The Value of Authenticity in User Groups— EP017
User groups will tell you how to improve your product— if you are authentic in return
Today we are talking about user groups — programs that gather local communities in the real world. Our guests are Victor Bohnert and Brad Tompkins. Victor is a Principal at the Innovatis Group and has worked with associations and user groups for nearly 20 years. Brad is the current CEO of the VMware User Group and his career background spans a number of operations and management roles in the tech area. We discuss the value of a user group program, how you start one, why a company would want one, who should be running the program, the different kinds of user groups, and what makes them different from other professional associations.
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Main Points:
- User groups aren’t structurally that different from any professional association, but what makes them different is they are centered around customers that use a particular product or solution. The introduction of the third component, the OEM (vendor). User communities strike a balance or provide a voice between the OEM and the customer base.
- They have evolved into something that can have a major impact on customer loyalty, spending activity, and product development.
- User groups offer a way to cut across different vendor channels and give you a feedback channel to hear from your customer group.
- The independence of user groups is a key tenet. Peers sharing with peers gives real-world examples and experience that is hard to get anywhere else.
- Two of the biggest challenges that they have seen include the cultural support within the company and the concept of keeping it independent.
- Listening to the right people and the right voices is a key element of community groups.
- Starting with realistic expectations of what the program should be is key to success. Even just sitting for pizza and beer once a month and talking/listening is better than thinking it will be something big from the very start. You don’t need to have a huge budget for a user group to work.
- It’s important for user groups to bridge the gap between things that go through the channel and who the actual user is.
About our guests, Victor Bohnert and Brad Tompkins:
Victor has worked with various associations for nearly 20 years. He has extensive experience in building and managing customer communities in the all sectors and has led several organizational turn-arounds and mergers.
He’s motivated by the power of communities, as he believes when properly formed, communities of interests can grow and scale to help not only their members today, but can change whole industries driving positive disruption through advocacy.
He has worked directly with many organizations to set overall strategy to ensure sustained value and growth. Victor has served in leadership roles for several organizations, ranging from startups to global organizations with over 100,000 members. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events.
He began his career in campaign politics, holding several positions for candidates seeking office in the US Congress, Senate, and Presidency. He lives in Nashville with his wife and three children.
Brad is a 20-year industry executive with a broad and diverse leadership background in corporate technology operations. He currently serves as CEO of VMware User Group (VMUG) and is responsible for building and leading top-performing teams, increasing profitability and managing costs.
Passionate advocate for education, information technology, leadership development, and non-profits, Brad was previously recognized as IASA’s New Volunteer of the Year. He served as Board Member for Richland & Lexington Counties on My Carolina — The Official University of South Carolina Alumni Association and as President for the International Nortel Networks Users Association (INNUA) and the Information Technology Professionals of South Carolina.
Brad has been actively involved in the IT industry his entire career. As CEO of the VMware User Group (VMUG), he serves over 115,000 active members around the globe. In his role, he focuses on being an advocate, providing feedback to VMware leadership, and being a conduit of product and company information from VMware to its customers.
Mentioned In This Episode:
John on Twitter: @jtroyer
Kathleen on Twitter: @dailykat
@VMUG_CEO on Twitter
The Influence Marketing Podcast is a podcast from the Influence Marketing Council, an industry council for B2B brands who innovate in influencer, advocacy, and community marketing. Podcast co-hosts John Mark Troyer and Kathleen Nelson Troyer are also co-founders of the IMC. For more information, go to influencemarketingcouncil.com.
