With MROCs (market research online communities), you should be realistic about user-generated content. After all, MROCs are not natural/organic communities of interest like Digg or LinkedIN. They also do not have a sole content-creating focus like Flickr or YouTube, so you have be more active in encouraging content creation in these environments. With this in mind, here are a few tips for encouraging content creation in your MROC:

1. Screen for creators

Only a portion of the general population are likely "content creators." However, you can strive to recruit people into your MROC that are more likely/willing to create content. They are generally more active on the most popular social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter), and have a history of creating content on these sites (e.g. posting group discussions, tweeting regularly, writing blog posts, sharing photo albums). Also, think about the attitudinal elements that make people likely creators.

2. Lead by example

As a community moderator, take the lead and write your own regular blogs (on-topic and off-topic), upload photos of your vacation, ride home from work, or even your office. Post a link to an on-topic article or some other piece of content to encourage conversation on a regular basis aside from your regular research activities.

3. React publicly & quickly

Reward and feature members that create content, and time this as close as you can to the original post time for maximum impact. If you have a points/rewards system, add points for these posts, or feature member content on the community main page. Also, post this content in a spot where the whole community can noticeably react to.

4. Incorporate special contests

Think about unique contests where you pick a winner from the community each month... how about a "funniest workplace moment", "book review" contest, "funniest blog" contest, or "best profile photo" contest.

5. Challenge members & assign tasks:

Consider ways to challenge members to solve problems over time. Split members into teams and have them discuss certain issues in groups, or even assign specific tasks (e.g. go shopping and share a blog of your experience) to get them in a habit of getting outside their comfort zone periodically. Small groups are also a great way to encourage connection and to get people to be more accountable.

- Ben

With community members available at your fingertips 24/7 (and a portion of your budget dedicated to a MROC), it can be tempting to want to launch as many topics relevant to internal customers as possible.  However, it's critical to balance moderated activities each day/week between topics relevant to your organization and topics relevant to the community members.

This may sound like a fairly obvious tip, but the temptation can be strong.  The risk is higher attrition rates among members, who become frustrated with the lack of attention to their needs and eventually leave.  

We recommend trying to keep a 2:1 ratio of company-relevant to member-relevant topics in order to ensure there is sustained interest from community members.  Otherwise, you'll end up spending more money and time constantly recruiting new members due to high attrition rates.

Just another tip from your friends at PluggedIN.  If you'd like more, check out our paper on "10 Tips for Creating Successful Online Research Communities."  Happy MROC'ing :-)

Last month we posted ideas about ways to go beyond surface level findings in market research online communities (MROCs) but we wanted to start a series of regular features about different ideas and tips for activities to run in your MROC.  This post is on perceptual mapping.

Traditionally, perceptual mapping is a common technique used in qualitative settings to get people to better articulate perceptions about a brand based on select attributes. This same technique can be employed in the online community setting using a simple image. Typically, there are two common ways to use perceptual mapping. Take a look at the two examples below.

The idea is fairly simple. The one-dimensional map requires the member to think about a single attribute, while the two-dimensional map requires the member to think about a combination of two attributes.

Create a visual based on your client brand/product, competitive set and related attributes. Then have members place each of the brands/products listed on the continuum and share "why" they placed it in the respective spot.

If you are not a design nut, no worries... visuals can easily be created in PPT (saved as a .jpeg) and they don't have to be advanced. You want to keep them fairly simple. The key is to really understand the rationale for placement on the map.

There are a lot of varieties of this type of mapping activity. We'll share some more ideas in the days/weeks to come! I'd love to hear about any variations that you have used in traditional or online sessions in the past.

- Ben

As many of the readers of this blog know, a major part of the moderator's role in research settings is to help people discuss experiences, feelings and memories in ways that go beyond surface level responses, given that people can have a hard time articulating these thoughts initially. Given this challenge, face-to-face moderators use a variety of techniques to go beyond surface level/rationalized responses and into the realm of emotions and drivers of decision making.  

However, these techniques change a bit in the online research setting...  Here are a few of the techniques (among others) we use in online research communities to help dig a bit deeper when we discuss experiences and feelings:  

• Incorporate images & props: Whenever we post discussions we try to include imagery that reflects the topic or the mood/feeling we are discussing. Also, we try to include other props to get people to visualize what we are asking. For example, we might use the image to the right when we are trying to get consumers to describe the "personalities" of the major wireless brands. I've found that simple/clean diagrams really do the job best.

