From Scrappy to Scale: Crafting Early-Stage Communities for Culture and Growth

From Scrappy !To Scale!

!Crafting Early-Stage Communities for Culture & Growth !!Emily Castor!Director of Community Relations, Lyft @emilycastor

Hey, community manager – !

you’re hired!

#TrueU @emilycastor

Welcome to Day 1 What’s your job?

#TrueU @emilycastor

What’s your job?

#TrueU @emilycastor

Social media

Customer service

Blog

Email

Events

Partnerships

User feedback

Forums

Influencers

Public relations

GSD. Create systems from

scratch

#TrueU @emilycastor

Escalation policy User meetings Street teaming Policy research Driver hangout Driver newsletter Balloon view!

#TrueU @emilycastor

!

Grasshopper Desk 24/7 support Mailchimp Tweetdeck FB group FB page

My first week:

But don’t get lost !in the weeds!

You’re a communicator Nurture values, culture,

and shared identity

#TrueU @emilycastor

What do you believe? Start from a sense of

purpose

#TrueU @emilycastor

You’re doing this because you want to

change the world.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Ask your community to join you in that mission.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Be part of people’s!world view!

Culture is “stickier”

than function.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Decommoditize your product

through meaning.

#TrueU @emilycastor

#TrueU @emilycastor

#TrueU @emilycastor

Inspire irrational passion

The strongest way to build culture is through 1:1 connections

Authentic 1:1 connections are meaningful, emotional,

and memorable.

#TrueU @emilycastor

How do you scale this without hiring an army?

I have a confession.

#TrueU @emilycastor

I majored in Women’s Studies.

I studied feminism and other social movements

I never thought it would get me a job.

#TrueU @emilycastor

I learned radical ideas about where

identity comes from.

Identity is something we perform

Every day, through thousands of tiny

actions, we create our identities.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Identity is produced by rituals.

#TrueU @emilycastor

We learn by watching others, then repeat

what we see.#TrueU @emilycastor

Our rituals also shape our emotions.

!

(Smile and try not to feel happy!)

#TrueU @emilycastor

No puppet master is making it happen.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Rituals scale culture organically.

#TrueU @emilycastor

In P2P communities, culture matters a lot.

It forms the user experience.

#TrueU @emilycastor

How can we change how people feel about riding with strangers?

#TrueU @emilycastor

How can we change how people feel about riding with strangers?

#TrueU @emilycastor

How can we change how people feel about

giving rides to strangers?#TrueU @emilycastor

Create a different ritual.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Create a different identity.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Create a different emotion.

#TrueU @emilycastor

The mustache is a smile.

Sit up front

Fistbump!!(don’t flump)

Hang out. #TrueU @emilycastor

Be creative.

"In everything that is to excite a lively convulsive laugh there must be

something absurd... Laughter is an affection arising from the sudden

transformation of a strained expectation into nothing.”

!

Immanuel Kant, 1790

Use rituals to dismantle

emotional barriers.

Build a strong culture based on rituals your

community can repeat.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Powerful 1:1 interactions can happen without you.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Let community leaders be the shamans.

#TrueU @emilycastor

(They’ll come up with better stuff than you do!)

#TrueU @emilycastor

Remember: Identity and emotion stem from our rituals.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Rituals people observe and repeat.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Learn the Ritual

Repeat it

Identity & Emotion #TrueU @emilycastor

Teach rituals to build a meaningful

shared identity

#TrueU @emilycastor

An aspirational identity that lyfts people up to who they want to be

#TrueU @emilycastor

Psst: Identity is an engagement hack.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Where do !rituals start?!

Meet your community where they are

#TrueU @emilycastor

Be shockingly responsive Convert contacts into

relationships

#TrueU @emilycastor

Where do !rituals start?!

Name things.

Our original pillars:

#TrueU @emilycastor

Facebook group Newsletters

Driver hangouts !

(Not rocket science)

Connect your community to each other.

They will perpetuate and enrich your culture through 1:1 interactions

on their own.

#TrueU @emilycastor

#TrueU @emilycastor

As you grow –!scale intimacy.

#TrueU @emilycastor

Empower leaders.

Let the magic happen.

And be ready to!scale yourself.

#TrueU @emilycastor

From Scrappy !To Scale!

!Crafting Early-Stage Communities for Culture & Growth !!Emily Castor!Director of Community Relations, Lyft @emilycastor