4 Essentials of Talent Communities The Content Hub - Workology

4 Essentials of Talent Communities The Content Hub - Workology Understanding Content the Digital Content Strategy This is Part 2 of a 4 part series on Talent Communities.  In Part 1, we discussed that  Talent Communities have   four basic pillars for success:  commitment, strategy, content, and membership its as simple as that.  Yet its simplicity is somewhat duplicitous as what comprises each pillar is complex.  Whats the saying the devils in the details?  When it comes to creating successful online communities; success lies largely in the details. Understanding Content the Digital Content Strategy CONTENT “Thirty spokes share one hub.  Make the nothing therein appropriate, and you will have the use of the cart.” ~Tao Te Ching It is the center hub of the wheel that makes it work; because it is that which allows room for the axle that it rotates upon.  Without the space of the center hub, regardless of the strength in numbers provided by the spokes; the cart is useless the axle cannot connect and so the cart will not move.  In terms of the online community and your overall digital strategy; the center hub is the content.  Content on its own is nothing, really; but properly consistently applied within the community creates the axle that make appropriate the space: conversations.  Conversations serve as the friction that keeps the wheel turning; making the cart  useful  for its members allowing you the use (purpose) for which it was created. When considering content types, its not nearly enough to get members to  consume  (read) what you put out; it needs to compel members to actively  talk about what was shared.  Ideally, content should be complex enough to drive open-ended discussion; nothing much can be gleaned from a bunch of  yes/no responses.  One of the markers of a community is that members must be able to benefit from each other; ostensibly through conversation.  While news stories are interesting, and company happenings make sense; the  most compelling content is content about the community itself.   Develop Distribute Content for a Talent Community This can be done in several ways: Sharing content created by or about community members Holding events on- offline then reporting on them in the community Creating debates that surround processes, best practices, etc on various roles or functions held by the community members (eg: Six Sigma Processes, Recruitment Strategy, Management Consulting in Leadership, HR Business-Line Partners vs Centralized HR Generalists, etc Actively write the community into the content you create/share for the community.  Rather than simply share content about a topic or relevant news piece; interview members within the community on their opinions or how it affects them Let Logic Drive Your Online Recruiting Community If the purpose around the community is to attract Talent; then the next logical step is to use discussions that stem from content as an opportunity to evaluate written communication skills, behavioral response patterns, etc.  Question/Answer topics are excellent for this purpose; some examples include: Problem Solving.    People, in general, like to show off knowledge.  Present a problem ask for help solving it.  Another spin on this is the How Would You Deal With  [Insert Topical Story Here]; allowing members to give their take on  how to handle things. Recommendations.  Asking peoples opinions or reviews on various services, technologies, org structures, etc. is another great way to not only gain insight on your community members; but tends to spur good responses conversation as well (as long as its not constantly asking reviews on  your  products or services; which will just come off as sales-ish). More Hypothetical Situations.    The trick to getting people to respond in droves to these sorts of conversation starters lies in controversy.  Slightly subversive, progressive, and firebrand topics are fantastic because members of the community wont all be in agreement on them.  Again, this is good because if everyone agreed then it wouldnt be much of a discussion; just take care to avoid  divisive  topics (eg: religion, politics, highly sensitive morality issues such as abortion). Is [this] really better than [that?] or Is failure imminent without [x, y, or z]?  or , for example, Is having the boss away the X Factor driving success in todays remote workforce or do the mice really still just play? are good examples of this type of conversation starter. By following these guidelines and checking out Talent  Communities  Part 3 of this blog series on 6/7/12 on Membership.  (check out part 1)  you’ll help keep the talent in your  talent community  interested in coming back for the long-haul. Crystal Miller, known on Twitter as @theonecrystal is a builder of talent communities, addicted to Instagram, and avid social recruiter who also co-hosts a weekly radio show called #TalentNet. Visit her blog,  TheOneCrystal.com  to learn more.