Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 27, featuring Daniel Honigman, Social Media Manger at Sears-Kmart Electronics. Podcast highlights include:

• The challenges of social media for a big, century-old company
• Realizing revenues from social media
• Bridging social media and brick and mortar through the re-use of community reviews
• “Overcommunicating” – Coordinating and sharing best practices within a large enterprise, including cross-departmental communication
• The need to make the case for new social media channels (such as location-based services)

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 26, featuring Becky Carroll, Community Program Manager at Verizon Podcast highlights include:

• Using educational content rather than product-focused content, to cater to customer lifestyle rather than a  hard sell in the “Room to Learn” community.
• Using an idea exchange; workflows, processes and partnership with product team
• Advice for getting started in community management

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 24, featuring Jay Batson, VP and Founder at Acquia, a provider of commercial services around the Drupal open-source web platform. Podcast highlights include:

• Considering long-term health of an open-source community hen launching a commercial enterprise from within it
• The kinds of companies adopting open-source community platforms
• Can developer communities provide examples for other types of communities

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 24, featuring Lauren Vargas, Director of Community at social media monitoring software company Radian 6 (disclosure: Radian 6 is a Voce client). Podcast highlights include:

• Building vertical-focused communities to better serve the customer community
• Can community operate without a dedicated, “gated” platform?
• The importance of organizational commitment to community, right up to the C-Suite
• Content as the starting point to create engagement, with blogs as the focal point
• Finding your “influencers;” why and how, and finding them outside your direct community
• A discusion of tools for finding influencers (not just Klout)

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 23, featuring Shannon Paul, Social Media Manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Podcast highlights include:

• Dealing with “Protected Health information” (PHI) due to regulations such as HIPAA, including the names of members, and how to balance the need for community and the privacy of members
• Creating resources such as www.ahealthiermichigan.org to present wellness resources
• Coordination and sharing among associated but separated organizations, as with the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans in different states
• When “I can’t answer you” is an answer

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 22, featuring Thomas Meyer, Senior Manager of Global Public Relations at Sonos Inc., maker of a premium multi-room music systems (disclosure: both podcast hosts are Sonos users). Podcast highlights include:

• Online community as an “earned media” strategy
• Does a premium price point affect the size and activity of the community?
• The relationship between customer satisfaction and evangelism
• Not to focus on tools, but the value of the iPhone and email to community

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 21, featuring Leigh Mutert, Community Manger for H&R Block (just in time for tax season). Find H&R Block’s online community at http://getitright.hrblock.com. Podcast highlights include:

• Merging offline community with online- in particular, harnessing the experts at brick-and-mortar H&R Block franchises for the online community, and overcoming obstacles to secure their buy-in
• Working within a tightly regulated industry while still growing community
• Managing seasonality, in a business focused on the three months leading up until the April 15 tax deadline
• How H&R Block tracks and measures their efforts

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

*Since we recorded this interview, Leigh has moved on to become Community Manager at Archer Technologies; if you have any questions about H&R Block’s community please follow up with Zena Weist at zena.weist@hrblock.com.

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 20, featuring Jeff Esposito, PR Manager for Vistaprint (Twitter) (Facebook). Podcast highlights include:

• Birth of a program– getting hit (literally) with a magazine and being asked to “figure this Twitter thing out”
• Getting the community to help shape social media efforts rather than dictating the strategy to the audience
• Backing up the “No Customer Left Behind” philosophy through personal interaction over mass messaging
• Weighing short term fixes (marketing gimmicks) vs a long-term strategy
• Creating customer service expectations; when you are online, from posting duty hours to managing the lack of presence around a weather emergency

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

Benson Hendrix, UNM

Our podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers (a co-production with The Community Roundtable), continues with episode 19, featuring, from the University of New Mexico, Benson Hendrix, PR Specialist, and Nora Heineman-Fleck, Social Network Liaison.

Podcast highlights include:

• The importance of Flickr and photos to the UNM online community
• When both staff (Benson) and students (like Nora) manage the community
• Content creation: making subject matter experts comfortable in an interview setting
• Dealing with negative content and low morale among students
• Preventing chaos and panic through misunderstanding (listen for the “duck pond” story)

Voce Communications has partnered with The Community Roundtable to produce a new podcast series, Conversations with Community Managers. In this series, Voce’s Doug Haslam and The Community Roundtable’s Jim Storer speak with people from a variety of industries about their efforts with online community; what they are doing, the challenges and opportunities unique to their industry, and the differences and similarities between “community” and “social media.”

• Download the show here.
• Subscribe to the podcast here:
• MUSIC CREDIT: “Bleuacide” by graphiqsgroove

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.

About the Author
Doug Haslam is a Supervisor on the Voce Connect Client Services team, managing client programs and developing strategy. In addition to Voce Nation, Doug writes his own personal blog and you can find him on Twitter as @dough.