Explains the nature of open source communities and illustrates how community marketing can help increase product adoption, reduce sales costs and enhance the product development process.

1. Community Matters
Why Open Source Marketing Can
Help Improve Your Product
Vikram Vaswani
October 2012

2. "Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?
Sleeping or waking? mad or well-advised?"
- William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors
Act II Scene 2

3. The Nature of the Beast

4. Layered Model
Cre dit: Simo n Phipps, " Co mmunity type s"
we bmink. co m/e ssays/co mmunity-type s/

5. Co-developer Communities
● Core
● Primary code contributors
● Influence arising from activity
● Dislike being marketing targets
● Extenders
● Localize and package code
● Create extensions and plug-ins
● Dislike being marketing targets
Cre dit: Simo n Phipps, " Co mmunity type s"
we bmink. co m/e ssays/co mmunity-type s/

6. Deployer Communities
● Deployer-developers
● Configure and customize code for deployment
● Integrators, in-house developers
● Receptive to marketing programs
● Users
● Use deployed code for business purposes
● Receptive to marketing programs
Cre dit: Simo n Phipps, " Co mmunity type s"
we bmink. co m/e ssays/co mmunity-type s/

7. Business Ecosystem Model
● Vendor-driven ● Community-driven
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " M ting o pe n so urce is made fo r g e e ks"
arke
o pe nso urce . co m/busine ss/1 2/9 /a-co mple te -g uide -marke ting -pro je ct-busine ss

8. Vendor-Driven Ecosystem
● Highly centralized
● Revolve around a single vendor
● Vendor exerts high level of control over participants
● Ecosystem entry and exit
● Rights and privileges of participants
● Monitoring
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " M ting o pe n so urce is made fo r g e e ks"
arke
o pe nso urce . co m/busine ss/1 2/9 /a-co mple te -g uide -marke ting -pro je ct-busine ss

9. Community-Driven Ecosystem
● Decentralized
● Low degree of control by any single participant
● Characterized by
● A vibrant developer community
● Extensive Q& A
● Active word-of-mouth marketing.
● No single major vendor
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " M ting o pe n so urce is made fo r g e e ks"
arke
o pe nso urce . co m/busine ss/1 2/9 /a-co mple te -g uide -marke ting -pro je ct-busine ss

10. Spheres of Participation
Cre dit: Dave N ary, " Ho w do yo u co unt yo ur co mmunity size "
e
blo g s. g no me . o rg /bo lsh/20 0 9 /0 4/0 1 /ho w-do -yo u-co unt-yo ur-co mmunity-size /

11. Spheres of Participation
● Core
● Leaders, core committers and key influencers
● Around the core
● Contributors for code, artwork, translations, or with other skills
● Forum members, mailing list participants, enthusiasts
● Extremities
● Users
● Boundaries are porous and ill-defined.
● People move closer to the center or further away from it as
time passes.
Cre dit: Dave N ary, " Ho w do yo u co unt yo ur co mmunity size "
e
blo g s. g no me . o rg /bo lsh/20 0 9/0 4/0 1 /ho w-do -yo u-co unt-yo ur-co mmunity-size /

12. "Markets Are Conversations"

13. Technology Adoption Lifecycle
Cre dit: W ikipe dia
e n. wikipe dia. o rg /wiki/File : Te chno lo g y-A ptio n-Life cycle . png
do

14. Adoption Funnel
Cre dit: Do nnie B rkho lz, " A ptio n o f so ftware is a funne l"
e do
re dmo nk. co m/dbe rkho lz/20 1 2/0 4/1 8 /ado ptio n-o f-so ftware -is-a-funne l/

15. The 90-9-1 Rule
Cre dit: Jako b N lse n, " Participatio n I q uality: Enco urag ing M re Use rs to Co ntribute "
ie ne o
www. use it. co m/ale rtbo x/participatio n_ ine quality. html

16. The 90-9-1 Rule
● 90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but
don't contribute).
● 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other
priorities dominate their time.
● 1% of users participate a lot and account for most
contributions.
Cre dit: Jako b N lse n, " Participatio n I q uality: Enco urag ing M re Use rs to Co ntribute "
ie ne o
www. use it. co m/ale rtbo x/participatio n_ ine quality. html

17. Network Effects
● The more users of a
product, the more
valuable it is.
● The more valuable a
product is, the more
users it has.

