Does Your Online Community Contribute to Business Growth? Here’s How to Tell.

You’ve heard it time and time again – well executed online community programs have a clear value proposition and lend to the overall success of the larger business. These aren’t just my words. There has been extensive research done by The Community Roundtable, Feverbee, and other sources that show the connection between a well-thought-out online community strategy and how it contributes to the success of the greater business. It sounds like a no-brainer but it’s not as easy to forge those connections within an association. Much of that has to do with internal silos and a lack of understanding around the purpose of an online community and/or the ability to define it well within the overall strategy of the association. This is not an uncommon challenge. However, these are not challenges that can’t be overcome. Many associations immediately see the value of online community and the place it has in the association’s success. It’s easy to see where the business has made room for online community (and community mindset) in the strategy and how the online community is able to carry out its strategy, as well.How will you recognize when your online community has become essential to your association’s growth and success? Look for these signs to show that you are headed in the right direction.Non-community staff have community-related goals/objectivesYour community staff has specific objectives that they have to carry out for the success of the online community. However, when you start to see that other association staff has community woven into their overall goals and objectives, this is a huge indication that your association “gets it.” The value of the online community has been realized and a community mindset has been adopted throughout the entire business. To me, that’s a huge step forward. It can sometimes be a huge leap, but it’s attainable.You don’t have to defend your online community’s valueI think we’ve all been there at some point in time in our community management careers, right? People tend to scratch their heads when you talk with them about the online community. They’re not sure what they’re supposed to do with it or how to interact with it. They ask questions about content and forums, but nothing that really gets to the heart at what the online community does for the business, at large. When your association realizes the value of your community, you go from being an afterthought in strategic conversations to being essential to them. Conversations that used to leave you frustrated now leave you energized and excited for what’s ahead. Not only do your association leaders understand community value, but staff across the board understand where it connects into the business.Your metrics seamlessly tie into organization objectives while still meeting community goalsI remember early on in my community management career it wasn’t easy for me to speak to metrics outside of how they showed quantitative growth within the online community. “We had 10k new people join this month” was about as far as I could take a conversation around what that meant for growth. Then I started to dig a little deeper into what those metrics meant and thought to myself “wait, where does this connect to the overall business and what are these metrics telling us?” Those questions allowed me to introduce a new set of engagement metrics that could then tell a story about how the growth and maturity of the online community connects to the overall org objectives. It was no longer a struggle to make those connections because I deeply understood both my online community’s purpose and where the association was trying to go. And while that also means that I know that my metrics for the online community program, to some extent, must evolve as the association evolves, making that connection doesn’t leave me with a puzzled look on my face or the faces of those I have to explain them to.Internal silos are disappearingYou might be thinking “what does my online community have to do with breaking down internal silos?” It’s about mindset. People like Maggie McGary, Susan Cato, and Rachel Happe have been saying for years that associations are communities. The way associations operate is, essentially, building community around its mission; through events, chapters, content, membership – you name it. The challenge comes when each business unit within the association focuses only on their piece of the pie – what they have to accomplish in order to meet their goals. It boggles my mind how an association’s many areas find themselves segmenting/siloed to drive toward the overall strategic objectives. But community mindset changes that. It fosters the belief that it is only by working together, across functional areas, that an objective can be achieved and tangible value for both the association and for those it serves can be realized. In order to do that, walls must come down and people must start to work more collaboratively to achieve an objective. You may think you’re already working that way but look around. If you still find, what seems like, immovable barriers to getting work done then those silos still exist. Community mindset can help remove those barriers.Your online community program doesn’t have to be an afterthought. When done well, it is woven into every aspect of the association and is essential to the way that strategic goals are met. Value and strategic direction are clear and being realized in every aspect of work. And quite honestly, I believe it is the future of associations. Hopefully, they see it and embrace it, too.Where have you seen your online community/community mindset make a difference in your association? What barriers still exist in your world? Share your insights in the comments below!