Digital Community Leaders - Shane Lennox
This week on the Digital Community Leaders podcast, we had the pleasure of hosting guest Shane Lennox. Shane is currently the director of product at Hopin, an online video conference-hosting platform.
With a vast experience in product, Shane is also heavily involved in the community aspects at Hopin and offers some brilliant insight during this conversation.
Post Pandemic Strategy
Like many industries, the pandemic presented a shift in tide for online communities and virtual events or meetings. No matter your line of work, if you were to draw a graph to show engagement it would be greatly skewed - positively or negatively - around the 2020 mark.
For Shane, this was definitely the case. Heading up product at a company focussed around online video conferences, Shane explained that things got particularly hectic.
Now that we are on the other side, a different type of challenge is presented. Growth is naturally moving at a slower rate now that people aren't forced to do everything virtually.
So what's Shane's strategic focus now?
Firstly, Shane explained that they've had to take a step back at Hopin and assess the market. It's important to get a realistic gauge of where their product sits, outside of the recent anomalous situation.
From there, it's easier to assess any missing pieces - and for Shane, he discovered this was community.
Growing a Community
As a director of product and a community leader, Shane offered two valuable perspectives when asked about community growth. His advice was expert, but conveyed in a helpfully simplified manner.
With community, Shane expressed the importance of working hard to reach out and talk to people. Purely hoping for an "organic" community can easily be confused with expecting growth without putting work in.
With product, Shane approaches growth very systematically - with an emphasis on how the community is growing. Acquiring new members is of course important, but for Shane it's also vital to ensure new members are activated and retentive.
“I think a lot of people are afraid to talk to their customers and community members, and I think getting used to asking the right questions - in the right way - is really important. ”
Overall, this conversation with a brilliant guest is a must-listen. Shane is a prestigious community leader and offers gems of knowledge throughout.
You can check out this episode of the Digital Community Leaders podcast now across all platforms.
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