a larger ecosystem. Imagine you are a non-native English speaker from a different department or a new employee who came from a different industry.

  • Avoid acronyms or spell out the full phrase and then put the acronym in parentheses. For example: General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  • Make dates universal. Put dates in this format: March 9, 2018 (not 3/9/18 -- this means September 3, 2018 in most of the world but in the US it means March 9).
  • Connect the dots for your colleagues. When you search to see if there is similar content already published as discussed in principle #1 above, include the related resources you found by linking to them in a Related Resources section. Make it easy for people to go beyond what you have posted to learn more.
  • Ask for feedback before posting. Does your blog or document make sense by itself? You (the expert) are often too close to a topic to know the answer to that question. Ask someone from another department or country for feedback. I asked my husband, a former high school science teacher, to read this blog post as my last reviewer. He has very little context for this topic and made some great suggestions.

What’s in it for you?

Why take a few extra minutes to follow the guiding principles outlined above?

If informing and helping people with your excellent content rather than frustrating them is not motivation enough, do it to save time. Who wants to answer the same question over and over again because your content is unclear, can’t be found, or remains on your hard drive?

But better yet, creating good content and sharing your knowledge can help your career. People who take the time to create good content are often recognized as experts in the organization.

Sharing your expertise in well-crafted online content may require building new digital literacy skills; think of this as a development opportunity.

What else do you want to know?

What do you need help with related to creating content and reaching your audience? Reply below to share ideas for future posts or ask questions. Creating content and sharing expertise is an art, not a science, so I welcome differing opinions or other ways of thinking about this.

___________________________________

Related Article

IA before AI: How to go beyond search to build a knowledge hub (added January 2019)

References

Leonardi, P., & Neeley, T. (2017). What Managers Need to Know About Social Tools: Avoid the Common Pitfalls so That Your Organization Can Collaborate, Learn, and Innovate. Harvard Business Review, 95(6), 118–126.

Heitin, L. (2016, November 08). What Is Digital Literacy? Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/09/what-is-digital-literacy.html

Appendix

Writing & Internal Communication Resources

The focus of this post is not about how to write well to get your ideas across. This is an important piece of the puzzle. Here are some resources to help you brush up on writing skills, some of which I found via Penny Gralewski, a colleague who shared them in our employee community.

Online Communities / Enterprise Social Networks Resources

Online employee communities are referred to as social intranets, enterprise social networks (ESN), or collaboration hubs. They are web-based, collaborative platforms that include features such as content/file management, online forums, blogging, micro-blogging, ideation, gamification. These communities help new employees onboard more quickly, facilitate internal communications, and help employees learn at their own pace as they search and find information. They typically contain areas for teams to work together as well as channels for delivering news and information. Many serve both as an intranet where departments share “official” content as well employee/user-generated content. Learn more:

Thank You

I would like to thank Thyra Nast, a student in the MS in Learning and Organizational Change (MSLOC) program at Northwestern University, for her support. She has been my coach over the past 8 weeks and has helped me carve out time for writing and sharing my expertise, a goal I set for myself for 2018.

A huge hat tip goes out to colleagues from Commvault, The Community Roundtable network, and MSLOC who gave me feedback on drafts of this post that helped me clarify my audience and simplify my message: Tracy Maurer, Eliza Mixon, Sally Jacobs, Rachel Happe, Patty McEnany, Kelly Ross, Hillary Boucher, Sarah Mahon, Lori Harrison-Smith, Cristina Scudder, Michael Fasulo, and Keri Kersten.

Photos


Corinna Škėma Snyder, PhD

User Experience Researcher and Design Thinking facilitator

5y

Keeley - this is so timely for a project I am working on now - thank you for publishing!

Michael Kessler

Org Design and Product @ Deloitte

6y

This is a great post! To answer your questions, I definitely think the ideas you outline matter. They're all about serving the community -- which is a great way to frame knowledge sharing. Yet I imagine the first suggestion -- "Search First" -- is a challenging behavior to encourage among users. The subsequent set of suggestions can be framed as "What you can do to make sure your content can be understood." That's a great question for a content creator to ask. However, "Search First" requires the content creator to ask "Is my content even necessary." Also a great question to ask. However, to me, it's a different type of impulse compared to the creative impulse. I would compare "Search First" to recycling. Intellectually we can agree that sustainability is a great thing for the planet. But how many folks that claim to value sustainability follow through and commit to recycling, energy conservation, reduced consumption, etc. I don't mean to sound negative or skeptical. Rather, I think that those of us that value knowledge sharing are now challenged to ensure our communities are incentivized to make "Search First" second nature.

Cameron Marceau

President, Media Consultant at Hand-Eye Media

6y

Well considered, valuable content is the toughest conversation I have with clients. Thanks for sharing

Scott Brown

Manager - Tech Productivity & Collaboration Global Product Development & Supply

6y

Excellent advice... and I've lived this all and seen first hand how enterprise social can add great value to an organization, and also where it fails. Once communities begin to nose-dive, it's incredibly difficult to adjust, re-purpose and revitalize, so your early comments regarding the planning are critical, and even the best plan and use case not "gardened" can easily wind up on that chopping block. Also critical, is; once an outdated process is moved to an enterprise social platform (I know Jive inside and out), the old process must be shut down and no longer an option (obviously after successful proof (s) of concept, stakeholder approvals, training, etc. Keeping the old process will only be duplicative, "another place to go", and those that are still on the fence about enterprise social, you'd give them an "out" and they will migrate back to old, bad practices. Just my "5" cents... but an outstanding article you've provided and I hope folks heed your sound advice.

Ivan Guillermo Orozco Arias

General Manager | Sales Analytics Manager | Chief Information Officer | IT Product Manager | Scrum Master | Knowledge Manager

6y

¡Muy buen artículo! Thanks for sharing this useful knowledge based on real needs inside organizations.

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