Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting an insightful conversation with Chris Stallone, Manager of Community and Social Care at Constant Contact. Chris shared his expertise on building thriving communities, engaging internal teams, and proving the ROI of community initiatives.

This event explored practical strategies for empowering community teams, ensuring internal buy-in, and driving long-term engagement. We covered everything from overcoming internal resistance to community participation, to leveraging AI for brainstorming, and even the role of gamification in sustaining engagement.

If you missed it, here are some of the top insights from the discussion, plus answers to some of the unanswered questions from our live Q&A.

Key Insights from the Conversation

1. Engage Employees with Clear Benefits

Employees need to see what’s in it for them. Simply explaining the business or user value of a community isn't enough—internal teams need to understand how it makes their jobs easier. Strategies like tailored training, internal champions, and automation (e.g., email notifications for community updates) help reduce friction and encourage engagement.

2. Showcase ROI with Accessible Data

Executives and stakeholders often don’t have time to sit through long presentations, so making ROI data digestible is key. Chris shared how a simple infographic summarizing community impact (like increased response rates, engagement levels, and case deflection) became the most effective way to get executive buy-in.

3. Sustain Engagement Through Consistent Programming

Community engagement doesn’t happen by accident—it requires ongoing programming and experimentation. From AMAs and gamification to structured employee incentives, keeping a steady cadence of activities ensures long-term participation. The key is to experiment and iterate, but also to avoid launching initiatives you can’t sustain.

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Watch the recording here! 

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Unanswered Q&A – Chris Answers Your Questions!

During the event, we had so many great questions that we couldn’t get to all of them live. Chris generously took the time to answer some of your top remaining questions:

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"Can you talk about the role of AI in community management? What are some successes that you’ve seen and maybe some things that are unexpected." - Ruth Neighbors

AI can provide valuable support in certain situations for community managers, who are tasked with numerous responsibilities such as managing systems and members, creating content, and implementing strategies like gamification to promote behavior change. While it may be possible to divide these tasks among a team, it can be overwhelming for one person. By leveraging AI, community managers can analyze engagement, sentiment, and trends to gain valuable insights into the success of their strategies, allowing them to make proactive improvements.

However, there are instances when AI tools may misconstrue context, underscoring the importance of human supervision to improve results. Furthermore, it is crucial to take into account how your community will respond to AI. I have observed many communities where members have explicitly expressed their desire to have no association with AI innovations in products or services and have specifically requested an option to opt out.

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"How do you encourage employees to get involved and not scare them off with all the rules and guidelines for what not to do...?" - Beth McIntyre

It can be challenging to motivate employees to engage in a community, especially when rules and regulations are presented in a restrictive manner. The key is to find a balance between structure and empowerment, so the community is perceived as an opportunity rather than a limiting set of rules.

Build Confidence Through Support:

1. Provide Clear Training:
   
   • Offer short videos, guides, or live demos on how to use the community effectively.
     
     • Example: Run a 10-minute “Community 101” session during onboarding.
   • Present rules as enablers, not restrictions. 
     
     • Example: Instead of “Don’t post off-topic content,” say, “Here’s how to contribute content that gets the most engagement and helps others.”
   • Don't bog down your employees with super long, legal jargon documents. Just give 'em a one-pager or a visual summary.
     
     • Example: Provide "Dos and Don’ts" in a fun, friendly tone with examples of great posts, like “Share your expertise to help others solve problems!”
2. Reward and Recognize Contributions:
   
   • Use gamification, badges, or leaderboards to reward participation.
   • Example: Make an announcement in a company-wide email to recognize the most dedicated employees. Give them recognition and appreciation. Alternatively, send them some SWAG. 
3. Normalize Mistakes:
   
   • It is important to communicate to employees that it is acceptable to make mistakes while they are learning. If needed, provide constructive criticism in a private setting.
   • Example: Share stories of common “first post” hiccups with humor, showing that everyone starts somewhere.

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"How do you maintain momentum and engagement beyond the initial implementation, especially in the "Energise" phase? Strategies for long-term to counteract disengagement?" - Sharon Davis

Keeping community members engaged after starting up can be tough for community managers. The trick is to keep adding value, keep things interesting, and be open to changes.

Frequently Update Content and Activities

• Introduce new and engaging content, challenges, or events to keep things fresh.You can Rotate between AMAs, “Tip Tuesdays,” and live Q&A sessions to maintain variety.

Create a Feedback Loop:

• Make sure to ask the community for feedback to see what's going well and what's not. Use polls, surveys, or just reach out directly to get their thoughts and make changes based on what they say. This shows that we care about what our members have to say.

Empower Community Champions:

• Get a crew of champions or ambassadors who can speak up for the community, start chats, and guide others. Give them specific tasks, like running forums, hosting webinars, or greeting new peeps.

Personalize the Experience:

• Leverage analytics to gain insight into member preferences and personalize content or suggestions. Emphasize popular subjects or conversations influenced by user actions to ensure the content remains pertinent.

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"Which roles in your company are required to interact with your community? Do your C-levels also interact there, for example?" - Taco Verdonschot

The level of involvement in a community varies depending on its purpose, objectives, and framework. Ideally, participation should encompass all levels of the organization, from teams working on day-to-day tasks to top executives, in order to ensure coherence, exposure, and effectiveness.

