chris-MGRV
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2010
- Messages
- 727
For those of you who follow the Facebook groups, you might have already seen this, but it took me longer to get home. LOL.
Grand Design called the Social Media admins to their home in IN to discuss how we all best serve our user communities. There was me from the Forum (Jim as also invited, but could not attend), and the Facebook groups for the main Owner's group, Momentum, Solitude, Imagine, and Transcend groups, as well as the Rally group. The Reflection group was not able to attend. There were some Facebook groups that were not invited as they are not necessarily productive groups.
The focus of the meeting was how Grand Design was going to help us in our mission of supporting you, without intruding on our boundaries. We all discussed how we make some synergy between the groups, but also keep them segmented as well. Without going into the "Inside Baseball" areas, I will tell you that it was productive all around. What was clear was that we are all different here. Different than any of the FB groups. Not better, but different. We aren't the biggest, but I believe that we are exceptionally influential.
There are some minor changes that will come from the summit for us. First off, as a courtesy, I have created a group for our Facebook Partner Admins. I invited them all to join, and to participate in the forum. They are all truly exceptional people, as you know if you have met any of them. Second, I am creating a "Offers and discounts" group. We will start offering more of these types of things. I don't consider them advertisements, but instead perks. If you don't want to use them, then don't. If you do, then you do so at your own decision. I am neither endorsing nor supporting them, just offering the vendors a place to provide the discount. Lastly, I expressed to GD that I expect greater involvement from them on the forum. Our partnership is not a one way street. If we are going to have a manufacturer section, then I expect them to participate. Otherwise we will sever our relationship with them. They agreed whole heatedly, and we will meet further to solidify these efforts. I was very pleased with their acknowledgement of lack of participation, and their desire to help us.
I am also going to create some different content around the Owners Forum team, my wife Michaela will be participating more in blogs and on the forum, Grand Design will be creating more of the content that you have asked for (I passed the survey results along to them too), and so will I. I will be creating more first timer content, some good info concerning weights, towing, etc that has been requested as well. And I will also be putting together some "Emergency" management content for those that run into problems. Each of the groups will be doing some things like this.
Ultimately, Grand Design stressed that they don't want to manage our content. We stressed that we didn't want that either. We're unique and fortunate in that we have a Manufacturer's section, but they were very respectful in making sure that we owned our content' and they wanted to help us to provide great content to you. They also really wanted us to know some of the information that comes up over and over again. We will all be working separately, and together to improve some things so that each of the groups provide similar "baseline" information. Then it is up to us to manage our separate communities.
Let me be clear. We will not be like Facebook. We can't be, we're built differently. We have a great formula here. I will not be creating more free content. I will not introduce advertising, and I will not change the way we run this forum. I had been leaning that way, but I was reminded why I run things the way that I do. If $12.00 is too much for our content, then I understand. I also know that what we have created here is unique, and absolutely amazing. By charging, we put a tension into the content that encourages solid participation. We don't get much of the riff raff. When we do, it doesn't last long. I also know we may miss out on some great things. If you believe that you have great things to offer, let me know. I will work something out with you. You can work off your $12.00. Our forum is fast, there are no tracking cookies, there are no ad cookies. Our site is secure on SSL, and runs blisteringly fast. Compared to other web forums, we rock. Our speed is SNAP!
At the end of the meeting, I was truly impressed. The Facebook teams are made up of great people. We have our differences, but ended up really appreciating each other's forums. Please let me know if you want me to elaborate on anything, or if you have any questions. I will share more on some of the things later. Plan on contests and SCHWAG! Lol. It was clear, after my visit, that Grand Design is special. They do things in their processes that are not matched in the industry.
The Winnebago acquisition did not change the company. There have been challenges, and you all know them. The difference is how they are handled. We discussed a lot about how calls are handled, how people are handled, how people who discredit them are handled. I believe things will become more clear concerning that in the near future.
What became clear through all of the meetings was you. You are truly special. Your content, your wisdom, your creativity, your willingness to help each other, your comradery, and our forum family were especially recognized. I had many discussions about our content, and our members. Thank you, all of you for what you have built here. I was truly proud to represent you.