18. Traditional Sales Model
Cre dit: Ste phe n W alli, " Ope n So urce Co mmunitie s and Custo me rs in Picture s"
ste phe sblo g . blo g s. co m/my_ we blo g /20 1 0 /0 5/o pe n-so urce -co mmunitie s-and-custo me rs-in-picture s. html

19. Community-Driven Sales Model
Cre dit: Ste phe n W alli, " Ope n So urce Co mmunitie s and Custo me rs in Picture s"
ste phe sblo g . blo g s. co m/my_ we blo g /20 1 0 /0 5/o pe n-so urce -co mmunitie s-and-custo me rs-in-picture s. html

20. What The Community Offers
● Knowledge, expertise and experience
● Add value to commercial solution
● Advocates and evangelists
● Increase awareness of commercial solution
● Anchor for commercial products
● Add-ons, plugins, extensions, support
Cre dit: Ste phe n W alli, " Ope n So urce Co mmunitie s and Custo me rs in Picture s"
ste phe sblo g . blo g s. co m/my_ we blo g /20 1 0 /0 5/o pe n-so urce -co mmunitie s-and-custo me rs-in-picture s. html

21. Benefits for Vendors
● Lower marketing and sales costs
● Self-qualifying leads
● Informed users
● Collective enhancement
● Rapid feedback
● Bug resolution
● New feature integration / customization
● Market intelligence
● Localization / Portability

22. Benefits for Customers
● More choices
● Open source vs. open core vs. commercial
● Licensing fees vs. support, consulting and training fees
● Free community support vs. paid vendor support
● More access and control
● Unrestricted product evaluation
● Direct communication with developers
● Participation in product roadmap definition

23. "Markets Are Conversations"
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " M ting o pe n so urce is made fo r g e e ks"
arke
o pe nso urce . co m/busine ss/1 2/9 /a-co mple te -g uide -marke ting -pro je ct-busine ss

24. "Markets Are Conversations"
● Community members communicate with each other (eg: to
share information and knowledge)
● Partners communicate with each other (eg: to subcontract
work or share leads)
● Partners communicate with clients (eg: to send proposals or
implement projects)
● Partners communicate with community members (eg: to
obtain technical assistance or subcontract work)
● Clients communicate with each other (eg: to obtain referrals)
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " M ting o pe n so urce is made fo r g e e ks"
arke
o pe nso urce . co m/busine ss/1 2/9 /a-co mple te -g uide -marke ting -pro je ct-busine ss

25. Enhancing Network Effects
● Marketing can help
communicate the value
of a product.
● Community
development can assist
product try-out, usage
and enhancement.

26. Marketing Functions
● Messaging
● Branding
● Communication Strategy
● Thought Leadership
● Event Management
● Collateral Development

27. Community Development Functions
● Content Development
● Blog posts
● Articles and tutorials
● Conflict Resolution
● Staff Training in Community Engagement
● Coordination with Third-Party Communities
● Member Intervention

28. How to Make Friends
and Influence People

29. Communication Style
● Use factual, objective language
● Avoid management buzzwords and superlatives
● Avoid partisanship and flame wars
● Stick to dry "geek-friendly" humour
● Be considerate and polite
● Invest time in defining and explaining controversial
positions

30. Community Manager
● Responsibilities ● Qualifications
● Content creation (30%) ● Social skills
● Social media marketing ● Writing skills
(30%) ● Social media experience
● Event planning (20%) ● Passion for product and
● Communications industry
strategy (10%)
● Analytics (10%)
Cre dit: Erin B ury, " Co mmunity M anag e r Jo b De scriptio n, ADe finitive Guide "
so cialfre sh. co m/a-de finitive -co mmunity-manag e r-jo b-de scriptio n/