Right being focused as a support and product community we have the following teams active in the community

Community Managers and Moderators who oversee daily operations, moderating discussions, managing member onboarding, and implementing engagement strategies.

The Customer Support Teams handle member inquiries, offer aid, and keep an eye out for recurring issues that can be transformed into knowledge base material.

The marketing teams work to advertise the community, run promotional activities, and utilize community knowledge to tell the brand's story.

The product teams participate in brainstorming sessions, gather input, and utilize the community to guide product development and improve the overall customer experience.

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"HOW did you get employees to come back and mark the questions as validated/closed?" - Matthew Hall

To improve user experience, we encourage thread authors to mark the solution to their question. Upon receiving a response, users will be notified. If a solution is not marked within a week, the community will automatically send an email to the thread author to ask if any response has solved their problem. If not, they can offer some further clarifying information and we can escalate it. 

If the user did not return after one more week, a reminder email would be sent to prompt them to mark their thread or issue as resolved, if applicable.

Additionally, we surveyed our top users and inquired about an appropriate timeframe for us to designate a user's question as resolved, as long as they received a helpful response that advanced the discussion. This excludes responses such as "Thank you for posting, I will investigate this for you," as they do not directly address the question. Our super users responded that one month would be a suitable duration.

Following the one-month period, employees were able to mark threads as answered when they came in. Occasionally, a user would return and express gratitude but fail to mark the thread as resolved. This type of response clearly indicates that the issue has been resolved.

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"When do you consider someone to be a member of your community? Do they need an account to view other questions, for example?" - Taco Verdonschot

I would say that depends on the Community’s purpose, structure, and engagement model. 

In a community that prioritizes support, individuals who utilize FAQs or participate in discussions as a result of public access may be classified as "viewers," while those who actively participate by logging in are considered "members."

Typically, an individual becomes a member of the community upon engaging in meaningful interactions, such as creating an account, regularly consuming content, or providing contributions.

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"What's one surprising insight or lesson you've learned about driving ROI from a community program that many community leaders might overlook?" - Beth McIntyre

A surprising realization is that community managers will face pressure from executives to see immediate outcomes. It typically takes 3-5 years for ROI to fully manifest, and many community leaders mistakenly anticipate immediate results. Developing a successful community demands patience, consistent investment, and the establishment of trust. The initial stages focus on establishing a strong base, rather than generating immediate financial gains. Leadership can have high expectations for fast results, but it is important to establish realistic expectations from the beginning and convey that the return on investment from the community will take time.

Community isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon.

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"Are you looking at AI-powered solutions to deal wit baseline/same questions being repeated?" - Matthew Hall

We are not currently exploring the use of AI technology to manage repetitive questions. Instead, we rely on structured knowledge bases, well-defined FAQ sections, and attentive community moderation to address common inquiries. This approach allows for a more personalized and human connection, which is in line with the values and objectives of our community. While AI may have its benefits, our focus is on promoting genuine interactions and empowering members to share their knowledge.

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"One experience I had was that internal folks can become "rockstars"/celebrities within the narrow focus of a community. Has that ever been a selling point for you, to increase internal folks' personal brand?" - Eric Starker

Definitely! It's not everyone's goal to be a leader or what some may refer to as an influencer. However, I've collaborated with many individuals who didn't set out to become well-known in the community, but as they shared their expertise and enthusiasm, people started to take notice of them. They simply had a passion for what they did and wanted to share what they knew with everyone.

Some product managers I've worked with in the past made a point to respond to every comment and thread whenever users shared ideas. This caused other product managers in the company to feel envious of the strong rapport this PM had established.

We used to have a big get-together once a year with our community champions. People would come just to meet and have dinner with our internal rockstars. Luckily, they didn't let their fame go to their heads and just went with the flow.

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"How do you discover intrinsic motivation before business motivation, so people not only join but also take proactive action?" - Francesco Barresi

To really get people involved in a community, you gotta figure out what makes them tick first. Once you know what drives them, you can help them get on board with the community's goals. By understanding their true motivations, you can encourage them to not just join, but also get involved and stay involved.

The most crucial nugget of wisdom I gleaned from my experience in User Experience Design was straight out of Fight Club's playbook: the first rule of UX is, you are NOT the user. The second rule of UX is you are NOT the user. You get the picture.

Start by actively listening and observing. Take the time to comprehend what matters to the members, the obstacles they encounter, and what motivates them. Conduct casual surveys or polls, inquiring, "What are your expectations for being a part of this community?" Analyze how members participate to discover recurring themes or events that resonate with them.

Begin by understanding their underlying motivations. Individuals are driven by things that are in line with their own aspirations, whether it be receiving validation, enhancing their abilities, or finding a sense of belonging. Consider asking: "What sparks your interest in participating in communities like this?" and "What activities do you find fulfilling that align with the purpose of this community?"

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Final Thoughts

This event highlighted the importance of balancing business goals with employee engagement and user needs. As Chris emphasized, a thriving community doesn’t just serve customers—it empowers internal teams, drives company-wide efficiency, and fosters meaningful connections.

Thank you to everyone who joined us! If you found this discussion valuable, make sure to check out CMX Summit 2025, where we’ll continue exploring the future of community-led growth.

Have more questions? Join the community and continue the conversation!

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