Social vs Owned: Weighing the Costs of Where You Build Community with Brian Oblinger

Using AI to Brand and Customize a Community: Lessons from Advania’s Launch

When Advania [https://www.advania.co.uk/] set out to launch its customer community, Senior Community Manager Lorena Seco de Herrera Ortega [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorena-seco-de-herrera-ortega-747542148/] didn’t have a developer or a background in coding. What she did have was a clear vision for a branded, intuitive experience and a willingness to experiment with AI. In this episode of Higher Logic's “Power of Connection [https://powerofconnection.podbean.com/]” podcast, Lorena joins Higher Logic’s Paul Schneider [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulrschneider/] to share how she used AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot to write, test, and debug the code needed to customize and theme Advania’s new community. She walks through specific use cases—from creating branded call-to-action buttons and hover effects to building custom landing pages—and offers advice for community managers who want to try AI but don’t know where to start. Along the way, they talk about: * How to prompt AI for front-end community customization * Why using AI to code is safe and not as scary for non-coders as you might think * The role of AI in community analytics and strategy * Why sharing early experiments can build momentum in the space

Social vs Owned: Weighing the Costs of Where You Build Community with Brian Oblinger

Our guest on this episode of Higher Logic’s Power of Connection [https://vanilla.higherlogic.com/news/?_sft_news_type=podcast] is Brian Oblinger, a career-experienced consultant around community, customer experience, advocacy, strategy, optimization, and more. Brian’s also held staff positions in both platforms and businesses and talks with us about migrating from social media-based communities to owned communities, and the changes going on in the community space. Topics covered include:   * Why companies think social media means you don’t need a community. * The elements of social media that drive companies back to an owned community. * The biggest challenges faced when transitioning to social to owned community. * The three top best practices on migrating from social-centered to community-centered engagement. * The right way for community to use social platforms. * The two buckets of the metrics that matter for community. * How brand-owned communities will evolve over the next few years.   Some Helpful Links: Brian Oblinger on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianoblinger/] Brianoblinger.com [https://brianoblinger.com/] Community Strategy Academy [https://communitystrategyacademy.com/] Higher Logic Vanilla [https://vanilla.higherlogic.com/]

Building Successful Communities with ModSquad's Izzy Neis

Paul’s guest on this episode of Higher Logic’s [https://www.higherlogic.com/] “Power of Connection [https://powerofconnection.podbean.com/]” is Izzy Neis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzyneis/], Head of Digital at ModSquad [https://modsquad.com/]. For over 20 years, ModSquad has been providing moderation, customer support, community management, social media, and social listening services for all ranges of businesses with a digital footprint, B2B and B2C. Topics covered include: * How to build a successful community experience * What factors should you prioritize when crafting a community strategy? * How to find out what your customers want in a community. * How to work with community managers to make sure they’re as effective as possible. * The various types of community managers. * How to establish baseline and spiking moment experiences in the community. * What are the characteristics and skillsets of a great community manager? * Some of the most common goals for community. * Why your community should be more like Madonna. * How to handle angry or critical community posts. * Do you need a community if you’re already very present on social media?

What It Takes to Scale Your Community for Global Reach with Dani Weinstein

Paul’s guest today on Higher Logic’s The Power of Connection [https://powerofconnection.podbean.com/] podcast is Dani Weinstein, who’s well-known in the community space for running large communities. Dani was on the ground floor in the creation of the Hewlett-Packard social care team, which launched communities that grew to two million members, driving 100 million customers in traffic. He also helped build Domo’s new B2B community, incorporating superfan and voice of the community initiatives. He’s worked on Kaltura’s B2B community and worked on community strategy at SAP. Paul and Dani talk about growing and scaling communities, including topics such as: * Is there anything special to know about measuring a large community? * Why where community management falls in the organization matters. * The four pillars of determining the success of a community. * The balancing act of which KPIs are most important to the different parts of the business. * Scaling a community globally. * The things you might not be thinking about as you get ready to scale your community. * The challenges of going from a team of one to an actual team of multiple people. * Managing different executives up the chain as the community expands. Helpful Links Dani Weinstein on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniweinstein/] Higher Logic [https://vanilla.higherlogic.com/]

Revenue Is the Outcome, Not the Strategy: Why Engagement Comes First with Eric Stieg

In this episode of Higher Logic's "Power of Connection" podcast, Paul Schneider talks with Eric Stieg [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericstieg/], Senior Manager and Head of Community at Anaplan [https://www.anaplan.com/]. Eric has had extensive experience starting and running communities for many top brands and brings a wealth of expertise to those currently running customer communities. Topics discussed include: * What is the “right” KPI for measuring community? * The first thing you need to do if you want to see community and engagement grow. * How to motivate user generated content. * Incentivizing and rewarding super users. * What truly effective personalization looks like. * How the community can increasingly directly drive business outcomes. * Statistical insight on the relationship between customers who stay or leave and their active involvement in community. * The argument executives put up against starting a community and the answer for it. Helpful Links: * Making Content a Team Sport: Inside Anaplan’s Member-Driven Content Program with Ginger Anderson [https://vanilla.higherlogic.com/blog/community-content-program/] * Ditching the Developer Dependency: How Anaplan Reclaimed Its Community with Higher Logic Vanilla [https://vanilla.higherlogic.com/case_studies/anaplan/] * Eric Stieg on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericstieg/] * Anaplan [https://www.anaplan.com/] * Higher Logic [https://higherlogic.com/]