31. SocialFresh Community Manager
Report 2012
Cre dit: So cialFre sh. co m, " The 20 1 2 Co mmunity Manag e r Re po rt"
so cialfre sh. co m/co mmunity-manag e r-re po rt-20 1 2/

32. SocialFresh Community Manager
Report 2012
Cre dit: So cialFre sh. co m, " The 20 1 2 Co mmunity Manag e r Re po rt"
so cialfre sh. co m/co mmunity-manag e r-re po rt-20 1 2/

33. SocialFresh Community Manager
Report 2012
Cre dit: So cialFre sh. co m, " The 20 1 2 Co mmunity Manag e r Re po rt"
so cialfre sh. co m/co mmunity-manag e r-re po rt-20 1 2/

34. Community Collaboration
● To be effective, a community needs tools for
collaboration and communication.
● Give community members tools to:
● Participate in development
● Identify bugs
● Suggest new features
● Translate and localize the product
● Improve documentation
● Provide technical support and advice

35. Community Collaboration Tools

36. Community Collaboration Tools

37. Documentation
Cre dit: Use r Frie ndly by I lliad. Use d by Pe rmissio n. A Rig hts Re se rve d
ll
http: //ars. use rfrie ndly. o rg /carto o ns/? id= 20 0 20 9 0 5

38. Documentation
● Developers love documentation!
● They just don't like creating it.
● Get them started by providing
● API documents
● Architecture documents
● Plugin development guides
● Code samples
● Articles and tutorials

39. Community Channels
● Become active on all relevant channels
● Use community channels to:
●
Announce news, product releases and events
●
Stay informed about community trends and needs
●
Engage with community members
●
Intervene to activate/assist community members

40. Bubble-Up Communications Model
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " Effe ctive Ope n So urce Co mmunicatio ns: The B ubble -up Appro ach"
sandro . g ro g anz. co m/20 0 9 /0 7 /0 1 /e ffe ctive -o pe n-so urce -co mmunicatio ns-the -bubble -up-appro ach/

41. Bubble-Up Communications Model
● Informal
● Social media: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, …
● Forums, mailing lists and discussion groups
● Weblogs and wikis
● User groups
● Formal
● Newsletters
● Presentations, articles and screencasts
● Public and analyst relations
● Books and documentation
Cre dit: Sandro Gro g anz, " Effe ctive Ope n So urce Co mmunicatio ns: The B ubble -up Appro ach"
sandro . g ro g anz. co m/20 0 9 /0 7 /0 1 /e ffe ctive -o pe n-so urce -co mmunicatio ns-the -bubble -up-appro ach/

42. Community Code of Conduct
● Describes shared values and "ideal" behaviour
● Sets standards of behaviour for community members
● Explains how to resolve disagreements
● Should be concise and clear
● Not legally enforceable (nor should it be)

43. Example: Community Code of Conduct
Cre dit: Ubuntu. co m
www. ubuntu. co m/pro je ct/abo ut-ubuntu/co nduct

44. Contribution Guidelines
● How to submit patches
● How to package patches
● How long to wait for patch reviews
● How to escalate patch reviews

45. Example: Contribution Guidelines
Cre dit: M e g o . co m
e
me e g o . co m/abo ut/co ntributio n-g uide line s

46. Community Awards
● Reward community evangelism and code commits.
● Dual benefits
● Increases community participation
● Raises visibility of nominees within and outside the
community
● Awards program becomes part of a marketing
program for influencers/super users
● Used by MySQL, eZ Systems and Eclipse

47. Questions?

48. Contact Information
Email:
● vikram dot vaswani at ageofpeers dot com
Web:
● www.ageofpeers.com
● www.melonfire.com
● vikram-vaswani.in
Social networks:
● twitter.com/ageofpeers
● plus.google.com/100028886433648406825