Off-Site Meeting #1" was held to share knowledge of fan community operators.

On April 22, 2021, we held the "Off-Site Meeting #1" online, inviting 8 corporate community management representatives from 7 companies to discuss several issues in the management of fan community sites.

Background of the event

eLifeIn the past few years, we have seen an increase in interest in "community sites as fan marketing," and we have received an increasing number of inquiries about this topic. The people in charge of the actual operation of these websites are constantly dealing with their fans through a variety of measures and trial-and-error.

We often hear that "websites are living things," but in the case of community websites in particular, various issues arise because they are places that aim to foster fans and interactive communication. In fact, surprisingly, it often seems to be a common concern regardless of management experience or industry.

How do other companies operate?"
Is the current KPI sufficient? I want to refer to other projects.
I want to try new measures and collaboration with other companies.

In response to the requests from the corporate representatives, we held "Off-Site Meeting #1" as an informal knowledge-sharing and discussion session. We proceeded based on the questions we asked those who expressed an interest in attending in advance and the topics of most interest, but as a result, the discussion was so intense that the scheduled one and a half hours were not enough time to discuss them.

We hope that this event will be helpful to those who are in the same position or facing the same issues as us. We summarize the day's events and contents for the benefit of those who are in the same position or facing the same issues.

List of participating companies CO-OPDELI CONSUMERS’ CO-OPERATIVE UNION.Mr. K.K. Kurokawa,TIGER CORPORATION, NISHIKAWA Co., Ltd.,Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.,Maruha Nichiro Corporation,Mitsubishi Jisho Property Management, Inc.Morinaga＆Co., Ltd.Dear (Alphabetical order, titles omitted in the following text) (The number of participants was limited by lottery so that we could have as open a discussion as possible. We received many requests for participation, and 8 persons from the above 7 companies participated on the day.)

 

Theme1 - KPI design in fan community management

While it is required to correctly set KGI and KPI for measures and projects, we have found that corporate staff members are particularly concerned about goal setting, effectiveness measurement, and internal reporting in the management of fan communities. Below are some of the specific interactions.

Q: What are the kpis that should be tracked in the community?

A1: Recently, we have consistentlyused "NPS( NetPromoters Score ) *1 " as our most important indicator. This is because we have found over the course of several years of operation that community participants tend to purchase more products and recommend them to others. *1 NPS (Net Promoters Score) is an indicator that consumers themselves like and recommend the brand.

A2: Since we are aiming for a ripple effect from highly enthusiastic fans, we consider loyalty ≒ activity intensity and place the main focus on the "number of actions (posts, comments, etc.)".
A3: Since we had just started up, we placed the number of members first. Surprisingly, the number was quickly achieved, and we are now considering future development.
A4: In the first year since its launch, we have the impression that core fans are beginning to gather. The challenge for the future is to expand to more light fans.

The results of the discussion showed that, despite differences in industry and project objectives, "Communities grow with their users. The discussion results showed that, despite differences in industry and project objectives, "Communities grow along with their users. As long as the goal is consistent, KPIs can change as well. As long as the goal is consistent, KPIs can change as well.

Theme2 - Online Communication Tips - What is the best distance with fans?

In a community site that is built and grown together with fans, it is especially important to increase user loyalty. The key to this is "communication with users". Communication with the users" is the axis of such a community site. Here, too, we heard many comments from actual management experience, including one employee who has personally appeared in the contents and another who has yet to find a good sense of distance from the users.

Q: As a "middle man" on the community management side, what kind of distance do you maintain?

A1: We are thoroughly showing our faces at online events and in our regular postings. We feel that having a familiar face at events makes people happy and increases the sense of familiarity.
A2: We are looking for ways to make the community more unique to our company, such as having professionals from other departments within the company appear in the community and reply to comments.

Also particularly impressive was the statement 'What we operate is a place for all of our fans. Many of them are already fond of us, and I have recently felt that there is no need to be afraid of direct communication. said the person in charge of the project.

