Social networks can be organic, they can form based on the desire of two people and grow from there. It’s up to the desires of the group. The key that turns a group that grows organically to a dynamic organization is leadership. When there is leadership, meetings become events, individuals know who to turn for action, and success begets success.

Community Catalysts Part 2 – Rick Mahn and SMBMSP from Albert Maruggi on Vimeo.

The Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul is a grassroots local group for the most part, although there are many folks not from the Minneapolis area participating as online members and tune into the monthly programs being streamed online. Rick Mahn is an IT consultant by training and practice, helping large organizations address technology issues. Over his career however, he noticed that technology is an enabler, not necessarily a solution. This brought him to social media as the bridge between enablement and action. He started the Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter and triggered a human chain reaction in Minneapolis that has made the Social Media Breakfast monthly meeting a sought after ticket and a regular staple for hundreds in this community.

To be sure, there are many who contribute their time and talent to the community. Mykl Roventine is a go to person who has developed the web presence for SMBMSP and Brad Bellaver and Phil Wilson are regular contributors to the community with podcasts and just helping when and where it’s needed. Mahn also gives a tip of the hat to Christopher and Mary Lower for their social media innovation aligning off-line and on-line aspects of an apartment community. See that’s the leadership part. I mentioned at the Social Media Breakfast event at South by Southwest, that there are any number of people and organizations willing to pitch in with talent, time or dollars to help the organization fulfill the needs of the community. Companies see the benefits of being part of this community, Best Buy and Verizon Wireless are sponsors of some events. Verizon Wireless also supported my coverage of South by Southwest which included this series on social media innovators. That is the leadership part which is the difference between a casual group and a thriving organization. It is a recurring theme in this series on social media innovators of the Midwest.

The Social Media Breakfast was started in Boston by Bryan Person and has grown to nearly 40 communities holding Social Media Breakfast events.

Here are my keys to a thriving community

1. 1) leadership
2. 2) programming (some structure other than a reason to drink coffee or beer)
3. 3) open access to engage with the community (not hierarchical)
4. 4) tools and forums (central points for engagement online and off)
5. 5) learning and/or networking related to professional or personal enrichment (financial/intellectual/emotional)

I pose this question to those who participate in these type of communities what do you think makes them thrive?

Time 30:49

There are only a few ways humans show they value something… give their time or give their money.  Another, for argument’s sake, is to lend their name, but that isn’t a good example for this post so I’ll leave it as a side note.

This podcast with Bryan Person of Live World is about building communities, and the elements necessary to make them successful.  It’s focused on how companies should evaluate whether they have what it takes in both culture and potential to establish a community.  Live World is both a technology platform and provider of social media services.

In the last podcast with Steve Rubel, we talked about communities really being an ecosystem, not necessarily a destination.  In this segment, we are focused on communities as a destination.  One of my favorites is Campbell’s Kitchen   – an address on the web and a place to get and give information about food.  Hey, as a father of five and the maker of a few meals in my lifetime, soup is more than just opening a can, heat and eat.  Enchiladas, anyone?

Community Manager Essentials

1. 1) Write, talk, communicate and understand all formats (please don’t say duh, this may well be a new title in the profession of journalism.)
2. 2) Personality, and the sense to understand how the individual’s personality aligns with the brand he or she is representing online (that’s not easy either!)
3. 3) No egos allowed. This is about the community and its members, remember?(managers need to facilitate and fade into background. Here’s where I love talking about personal brands. It is an outright clash with a company’s objective of building community. Please do comment because I’d love to take this issue on. :>) )
4. 4) Domain expertise in the area of the company or organization you are facilitating  (you can’t talk the talk if you have a limp in your walk.)

Do communities sell more soup?  Well, successful communities at their core get people engaged in each other and their topics.  Without their interest, there is nothing.  Companies that build two-way channels to listen as well as share are able to capture ideas.  Acting on these ideas allows them to be more responsive, gain more credibility and the circle goes on. 

Can companies with successful communities draw a straight line to sales? Probably, but more importantly they can connect the other value currency, time spent with your company.  Time is a zero sum value currency, the time I’m able to capture from you is time not spent with something else. That’s the value successful companies treasure.

Bryan the Person

Bryan and I also get into his social baby, the Social Media Breakfast.  Talk about community managing and stepping back… Person started the Social Media Breakfast a couple of years ago.  He encouraged and gave wings to many others in cities across the country. 

We recorded this conversation in late May when Bryan was in Minnesota to speak at the Social Media Breakfast of Minneapolis/St. Paul – It is regularly a very well attended monthly event sometimes dealing with advanced concepts or at other times highlighting the basics.    Bryan’s vision to create the offline event for an online audience includes some of the elements of successful community building: sharing, personal connections, the dynamic created by some regular gathering that requires an investment of time and effort. Let’s face it, writing 140 characters is easy. Getting in your car, fighting traffic and meeting new people is hard. 

Check the list of cities that have a Social Media Breakfast. If there isn’t one in your community, maybe you can be the spark to draw people together, and then step back and watch it grow. That’s what the organizer of the Minnesota chapter of the SMB, Rick Mahn,(pictured) did and now the online SMB Minnesota community has reached 830 members and the social media breakfast held on Friday, June 26 had more than 150 attendees, that’s a lot of bacon!

I’ll be in Phoenix visiting clients and family, and I thought it would be good to have a Social Media Breakfast. It will be at:

Cafe Carumba
7303 E Indian School Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

It’s a casual gathering of marketers, PR and corporate communication professionals sharing ideas about social media. I am also looking for examples that I may feature in presentations I’m giving to the NewComm Forum (sponsored by Society for New Communications Research) and the Media Relations Summit, or here on the Marketing Edge podcast.

If you are planning on attending, please RSVP on our Upcoming event site. I just need to make sure we have enough seats at the table.