1. GovDelivery
Motivating an Online Community
February 16, 2012
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2. Your Presenters
Lauren Modeen Joseph Porcelli
Engagement Strategist Director
Engagement Services Engagement Services
@exilauren @josephporcelli
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3. What Motivates an
Online Community?
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4. A Brief History of Motivation
Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy of needs:
most basic needs at
the bottom
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5. A Brief History of Motivation
B.F. Skinner
o People are motivated by rewards
o Belief in reinforcement + punishing
o Reinforcement = increase in likelihood behavior is repeated
o Punishment = decrease in likelihood behavior is repeated
Example = parent
gives screaming
kid candy
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6. A Brief History of Motivation
Steven Reiss
o Believed motivation dependent on an individual’s desires
o Believes 16 basic desires guide nearly all human behavior:
• Acceptance, the need for approval • Physical activity, the need for exercise
• Curiosity, the need to learn • Power, the need for influence of will
• Eating, the need for food • Romance, the need for sex
• Family, the need to raise children • Saving, the need to collect
• Honor, the need to be loyal to the • Social contact, the need for friends (peer
traditional values of one's relationships)
clan/ethnic group • Social status, the need for social
• Idealism, the need for social justice standing/importance
• Independence, the need for • Tranquility, the need to be safe
individuality • Vengeance, the need to strike back/to win
• Order, the need for
organized, stable, predictable
environments
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7. A Brief History of Motivation
Albert Bandura
o Coined the term “self-efficacy” to describe motivation
o Self-efficacy is defined as the belief that one is capable of performing
in a certain manner to attain a certain set of goals.
If one has high If one’s self- If one’s self-
self- efficacy is efficacy is
efficacy, he lower than his higher than his
believes he will ability, he won’t ability and he
complete the be motivated to fails, decrease
task no matter try at first in motivation
what
Also important is his idea of social learning: people will repeat
behaviors they see others do if they see there is a reward
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8. Motivation Engagement
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9. Opportunity or Problem
MOTIVATION:
What’s in it for me, people, or
organizations I care about that
doesn’t already exist
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10. Important to Note in Online Communities
• Don’t make assumptions
• Determine needs/interests and habits/preferences
• Align strategies/tactics in support of motivation findings
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11. Engagement Funnel
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12. Tactical Ways to Motivate
1. Content
Respond to all content
Cross-Post member content
Make it engaging content
− Regular topical blog or series
− Featured community partner of week
− Featured project of week
− Photo or video of the day
− Help ramp up blogging w/ some basic
hand-holding
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13. Tactical Ways to Motivate
2. Communicate
Email newsletters
daily or weekly –
do it OFTEN
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14. Tactical Ways to Motivate
3. Groups 4. In-Person Activities
Foster groups: maintains In-person activities: physical
the “big fish in a small interactions foster connections. Post
pong” mentality event, send out an email to all
participants with pictures and a recap.
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15. Tactical Ways to Motivate
5. Recognition 7. Leaderboards
6. Member of the Week
8. Rewards
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16. Community 1: GovLoop
GovLoop.com Activity
Challenge: millions of government
employees working on similar
issues…but how do they connect?
Opportunity: knowledge network
where government employees
connect, learn and share: real-time
+ repository.
Our Role: founded, built, and
manage GovLoop.com the
“Facebook for Government.”
Impacts: connecting 55,000
government employees to solve
problems together.
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17. Community 2: FEMA’s Ready.Gov
Community.Fema.gov Activity
Challenge: approaching National
Preparedness Month, FEMA
needed an online space to register
and organize thousands of citizens
and FEMA coordinators.
Opportunity: build online hub to
encourage citizens, public safety
organizations, businesses, and faith
based partners to educate and
empower each other to prepare for
and respond to emergencies
including natural and man-made
disasters.
Our Role: built on our GovDelivery
Collaboration Platform, we ignited
and managed the network and
provided the digital strategy.
Impacts: nearly 9,000 members
joined, 1,550 messages posted, and
1,377 calendar events created.
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18. Community 3: Neighbors for Neighbors
NeighborsforNeighbors.org Activity
Challenge: connect disconnected
neighbors and their civil servants to
enable collaboration and action.
Opportunity: build an online
community providing citizens a
soundboard for their ideas, and a
springboard for action with the goal
of reducing crime, increasing
adoption of services, and improving
quality of life.
Our Role: built and manage the first
urban social network connecting
thousands of Boston citizens to
each other and their civil servants.
Impacts: increased engagement
and service, reduced crime, and
improved quality of life for citizens.
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19. THANK YOU!
Joseph Porcelli Lauren Modeen
Director, Engagement Services Engagement Strategist
GovDelivery GovDelivery
857.222.4420 Lauren.Modeen@govdelivery.com
Joseph.Porcelli@govdelivery.com
Twitter @josephporcelli Twitter @exilauren
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