Welcome to Phlywheel! We're thrilled you're here and can't wait to get to know you better!
🥰 It’s our mission to help businesses like yours simplify the landscape of digital marketing and give you the skills and confidence you need to build a winning marketing strategy and plan.
To that end, we will be working hard to ensure that we align our actions with that purpose. These Community Guidelines are here to encourage the type of community engagement we aim for!
Here are some general guidelines:
DO help others! - If someone asks a question and you have a suggestion, please jump in and share! We don't have all of the answers and believe strongly in the wisdom of crowds.
DON'T grandstand - Grandstanding, or showing off, can shut down the conversation. Phlywheel is a community of mutual aid and learning, which means we all have something to learn...even the pros!
DO give us lots and lots of feedback and suggestions! - We're doing something kind of new here and so there will be many times when you see something we're doing and have an idea on how to do it better. In these cases, PLEASE LET US KNOW! When we improve our approach, everybody wins. Don't worry about hurting our feelings.
DO use "yes, and..." - If you don't agree with advice or an idea, don't knock it down. Instead, use the "yes, and..." rule. Rather than saying, "I disagree with your approach to SEO," say, "That's an interesting approach. My approach is a bit different."
DON'T publicly shame - Yes, sometimes people make gaffs or say things that make you go, "HUH?" Instead of shaming them ("You're a sexist pig!"), take them aside (PM) and explain what they said could be hurtful or spam or the like. The big no-no list is below👇 (feel free to point them to these items in your PM). Urge them to remove their comments. If they don't or if you don't feel comfortable taking them aside and we haven't seen it, let us know and we'll remove it and deal directly with the member.
DO be brave! - There are no dumb questions and, frankly, you'll be surprised at how many others on Phlywheel are wondering the same thing. The more people open up, the better the conversations will be here.
DO respect the confidentiality of your community members - We know that you'll want to download and share resources you find here with team members and clients and such. We're trusting that you do this respectfully. But one thing that is a HUGE no-no is to take a confidential conversation or information that another member shares on here and post it elsewhere for others to see. We want others to feel safe to talk about anything, so we need to respect that! If we catch anyone doing this, we'll revoke your membership (no refunds).
DO ask for permission to share - As a counter to the previous rule, there will be exceptions. Say you want to give a presentation elsewhere and you heard a wonderful case study on Phlywheel that would be perfect as part of it. What you need to do is go to the person who shared confidentially on Phlywheel and get their explicit permission to share their story. Make sure you share with them what you'll be sharing elsewhere so they can make sure you've told their story accurately.
DON'T spam or self-promote - Spam or blatant self-promotion will be removed. We've created a special group for you to post any promotions. For context, these are considered spam:
"I'm launching this thing today and could use some retweets/shares on your platforms!"
"Could you give me a follow on this platform over here?"
"If you need a lawyer/accountant/ consultant/floral arranger, I'm the best! Here is my website!"
"Donate to my GoFundMe so I can pay for a new laptop!"
"Buy my book/app/candles/etc.!"
Now...the exception to this rule is when someone explicitly asks for help in other groups or chat...such as:
"Hey! Anyone know a good flower arranger?" --> if you're a flower arranger, feel free to respond!