How to be a Good Marketo Nation Citizen
My goal in this post is to share with you how to get the most out of the Community. I've been on here since 2011, when it first started and have enjoyed making friends and helping people understand Marketo and Marketing Automation.
I noticed recently that many of you aren't taking advantage of the wealth of resources built up in the past 4 years. Let me show you what you're missing, especially if you are new to Marketo:
How to Ask a Question that will get you a useful response
A quick walkthrough of the last two weeks’ threads show me most of the questions look like:
“What is the best practice on nurturing?”
“How do I deal with bounced emails?”
“Can I add a lead to a List twice?”
“How does the sync work?”
“Is there a partner for X application?”
Each question could have been answered with a quick look at the Docs or search of the Community for existing answers. Why wait for an answer when most are at your fingertips already?
Most of my responses end up asking another question: “What exactly do you want to do?” I can’t provide a great answer to a vague question. Here are my tips for getting the maximum value out of your Discussion threads:
- Try it yourself! Be a pro, test something and learn from it. Just be careful not to press Run on experiments J
- Read the Docs. Most feature related questions can be answered in docs.marketo.com very quickly. Not always, but often.
- Do your research first. About half the questions are the same every week, mostly from new users. I can guarantee you that someone already answered it at least twice and in more detail. So take the time to check the FAQ and use that search bar in the top left corner. You will be delighted!
- Explain what you did in the Question: I did X, Y, Z and this happened to me. Should I do A or B? If I do A, this could happen, if I do B, that could happen. This tells me that you actually tried to do something in your system and it did not work or you may have future issues you are unsure about. Then others can tell you what they think the pros and cons are, or something they tried that worked well.
- Add screenshots.
- Share Test page URLs if you can.
- Know the difference between a Support Ticket and a Question. For example:
Marketo is slow to send emails out today = Support Ticket. No one else will know why your instance is having trouble.
How do I move people between Engagements using Opens and Clicks? = Discussion Question
Basic Troubleshooting
Here are some quick ideas that should help you figure things out yourself. To me, this is the best way to learn the system and to prepare for the Marketo Certification Exam.
- What type of error? Can I describe what should happen vs. what is happening?
- Check the Campaign Summary Tab for counts and Run History
- Check Results Tab
- Check Lead Detail from sample leads to track back changes and campaign impact.
- Notifications – is there a sync error?
- Are the filters right? Are you sure?
- Is Marketo the source of the error? Is it the CRM or Web?
- Did I search the Community for similar problems?
If you still cannot resolve an error, then either ask a Question or call Support. Support is going to be most helpful when you provide key information:
- Direct link to the Campaign, List, Lead, or Program.
- What is happening now
- What you want to happen.
- Business impact.
Things to Avoid
- Do not share proprietary information. We’re cool here, but it’s a risk you shouldn’t take.
- Do not promote your firm's products unless it answers a direct question or solves someone's problem clearly.
Things to Do
- Give back: answer questions if you know the answer.
- Join a MUG.
- Read the Guidelines
- Read the Nation How To
- Post your cool workflow
- Write a Community Blog Post
- Post job opportunities!
- Follow Threads and People
- Bookmark key threads that provide great solutions.
- Read the Docs
- Look at Launchpoint for integration ideas to extend your capabilities.
And keep on learning!
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