Starting an online community can seem like a daunting task at first. It’s easy to think that you need experience with other online communities to build a successful one for your own organization. However, while communities on a screen seem like a new phenomenon, their goal is to mimic a real-life community. So, rather than seeing yourself as the community manager of an online group, try imagining you are the town planner in charge of helping a new town get off its feet. By putting yourself in this mindset you can set your community, and yourself, up for long-term success.
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Topics:
Online Community Management,
Engagement,
Online Community
Internet Live Stats estimates that almost 3.5 billion people have internet, and according to Ipsos, 85% of those internet users have email. That means there are almost three billion email users around the world.
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Topics:
Member Engagement,
Marketing Automation,
Email Marketing,
Marketing,
Associations
Think back to your first job out of college. You were probably excited and wanted to learn everything. You may even have been eager to work your way up in the company.
What about now? Are you still at the same organization you joined right out of high school or college? Most people aren't. For one reason or another, people leave. They find new jobs with better opportunities, or more fulfilling work. That can be a problem for the organizations they leave behind, associations included.
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Topics:
Online Community Management,
Online Community,
Member Experience,
Customer Experience
Developing a growth strategy for your association takes time. It takes hours of debating the best methods to use to reach prospective members, and days of content creation and campaign management. It's stressful. And it could all boil down to nothing if you don't use tactics that are effective.
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Topics:
Online Community Management,
Marketing Automation,
Online Community,
Associations,
Email Marketing,
Member Communities
Some community managers are really lucky. We work with groups of people mustered around a mission that we already care about—whether it’s a charitable organization, a favorite TV show, or the industry that we already work in. But many, maybe even most, of us are in an altogether different boat: we’re managing communities in which we’re not subject matter experts. How many times have you stared at a question that’s gone unanswered because, not only do you not know the answer, you don’t even know how to find someone who does know, because half the words being used might as well be in Linear A?
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Topics:
Engagement,
Customer Advocacy,
Online Community Management,
Online Community
Wikipedia is one of the best examples of user generated content on a massive scale. Almost the entire site -- one of the most used websites in the world -- is content made by extremely dedicated volunteers. It’s the only way Wikipedia, a non-profit funded by donations, could survive -- they depend on volunteers for their entire existence.
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Topics:
Engagement,
Volunteer Management,
Online Community
What did you think about Snapchat when it first came out? Did you think it was a fad that would burn out? I did. But now, four years later, Snapchat is still going strong and those who jumped on the Snapchat bandwagon at the beginning are seeing the benefits.
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Topics:
Associations,
Online Community,
Marketing Automation
Ask 10 people in your office to describe your online community software. I bet almost all of them talk about forums and discussions. While forums are great for ongoing conversations, they're not effective for centralizing community resources or allowing members to share tools or collaborate on documents. That's why file libraries are an equally popular feature.
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Topics:
Online Community Management,
Engagement,
Online Community
You’ve been hired -- or got promoted! -- and are now in charge of an pre-existing community.
From the outset, taking on an existing community can be easier than starting a brand new one -- someone else already did the heavy lifting of establishing that community. Now you just have to take the reins and run with it.
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Topics:
Online Community Management,
Online Community
Leadership hype always focuses on the C-suite – are your executives on social media? Do they have direct contact with customers or community members through formal feedback systems or a product advisory board? Do they understand shared value for your community initiatives? Most communities fall short in some categories and exceed in others - it’s rarely A’s across the board for executive participation.
But here’s another consideration: have you ever tapped leadership beyond the C-suite?
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Topics:
Online Community Management,
Engagement,
Community Platforms & Updates,
Online Community
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