However, for companies that have just started fan-making, everything can be zero-based.
Here are some questions and answers for companies that are successfully communicating with their core fans.

Q: What are some of the ways in which you are trying to boost the various policies and regular activities?

A: At online events, where it tends to be more difficult to speak up than in real life, we make sure to divide the group into smaller rooms and make sure that employees are always present, and we also make sure that people can communicate through chat rooms. We also try to avoid getting stuck in a rut by planning events according to interest on a case-by-case basis

In this discussion, both companies that have regular contact with their customers and those that do not will We learned that there are valuable discoveries to be gained by stepping out and communicating with customers. We learned that there are valuable discoveries to be gained by stepping out and communicating with customers.

Theme3 - What can be the biggest challenge, especially? How to gain internal recognition & understanding

One of the top three concerns that we often hear from those in a position to manage community websites is "internal recognition and understanding. For various reasons, such as organizational structure and systems, it is often the case that other departments are not aware of or cannot utilize community websites at all. In this session, such sensitive situations were actively discussed.


Q: What are you doing for internal recognition?

A1: We held explanatory meetings for all departments and made persistent efforts to inform employees about the program.
A2: We have put up introductory leaflets in places where employees can see them, but we have not yet fully spread awareness of the site.
A3: Trial and error is underway to spread awareness of the site to those who have contact with customers, for example, by adding an introduction to the site to training for new employees.
A4: Involvement of other departments in the monitoring and survey programs has actually spread by word of mouth within the company as a way to obtain useful customer feedback.
A5: By having them participate in online events as supporters, we have increased their understanding. We would like to further expand awareness in the future.


The past year has been a time of major changes in the position of corporate digital initiatives themselves due to the Corona Disaster, but it has also created opportunities to communicate with customers more easily online. One of the participants in this year's event received an internal award for a digital project that had just begun, and the attention of the company was immediately drawn to the project.

It was especially refreshing to see that, in this theme, there were many points that we shared with each other, despite the fact that the participants were from completely different business categories. It wasn't limited to departments or positions. Involving a wide range of people within the company may be a shortcut to maximizing the use of owned platforms, including community sites, as a corporate asset. This may be a shortcut to maximize the use of community sites and other owned platforms as a corporate asset.

 

Participant's voice

Here are some of the comments we received from the participants this time. eLifeWe were very happy to hear from the participants, as we had hoped that they would take something away from the event, even if only a little, since they were busy with their work.

KPIs have been a source of concern for me, so it was very good to hear about each company's thinking and initiatives.
It was a fast-paced one and a half hour session with concrete examples.
"Although we are from different industries, there were many common problems such as KPI and internal communication, so it was very helpful.
I was stimulated by the realistic opinions and advice. I would like to have a more in-depth discussion in a smaller group next time.
I would like to have a more in-depth discussion on a smaller scale next time. I would definitely like to have another discussion on a different theme.

Organizer's Postscript - Reflections on Offsite Meeting #1

Although this was the first off-site meeting, the exchange of ideas was more enthusiastic than we had expected, and we were able to get some hints that we can apply tomorrow. To our surprise, some of the companies are already planning to collaborate with each other. We also received requests for a second meeting with the same members, and we are now making arrangements for a second meeting with the same members.

eLifeWe will continue to hold meetings like this one, as well as various other events and information dissemination.
If you have any suggestions for topics you would like to discuss with other companies, please feel free to contact us!

Thank you for reading to the end.

■Related Information List of Participating Company Projects

Coop Deliche (CO-OPDELI CONSUMERS’ CO-OPERATIVE UNION.)
Tiger BottleTiger Forest ( TIGER CORPORATION)
Minna no Sleep Lab (NISHIKAWA Co., Ltd.)
trico (Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.)
Oishiine! （Oishiine!) ( Maruha Nichiro Corporation)
Marunouchi 15-chome PROJ e-commerce T. (Mitsubishi Jisho Property Management Co., Ltd.)
Angel Plus (Morinaga＆Co., Ltd.)

October 18, 2021, some images have been modified.