• Break it down into steps: When talking about past experiences, encourage consumers to break their experience into different steps in separate discussions. Ask them what they did first, second, third and so on. This can help them better articulate the entire experience or process. Sometimes we even load a visual alongside the discussion (e.g. building blocks or staircase) to reinforce what we are asking them to do.
• Give examples: Sometimes people just need a hint or an example to follow. If I am asking people to talk about what they ate this weekend, I may give them a very literal example of what I ate in the detail that I want them to follow. So I may include something to the effect of... "I know this exercise may be a little daunting, so I will go first. Here is what I ate this weekend. 8AM Sat = wheat toast, bowl of Cheerios, XL Dunkin Donuts coffee with cream. 11AM Sat = Handful of peanuts, glass of orange juice..." If you set your discussion so this is the first thing people see, you have a much better chance of getting to them follow your lead and provide the detail you need.  
• Be specific: As we know, people have a hard time articulating their needs, especially when we broadside them with things like "what is the future of home entertainment going to be like?" Instead, try to give people bite-size and very specific situations to talk about. For example, in the home entertainment category, you may start with an overview of what they do for entertainment while at home, then have them describe their different entertainment areas, then use imagery (e.g. rooms of the house, entertainment center) to encourage them to identify problem areas. Then, roll off each of these identified "problem areas" into more specific discussions/multimedia activities about suggestions for change and the subsequent rationale. Through this battery of specific exercises, you have a much better shot at uncovering unmet needs regarding the future of home entertainment.
  

These examples are probably pretty familiar to the more seasoned qualitative researchers out there, but I would love to hear what other methods researchers have found successful in the online environment...  Comments are welcome!

- Ben

I recently came across an online community for online community professionals called "Commania" and just had to share what they did for their profile pages with readers of this blog...  

When you click to sign-up for the community, the default avatar is one scary looking hybrid human-pig-mouse thing.  If you don't change it, you're stuck as the "pig guy" for the rest of your time in the community.  I think this is a brilliant little trick.  Granted, it's a little extreme, but it helps address a real challenge in online communities - getting people to take that initial step in customizing and sharing something personal.  If you can get your members to upload a custom profile picture, fill out a bio and at least introduce themselves to the community, you're going to have much better odds of keeping them around (provided, of course, you don't drop the ball as a moderator after that).   

Compare this to the current default avatar we use for the PluggedIN Platform...  Still annoying to have as a default, but downright benign compared to the "pig guy."  A better approach might be choosing to use your company's logo as the default avatar, or perhaps use a simple text message to indicate the profile picture needs to be change.  Nonetheless, I like the "creative" approach of the "pig guy" if you can get away with it :-)

-- Matt 

eMarketer recently posted an article citing findings from a study about why people go online.  To check out the article, click on the link below:

Why people go online

The reason I'm posting this is because it has implications for anyone running a market research online community (or really any online community for that matter...).  The way a moderator or community manager structures activities should try to appease as many of these motivations for going online as possible.  Here are some examples as it relates to MROCs:

• 92% go online to "connect with others" - The community environment is a natural place for this to happen...  Consider creating a specific part of your discussion forums for a "water cooler," where members can connect with each other on any topics they want to talk about.  
• 96% go online for education - To appeal to this motivation, try pulling in RSS feeds or posting relevant content from blogs/twitter that will help the audience learn more about the given topic. 
  
• 82% go online to "be entertained" - While MROCs tend to have a focus on a given research objective, there is no reason why you can't make the experience entertaining for participants.  For example, start a discussion asking people to post their favorite YouTube videos.  That will get members talking and keep them entertained, far beyond the research activities.

Of course, these are just a few of the ways to appeal to the motivations for people going online while moderating an online community.  There are ways to appeal to almost all of the motivations on the list using online communities if you're willing to be a little creative...  

- Matt 

It seems like a lot of researchers and clients want to know how "research design" is different in a community than it is with point in time methods (like surveys, focus groups, and online focus groups). The answer can be slightly abstract. Community design is a bit more organic, adaptable, theme-based, and versatile, using a variety of tools at your disposal. In my opinion, it is not about using the same battery of questions, just posted in an online setting. It is about thinking differently about how you address topics and giving people new ways of expressing their opinions online.

Traditional Research Design

The easiest way to demonstrate this is with an example, so let's say you wanted to understand how teens use mobile phones. In a traditional or online bulletin board type focus group your question battery may be like this:

1. When was the last time you used your mobile phone? What did you do?
2. If you left home without your mobile phone, what would you miss most?
3. Tell me about how you use the phone feature on your mobile phone... what do you like about it? What don't you like?
4. Tell me how you use text... what are some of the challenges of using text on your phone right now?
5. How do you use the music feature... how would you improve it?

Online Community Research Design

• "Last Use" Discussion: Tell us about the last time you used your mobile phone... What exactly did you do?
• "Teens vs. Adults" Discussion: Let's say you were designing a mobile phone for Teens. How would your Teen Phone be different than typical mobile phones for adults? Think about the look, design, and the different features and functions you would want to include!
• "My Phone is Alive!" Photo Gallery: If your phone came to life as a person, animal, or another living thing - what would it be? Upload a photo of the "living thing" that best reflects your cell phone.
• "My Phone Diary" Blog Gallery: Keep a diary today and tomorrow of all the things you do with you mobile phone. So start with the moment you wake up this AM - and finish with the time you go to sleep tomorrow PM. Tell us every time you touch your phone... where you are, who you are with, what you are doing - everything!
• "Mobile Phones & You" Survey: Q1) What do you do most with your phone [call, text, listen to music, play games, use apps, other]? Q2) If you left home without your mobile phone, what would you miss most? [open end]  Q3) When you think about your cell phone, what 1-2 words come to mind? Q4-Q8) On a scale of 1-10, how important is the phone feature? [repeat for text, music, games, apps, etc.].

