Introduction
So, for several months I've done a series of blogs on how to create and maintain a vibrant community. And during the same time, our APM Community has become a little more active. But I see one area that each of us may consider changing to enrich ourselves and this community.
Step 1: Start Following More People
What I noticed that most people in this Community are following few people or have few followers. That means that all of us are missing potentially out on:
-Useful new documents
-Helpful new ideas
-Invaluable new questions/discussions or responses
-Tremendous new videos and webinars
-Making a key connection.
Step 0: Determine Which People to Follow
But you see that I uncharacteristically jumped the gun above.
How can you follow someone if you don’t know which someone to follow? Good point.
So here are some possible “following candidate” strategies
-Search for topics/environments that are important to you. And see which community members are contributing articles in that area.
-Look for peers at similar product levels. If a new customer, then search for other new customers
-Seek geographical colleagues
-You are only limited by your imagination! Wild and crazy guys? Large site administrators? Cat fanciers liking APM Scheduled Reports? Seek out your own birds of a feather!
Step 3: Gaining Followers/Increasing Following
The reason for doing this should be not to say proudly to someone, “I have two thousand followers/following five hundred members in the APM Community.” Instead, the focus should be linking to other kindred spirits to see how they are living their lives and dealing with technical/personal challenges that may be like your own! And be among the first to find out about their contributions as well them finding out about yours.
Your Turn
I've said what I wanted to say. Now it is your turn.
Please drop a line to Hallett.german@ca.com or respond below on following/followers, "following candidate strategies", and if you want to see more of these types of blogs.