I love being part of the DC Technology community.  It’s so great to spend time with local tech entrepreneurs.   In all that time, one thing continually amazes me… so many don’t understand that if you want to get something out of a community, you have to give first.

To quote Gary Vaynerchuk, you have to give give give till your face falls off.

If you go into a relationship and you just start asking for favors, people are going to think that you’re a douchebag.

Before you ask for something, you first have to ask how you can help others?   Isn’t this super basic stuff?  Yet, I hear it all the time!

Find a need that you can serve, jump in, and fill it.

As promised, I also did an interview with Mark Bebawy from TECHcocktail on community management.  I’m pretty psyched about it.  Check it out and let me know what you think…

3. What advice would you give someone who was thinking of adding the position to their organization?
First, a Community Manager is the face for your company to a whole lot of your user base. It’s a job that’s way bigger than hiring some really green college sophomore who’s going to setup and monitor your Facebook page. Take hiring this position seriously. Don’t settle.

Second, when looking for a Community Manager, look within your own user base. Who’s your most passionate customer? A Community Manager needs to be able to communicate for the company but more importantly empathize with the needs of the customer.

So… we have all these great tools like blogs, Twitter, and Facebook at our disposal.  They allow us to build these large communities around our thoughts and ideas which is amazing.

What’s the best book that shows you how to use these tools to build that community?

We have plenty of books on the phenomenon of social media and what it brings to the table.  We have lots of books on how to use social media.  What are the best books on how to use the books to build community?

I want it to talk about things like…

• being a community manager/should i hire one
• finding your community members or ideal community members
• getting to know your community members
• loving your community
• growing your community
• measuring the effects of your community

Is there a book that covers these topics?

I’ve been having these amazing conversations with all these friends who aren’t in tech.  They are filmmakers, pastors, authors,  and musicians.  They want to use these tools to build community and I want to hand them something which is going to help point them in the right direction.

Part of my brain says, “Justin, you should write this book.”

Feels like I’ve been cruising through a lot of books lately.  I’m reading The Waiter Rant right now.  Prior to that,  I was reading As We Forgive, Ignore Everybody, and The Last Best Hope.

Every time, by the end of the book, I’d leave with the same feeling.  I was pumped.  The book got me feeling passionate about some issue.  Inevitably, I’d ask myself, “now what?”

Media, especially books, have this ability to catalyze people to action.   Every time someone puts down a book, walks out of a movie theater, listens to a CD, or reads a blog post, there is an opportunity.  If people like what they saw, they’ll be like “give me some more of where that came from” or “how do I continue the conversation?”

All too often there’s nothing.

I don’t know where you all stand politicly but I conservatively minded when it comes to politics and have been incredibly frustrated with the current state of the Republican party.  When I read Joe Scarborough’s book The Last Best Hope, I was pumped.   I wanted to find other people who espoused these same values so that we could come together and get something done.  But there was nothing.

I’ve been a long time fan of the band Iron & Wine.  I’ve bought just about every CD they’ve produced.  If they came to the DC area in concert, I’d probably be there front row.  Here’s the kicker.  They did come to the DC area and I didn’t know about.   After the many CDs that I’ve purchased, there has never been a way to tap in for more.

I don’t know about everyone else but when I find media I like, I don’t just want this singular experience.  I want some more.   I wanna connect with people who are just as excited as I am.

Everyone makes it so stinking hard.

As a community manager, one of the most important things that I learned is that you have to be accessible.  This time, when I talk about being accessible, I’m not talking about making the Web accessible to people with disabilities.  I’m talking about being available and easily reachable.

When I was in college, my major had all these great computer labs with all the latest state of the art equipment.  The guy in charge of the Networking Lab was my Freshmen orientation teacher.   He was telling us about how he was getting ready to select the next set of graduate assistants that would work in the labs and help undergrad students with their home work.

He told us about how he wanted the grad assistants in the labs to be known amongst the undergrads.  He’d post photos and schedules of the grad assistants all over the building.  He wanted to makes sure that if we ever had a question that we knew who we could ask for help.

I talk to a lot of folks who work at companies that want to build these great customer communities but they setup all these walls so that their customers have to jump through hoops in order to get in touch with them.  That is stupid.

You have to be accessible.  You can’t form a relationship with someone… You can’t connect with someone if you can’t find each other.

So…you want users to send you feedback about how you can improve your product but you make them fill out this ominous looking contact form.  It looks like one of those deep whole in the earth that you can’t see the bottom of.  You’re going to put in your message and then never have anyone get in touch with you.

Put your person e-mail address on your Web site.  Spam filters have advanced A LOT in the last few years.  I hardly ever get spam and you’d have to be really bad at using the Web to not be able to find my e-mail address.

There are some companies that even have a phone number on their Web site, where you can call them and talk to a real person.  Shocking…

I put my photo on our company Web site. (click the link and scroll to the bottom of the page)

Travel and go to conferences that your users may be at.  Blog about going there.  Put a note about it in your company newsletter.  When you’re at the conference, Twitter about where you are so that folks can find you easily.

Finally, institute an open door policy.  I remember we had these in college in our dorm room.  The RA’s wanted us to keep the doors to our rooms open so that folks could stop on by and you’d make more friends.  It sounded silly but it worked.

Have an open door policy at your office.  Encourage folks to stop by and say hi.  It’s easy to know when I am and I’m not at the office.  I love having folks over to the office for lunch.   We keep our beer fridge pretty well stocked.  We have a killer espresso machine.  There’s nothing better then being able to sit down and chat with someone in person.  After a while, you get tired of sending e-mail.

In closing, it’s funny to me about how much folks want to build community and build relationships with their users but they don’t actually want to be close to anyone.  They don’t want to jump in and get their hands dirty.  There is no other way to do it.

Community managers often will compare the trade of building community to dating.  You’re never going to get to kiss the girl, if all you do is just look through the glass.  You have to be willing to go up, say hi, and introduce yourself.

So… go.  Put yourself out there.  Make relationships.  Build community.

Back in college, Facebook was still relatively new on the world stage and folks were still discovering how they could use it the best way possible.  Well, there were a chunk of a that were obsessed with the poke functionality where you could poke someone else.  We had these massive poking wars.

Well, the other day,  I was in Facebook and I got thinking about poking.   While the task may seem inane at first, there is actually something really cool about it.  What you’re saying when you poke someone is “Hey, I’m thinking about you right now and I wanted  you to know about it.”

In Facebook, you see this type of interaction in other ways.  You can “like” something that someone has posted to their Wall.  You can comment on something that somone has posted.  You can post something on someone else’s wall.

When you do one of these things to a person, you’re telling them that you’re thinking about them and that you read their stuff.  They’re special to you.  They’re worth your attention.  You want to stay connected with them.

No one likes the feeling when they post something or share something that they’re posting it into a vacuum and no one will actually read it.  When you get that feedback or that interaction, it makes you feel special because someone to that time out of their day just for you.  It makes you want to share more.

These small interactions… these small touches help you maintain your social capital with your relationships. When you have social capital with someone, if you don’t stay in touch with them, the social capital… the desire to want to go of your way to help that person starts to have a shelf life.  It’s too easy for things to become “out of sight… out of mind.”

When you have a relationship that’s built on trust,  it’s important to do those small things which show the person that you continue to care about them and take interest in them.

It’s not all on Faceebook either.  If you read someone’s blog, take 2 seconds and write a comment like “cool post.” If you travel a lot, pick up a gift from that country for a friend of yours.

How have you been blessed by a small touch, interaction, or poke?