Organic Research Design

One important thing to keep in mind is that with the community environment, you have the ability to address objectives over time, and the community itself responds well to this more natural flow. You can take the findings/responses from this initial wave of research activity and incorporate it in your design of the next wave. In this example, it may be follow up discussions on the mobile phone features. You could identify the ones that members thought were the most important and run follow-up activities designed to understand how Teens are currently using these features and their thoughts about frustrations/gaps that these features need to address.

- Ben

Plato once said that, "You can learn more about a person from one hour of play than from a year of conversation."  After reading this quote, I can't help but think about the state of market research today...  Where is the "fun" element in market research and how can we incorporate that into our (qualitative and quantitative) research studies?  How much more can we learn about our audience if we're able to effectively incorporate "play" into our research methods?   

All too often we're so busy wrapping our heads around the research and business objectives, that we fail to take into account the participant experience.  Stepping outside of the realm of the traditional Q&A session and into the area of "serious games" might yield us insights we couldn't obtain through "traditional" means.  What might be misconstrued as a frivolous activity (i.e., merely a forum game), could actually be a tremendously valuable way to dive deeper and really learn about an audience. 

We've experimented with different "serious games" in market research communities here at PluggedIN, but I'm curious if anyone out there has had success with incorporating games in traditional or online research venues...  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments to this post, or email me directly at mfoley@pluggedinco.com.  

Let's imagine you're walking down the street in a fairly busy neighborhood full of restaurants (Boston's North End comes to mind first for me, but you pick the location...).  All of the restaurants look to be fairly decent, so you start to look for differences in other ways.  If you're anything like me (and most people), you'll probably avoid the empty restaurant assuming the lack of patrons is a statement on the quality of the food...

The "empty restaurant syndrome" is pervasive, especially in online communities.  To avoid this, it's important to have a critical mass of seed content prior to launching any online community.  This is especially the case in market research online communities, since they are slightly less conventional than traditional online communities.  Don't worry if it's just "filler" activity at first - it just has to be something to get people talking to each other.  Depending on who you talk to, the rule of thumb is anywhere from 4-5 posts per high-level forum topic area, but will vary based on your community size and audience.

We also recommend a "soft launch" for most MROCs, whereby you invite a handful of members first and then slowly roll it out to your entire group of recruited participants.  That way the late arrivals will feel like there is something of an established group once they arrive. 

These are just two tips for anyone planning to launch their own MROCs on the PluggedIN Platform.  Think of these ideas as this "virtual" way to avoid the empty restaurant syndrome.  Anyone have other tips to share?  Comments are open!   

So you've spent a few weeks or months planning out your research community, including defining your objectives, drawing up your facilitation plan, seeding your site, screening participants, etc...  Launch day comes and goes, and things go off without a hitch.  Your research participants start signing in, introducing themselves to you and other members and participating in early research activities.  Life is good.  

A few days later you start to notice that the initial buzz and excitement is beginning to die down a bit, so you check the stats.  People are still signing in, but it seems a bit different somehow than the "honeymoon" right after launch date... 

No worries, this is completely normal for a community launch and nothing to be too concerned about (yet).  The "lull" right after launch is bound to happen.  The key is to make sure it doesn't stay, and that the community builds into something sustainable, with regular participation from a broad cross-section of members.  Here are a few tips to help you get your MROC off on the right foot... 

1. Throw a few "softball" activities out there - Try throwing out a few "softball" activities at first.  Think of the types of questions you would ask in the first five or ten minutes of a focus group when you're building rapport with the group...  Those are the perfect questions to start with in an online research community.  They're personal and fun, without being too deep.  Every moderator has their own bag of tricks that will probably work just as well in the online environment, so why not try them out to see what works best...
2. Try out some surveys - Also try starting with a few surveys or polls that may or may not be related to the topic, and be sure share or discuss the results with members.  Surveys are easy to fill out and provide a quick engagement point for members that are just getting their feet wet in the community.
3. Email them more at first (and regularly) - In the first few weeks, be sure to setup a regular schedule for emailing participants about community news and updates.  We like to email all of our communities every Tuesday with news and reminders that the latest research activities are available.  As long as you're fairly routine in your communications (and set this precedent early), you'll be assured of regular participation among a core set of members.
4. Get personal (on their profile pages) - We like to add a welcome message to member profile pages initially, and then find any excuse we can to follow-up with additional messages.  That lets members know you're paying attention and sets up an expectation for reciprocation. 
   

Those are just some tips that have worked for us in the past.  Feel free to share any ones that have worked for you in the comments to this post!