Community Strategy is Bigger Than Us

I found out a few weeks ago that I am getting the opportunity to attend TED2019 in Vancouver, Canada next week. After I picked my jaw up off of the floor and gracefully said “thank you” for the opportunity, I ran to check the site to see what this year’s theme is.

Bigger than Us

As I stared at that title I immediately began to think about online communities and how their purpose is much bigger than just serving community members. This is not to diminish the incredibly important role that they play in member engagement, serving customer needs, and making connections. But that’s not the only lens community strategy should be created through. And if you’re creating your community strategy within your association with just that in mind, allow me to suggest going back to the drawing board.Your online community adds a tremendous amount of value to your association. Your strategy should reflect that value as well as the benefit of engagement it provides to community members. Here are a few suggestions on how to approach your thinking.Connect to the larger business strategyIf the purpose of your online community is clear, the association’s strategy has spelled out exactly where the online community fits in its overall success. That could surface as playing a part in membership retention, serving as a communications/marketing channel, or improving the overall customer experience. If your online community is called out in any manner in your association’s strategy, you should expect to outline how it will accomplish its purpose in your online community strategy. If your only focus is how the online community will be successful in and of itself without consideration for the bigger picture, you’re missing the boat.Measure what mattersCommunity metrics are important because they show the overall health of the online community. There are a lot of ways you can go about determining what you should be measuring from a community health standpoint. Leader Networks has a great resource that lets you take a deep dive into what you should be measuring based on your community’s use case. Your community metrics should tell a story about how it impacts business value. There should be some correlation that shows that your online community is providing tangible value, not only to members, but to the association as well. And those metrics should be flexible enough to still exhibit value when there are shifts in the overall business.Keep evolvingYour online community strategy is not meant to be static. There are elements that will remain foundational to the way your online community meets runs. But with maturity, comes evolution. The needs of your members change. The strategic direction of your association may change. And that means that, to some extent, your online community strategy should change, as well. The worse thing you can do is be so short-sighted that you don’t see the opportunities for growth and continued value for your online community because you’re not keeping the bigger picture in mind. Have conversations with other parts of the business to see where they are pivoting and be forward thinking. Missing this important piece of staying connected to the overall association strategy could set your community up for failure – or even worse – obsolescence.Your online community should focus on your members, but it should also reflect that you understand that it’s so much bigger. Take care and consideration as you build out your strategy, pivot where you need to, and it will continue to deliver value to your members and to the association.What ways are you thinking bigger when building your community strategy? Tell us in the comments below!