Izzy Neis’ Post

Let's talk community management (again) -- but a fun topic "gamification". We've seen between 60-80% increase in engagement, 10-50% decrease in nefarious content, and a 40-70% increase in sentiment. I think about Gamification development like this: Individual gamification: Feature like leaderboards and badging, are a hour to hour, day to day impact. Individual gamification drives retention, DAU, healthy competition, and supports experiential purpose. Group gamification: Featured events like scavenger hunts, contests, and tournaments, are a biweekly, monthly, quarterly impact - planned tactically (not not overkill). Group gamification invites invokes group purpose, collaborative challenges, and emits a sense of energy to ignite community. It helps MAU, amplification, re-energizes the passing of time, and drives appropriate behaviors. Community gamification: We're talking "the whole kitten kaboodle" here, something impactful -- and thoughtfully planned quarterly or semiannually or annually. Featured campaigns like charity events (think "Extra Life"), amplification CTAs, and thematic changes (holidays, etc) give the community a sense of world purpose and greater togetherness. It's excellent for amplification, recruitment, PR, DAU, MAU, YAU, and empowers the communities beyond fandom into a shared mission. Community should always have a baseline expectation... and it's imperative to consider a timeline that grows and reverts like a heartbeat on a monitor -- because that's what community is... the lifeline with beautiful ebbs and flows, and systems that feed, support, reward, and acknowledge on a rotating, scheduled, and surprise roadmap. Building something that creates retention, trust, supports safety, drives activity and excitement, and supports healthy ROI -- and while all of that supports business objectives... the best is when REAL people create magic from within our community formats, developing positive core memories from excellent experiences. Ugh, I love this job. #Community #Gamification #CommunityManagement

We're a little more than a week out from TRUSTCON! I'm looking forward to new insights, swapping tales, and huggin' it out with old and new friends. Also -- if anyone is up for a good ole ramble about "Design by Safety" and the collaboration between T&S and Community Development -- my entire trip will be made. DM me, and let’s grab a coffee or a beer. P.S. Not at TrustCon but definitely in the Bay Area from July 22-24, let’s catch up! I miss my old stomping grounds (can't wait for Bernie's Coffee on 24th in Noe). #TrustCon2024 #TrustAndSafety #CommunityManagement

Brands were not invited to the delightfully silly “gnome vs knights” war on TikTok. They’re getting solid engagement but receiving a sort of disappointed dissent in comments and recap videos (even fan-loved Duolingo & scrubdaddy). Brand involvement seems to be taking the authentic fun out of the whimsy - jumpin’ the shark. That said, I love weird collaborative culture. If you want to know more, it’s all based on content created by Tiktoker Crawly who gently razzes real stores (Starbucks, H&M) and exploded over the 4th of July with fan inspired involvement taking the position of gnome or knight (or mermaid or snail or wizard, etc). Check out the “gnomesvsknights” hashtags or search out content tagging Crawly. Happy Sunday!

With the continued growth & attention (deservedly) surrounding Roblox and Fortnite - particularly with how brands are integrating into virtual & game destinations for youth (additionally, how the version of "self" and identification is perceived through avatars/personalization), I thought to myself... "Izzy, let's share some of our old game/VW avatars." Friday Challenge: See if you can remember WHICH game or site you can match the avatar to...

We build communities -- and frankly, we've seen it all. If you're building a community, here's some tips to the wise (I always dig into this stuff w/ clients to help as every bit impacts success): 1. Have a clean vision of what the experience is and map out the potential experiences on a good day, bad day, boring day, engaged day, activation or campaign day, and quiet day. And really think about id, ego, and super ego - and "why on earth would people hang out here?" <-- and never shy away from revisiting this info. 2. Work with marketing and devs to track the registration process - barriers to entry, test messaging, identify the first 2-10 minute experience, and highlight where "rewards" are introduced (rewards are different for everyone, see #1). 3. Start thinking about your new user experience, your active purpose, your long-term draw, and be honest with yourself on your user lifespan (including the lurkers and lost). Think about the target audiences you have, and what the experience is doing for people (the chatty and the quiet, the curious and the fans, etc). And from here on out - as community develops - do your best to consider these folks in content and event creation. 4. Build a sort of baseline structure for "feeding" and "rewarding" your community, and then puzzle that together with both: a) tentpole events - small, medium, large, and b) thematic passing of time and community culture. 5. One avenue is never enough. A forum, social, live streams, videos, contests -- figure out how to build a community that has multiple points of interest and entry, and continues to delight and connect. 6. Build micro community support systems - from Ambassadors to Creators, these folks help evangelize and role model. 7. Community needs to be completely in step with marketing, social media, T&S, and CS. Let's all take a moment to think about a Venn Diagram, and all agree we need to live respectfully in the middle. 8. The small moments are as big as the campaigns. A smart engagement plan incorporates many facets of community behavior and culture --> and yes, is capable of blowing up like a landmine if tone def to the rest of the world. 9. Moderation includes messaging, clear rules, consistency, and an understanding of a) content review, b) account review, c) situationally flagged content & investigations, d) results & messaging & follow-ups, e) support information (particularly around mental health), f) community & trend investigations, g) behavior management, tracking, and KPIs, h) redirection programs, etc. 10. Brand investment --> product teases, BTS, creators/dev interactions, communication roadmaps for campaigns, consistent updates, advance insights, events, influencer engagement -- ALSO, while the brand is the brand and should be treated with consistency and respect, allowing for lore and community adaption in a healthy manner that allows for deeper respect and investment. And more - ping me if you want to chat "more"! (Ran out of space)