#cmad

Starting an online community is no small feat. Starting one from scratch and getting members of that online community to act on their own and engage with one another is even harder!

In honor of Community Manager Appreciation Day, of which Breezio is a proud sponsor, we interviewed one of our rock star community managers, Liora Knizhnik, who started and is growing BioBuzz’s online community.

Many membership organizations have launched online communities over the past several years. Some have experienced success, and others haven’t quite figured out yet what it will take to engage their members online  If you’re still trying to figure out this puzzle for your organization, don’t give up! The good news is, If you are ready to give it another shot - which you should - technology and demographics have changed in the past few years to your advantage. There is no better time than now to revisit your online community strategy.

If you’re ready to revamp your community with optimal engagement and value in mind, the first two questions to consider are,

Do you have a (good) Community Manager?

Is your online community set up to encourage curated content?

We have actually identified 7 criteria that successful online communities must have, which we’ll cover in a future post, but these two questions are a critical starting point to get you moving in the right direction.

#1 The Community Manager:

The importance of a Community Manager is not even a valid argument anymore.  In the past, many organizations implemented a “If you build it, they will come” model and left their online strategy unattended and without a clear plan. This is a recipe for failure in terms of engagement.  Launching an online community without a Community Manager is equivalent to scheduling your annual conference, but thinking you can pull it off without an Event Manager(s).You’d be crazy to think something like that, right?!  The same is true for your online community.

If you want to get your community management game up to speed fast, check out the 7th annual Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD) event on January 23rd.  This full day of programming and events will give you a great chance to learn about the latest trends and best practices shared by experts from across the world. There is no better resource than #CMAD, and the best part is that it’s mostly virtual so you can attend right from your office, or couch. Breezio is sponsoring the first panel discussion of the day - “Community Ninjutsu: The art and strategy behind online engagement” - featuring experts in online community strategy so you won’t want to miss it.   

#2 Curated content is King!  

Today most online communities are still built around segmented discussion boards on antiquated platforms that were first architected years ago.  This one-dimensional, flat model would be fine if it was 2010, but not today.  Millennials now make up 50+% of our workforce. They are the most in-demand new member recruitment category and they come with high digital expectations.  This demographic of digital natives grew up on platforms that had an open model, were accessible anywhere via smartphone, and through which they could share content and engage peers with ease; i.e. facebook, snapchat, twitter, LinkedIn, meetup, etc.

John Mancini (@jmancini77), CEO of AIIM, shared an article on LinkedIn late last year - Why do associations seem to be losing their community mojo that embodies a lot of the same principles and online engagement philosophies that we stand for at Breezio (@brzio) as well. One point in particular that we fully align on is the belief that "The fundamental building block (of engagement) is curated content, not just discussions."  This is actually one of the core principles Breezio was built on!

Member curated content definitely gives you the most value!  Launch and lead your community as a place where members can share thought leadership in order to enhance the value of the whole community and create a marketplace for knowledge innovation. More members sharing and curating means you become the convener for the best thought leaders and access to knowledge in your field.

This is the online community of the future - one that moves well beyond a group of discussion forums and becomes a multi-dimensional digital marketplace with deep engagement.  

Community Manager + Curated Content = Engagement

These two conditions, community management and a content centered framework actually work extremely well together and make for the building blocks of a highly engaged community.  In fact, the Community roundtable’s (@TheCR) Community Maturity Model (see below) illustrates that the most mature communities have a good mix of formal and user generated content integrated into their program, and a highly integrated community management structure. With more content options, Community Managers have more tools to work with to build their strategy and programs around, so it’s no surprise that these two factors go hand in hand to make communities most successful.  

I hope that this article gave you some good ideas to think about as you think strategically about member engagement.  Your online community isn’t the only platform you need to rethink your future digital strategy; but as you do, I hope you’ll invest wisely in both the people to manage it, and the right content engagement technology to build it on.

~Chris Frew

VP, Sales

@brzio