Thank you all very much.
Chris
Grand Design called the Social Media admins to their home in IN to discuss how we all best serve our user communities. There was me from the Forum (Jim as also invited, but could not attend), and the Facebook groups for the main Owner's group, Momentum, Solitude, Imagine, and Transcend groups, as well as the Rally group. The Reflection group was not able to attend. There were some Facebook groups that were not invited as they are not necessarily productive groups.
The focus of the meeting was how Grand Design was going to help us in our mission of supporting you, without intruding on our boundaries. We all discussed how we make some synergy between the groups, but also keep them segmented as well. Without going into the "Inside Baseball" areas, I will tell you that it was productive all around. What was clear was that we are all different here. Different than any of the FB groups. Not better, but different. We aren't the biggest, but I believe that we are exceptionally influential.
There are some minor changes that will come from the summit for us. First off, as a courtesy, I have created a group for our Facebook Partner Admins. I invited them all to join, and to participate in the forum. They are all truly exceptional people, as you know if you have met any of them. Second, I am creating a "Offers and discounts" group. We will start offering more of these types of things. I don't consider them advertisements, but instead perks. If you don't want to use them, then don't. If you do, then you do so at your own decision. I am neither endorsing nor supporting them, just offering the vendors a place to provide the discount. Lastly, I expressed to GD that I expect greater involvement from them on the forum. Our partnership is not a one way street. If we are going to have a manufacturer section, then I expect them to participate. Otherwise we will sever our relationship with them. They agreed whole heatedly, and we will meet further to solidify these efforts. I was very pleased with their acknowledgement of lack of participation, and their desire to help us.
I am also going to create some different content around the Owners Forum team, my wife Michaela will be participating more in blogs and on the forum, Grand Design will be creating more of the content that you have asked for (I passed the survey results along to them too), and so will I. I will be creating more first timer content, some good info concerning weights, towing, etc that has been requested as well. And I will also be putting together some "Emergency" management content for those that run into problems. Each of the groups will be doing some things like this.
Ultimately, Grand Design stressed that they don't want to manage our content. We stressed that we didn't want that either. We're unique and fortunate in that we have a Manufacturer's section, but they were very respectful in making sure that we owned our content' and they wanted to help us to provide great content to you. They also really wanted us to know some of the information that comes up over and over again. We will all be working separately, and together to improve some things so that each of the groups provide similar "baseline" information. Then it is up to us to manage our separate communities.
Let me be clear. We will not be like Facebook. We can't be, we're built differently. We have a great formula here. I will not be creating more free content. I will not introduce advertising, and I will not change the way we run this forum. I had been leaning that way, but I was reminded why I run things the way that I do. If $12.00 is too much for our content, then I understand. I also know that what we have created here is unique, and absolutely amazing. By charging, we put a tension into the content that encourages solid participation. We don't get much of the riff raff. When we do, it doesn't last long. I also know we may miss out on some great things. If you believe that you have great things to offer, let me know. I will work something out with you. You can work off your $12.00. Our forum is fast, there are no tracking cookies, there are no ad cookies. Our site is secure on SSL, and runs blisteringly fast. Compared to other web forums, we rock. Our speed is SNAP!
At the end of the meeting, I was truly impressed. The Facebook teams are made up of great people. We have our differences, but ended up really appreciating each other's forums. Please let me know if you want me to elaborate on anything, or if you have any questions. I will share more on some of the things later. Plan on contests and SCHWAG! Lol. It was clear, after my visit, that Grand Design is special. They do things in their processes that are not matched in the industry.
The Winnebago acquisition did not change the company. There have been challenges, and you all know them. The difference is how they are handled. We discussed a lot about how calls are handled, how people are handled, how people who discredit them are handled. I believe things will become more clear concerning that in the near future.
What became clear through all of the meetings was you. You are truly special. Your content, your wisdom, your creativity, your willingness to help each other, your comradery, and our forum family were especially recognized. I had many discussions about our content, and our members. Thank you, all of you for what you have built here. I was truly proud to represent you.
Thank you all very much.
Chris