EP34: How to Start a Movement with Author of Purposeful, Jennifer Dulski

10/16/19 • 14 min

Jennifer Dulski has had a legendary career, she has worked in senior positions for Yahoo, Google, Change.org and was previously the Head of Groups & Community at Facebook . Not to mention founding DealMaps which was acquired by Google. She recently launched her new book “Purposeful: Are You a Manager or a Movement Starter” which breaks down how to build a movement around your cause and community. In this interview we talk about just that and her favorite example of people and brands that have created a movement, how it applies to community professionals and so much more. Take a listen!

To Long; Didn't Listen

Jen touched on a topic from her book called “The 5 Stages of Engagement” (more on her book here), which starts with denial and ends with engagement. She shared how Virgin America enlisted the help of their customers to petition for a new runway for them! The morale of the story is to listen to your customers and learn how to engage them in a way that serves you brand and your customers.
She also shared the unusual community Starbucks has called “The Leaf Rakers Society”, a group of people who are enthusiastic about fall. Jen showed it’s a great example of a company just supports and isn’t overbearing which allows people to build a surprisingly deep connection. If you’re building a community, you can consider using this to create a community associated with your brand that will create a richer connection than a help forum.
During her time at Facebook they conducted a survey and found that communities with a true, deep connection usually contain 3 things. The first was intentional time in that group, actively engaging with posts (not just lurking) and being connected with one another. If you’re able to build a community the specifically goes to your group and not only engages but become friends with others in the group chances you will have a very dedicated community!

To Long; Didn't Listen

Jen touched on a topic from her book called “The 5 Stages of Engagement” (more on her book here), which starts with denial and ends with engagement. She shared how Virgin America enlisted the help of their customers to petition for a new runway for them! The morale of the story is to listen to your customers and learn how to engage them in a way that serves you brand and your customers.
She also shared the unusual community Starbucks has called “The Leaf Rakers Society”, a group of people who are enthusiastic about fall. Jen showed it’s a great example of a company just supports and isn’t overbearing which allows people to build a surprisingly deep connection. If you’re building a community, you can consider using this to create a community associated with your brand that will create a richer connection than a help forum.
During her time at Facebook they conducted a survey and found that communities with a true, deep connection usually contain 3 things. The first was intentional time in that group, actively engaging with posts (not just lurking) and being connected with one another. If you’re able to build a community the specifically goes to your group and not only engages but become friends with others in the group chances you will have a very dedicated community!

Previous Episode

EP33: Radical Candor for Community Professionals w/ Kim Scott

Kim Scott has changed not just the entire tech industry but work culture globally. She is the author of the best selling book “Radical Candor” which pioneered a new way to communicate by caring personally but also challenging directly. She’s had a legendary career which inspired the book. At Google she led the AdSense, YouTube, and Doubleclick Online Sales efforts, then she went to Apple to develop their leadership seminar.

In this interview we break down how to use Radical Candor to get resources for community, the art of storytelling, her own community around Radical Candor and so much more.

To Long; Didn't Listen

Radical Candor became a cultural phenomenon, Kim shared that ultimately it took off on it’s own but did share 2 reasons that helped it explode. The first was that she was vulnerable and shared embarrassing stories she learned from (quoting Brene Brown’s “The Power of Vulnerability). The second was that she put a simple structure to an unarticulated idea (the Radical Candor Framework) which gave people words to what they felt but could never describe.
Kim shared that if you are a community professional looking to get buy-in for your community program you should look at them as a fellow human and not a tyrant to be toppled. Then both ask for honest feedback to genuinely improve and find the things you appreciate about them and communicate with them. After some time, approach them by asking if you can be radically candid with them and share your vision for your community program.
When measurement fails Kim suggested not just finding stories but fine tuning them to communicate your point. If you can measure something, find a story that supports your point that could get people to support your vision where they might not have otherwise.

Next Episode

EP35: How Salesforce Grew to 1k Local Community Groups

Former VP of Community at Salesforce Erica Kuhl joins us on this episode, Erica started the Trailblazer at Salesforce which has become the gold standard of both online and offline community. This is one of those episodes that you need to relisten to with a notepad because there are that many strategies we covered. We will talk about the key to growing an in-person community, building a community team, the best metrics for community and so much more. Take a listen!

To Long; Didn’t Listen

How did Salesforce get to 1,000 in person groups? Erica thought the biggest contributing factors were that they made it very low friction to become a leader (especially in the beginning). They also made sure that they had onboarding materials and tools to give them when they become a leader in order to make them effective. As far as attracting them the leaders being apart of the brand was huge, tie leaders into your brand as much as possible. A great way to do that is with swag, titles and even rewards they can earn by hosting more events, getting more attendees etc.
One thing most people haven’t touched on is C2C communities will create tons of content for your brand with local leaders hosting in person events. Both that could recorded but also, as Erica pointed out, as a means of people finding out how to use the tool better which reduces how much customer support they need.
Erica shared some incredible metrics that her the Trailblazer community generated, here’s what she shared: Deals from the community have 2.5x more pipeline, 2x larger deals, 35% higher product adoption, they stay a customer for 3x longer (share these with your boss)!