In addition to the badge and rank they get on our community (we give them both), we issue them a badge via Credly to showcase on their linkedin.
I was just explaining how this works on another question if you’re curious as to our solution. But, for our super user/champions, it’s much simpler. I just manually award them the badge on both Insided and via credly, as they enter the program individually and at a manageable volume.
FWIW, in addition to you question about how to recognize them (very important for incentivizing and thanking them), we use the rank because I think recognizing their contributions/expertise is important context for other users to benefit from. With a rank, it says “Subject Matter Expert” (our term) next to their posts and replies, which helps the person who ask the question, and those reading it, know that the reply is coming from someone with a lot of experience/expertise/contributions in the community. Badges are good too, but that context is a bit hidden.
The tricky part is what do you do when those people move on or cannot be actively contributing any longer? Their expertise and contributions are still relevant. That’s what I’m ideating on currently: a rank that recognizes their contributions and offers that context on their posts, but also indicates they’re not as active as they once were. Idk… maybe i’m over thinking it :)
Hi @DannyPancratz,
I reread your answer as I’m thinking through another community champion program question I just asked, and realized i never thanked you for giving your insight here. It was valuable and I’m grateful!
Did you ever figure out what to do on that last matter you were investigating? On lapsed superusers/champions who weren’t as active as they used to be?
Did you ever figure out what to do on that last matter you were investigating? On lapsed superusers/champions who weren’t as active as they used to be?
@Taylor Tarpley, yes recently actually! And with a simple solution: once they become inactive/leave the program, I use the custom user title to have their rank/title say “Former Subject Matter Expert.” For me, the SME part conveys their expertise, while the former adds the context that they’re unlikely to reply to any new comments on their previous posts.
This is easiest for staff in that SME program, because I know that when they leave the company they won’t be contributing any more. For others who become inactive or opt-out of the program, it’s a little trickier, but I still think it works. (If they’re still semi-engaged they can reach out to request a different title if they don’t like it)
