Global Communities Require Global Approaches

Imagine living in another part of the world, belonging to a membership association for which you pay annual dues, and the benefits, community, and product names are all created with a single lens because of the part of the world the home office sits in.

Now imagine you’re the association charged with solving the problem of getting your global membership connected. Say you’re based in North America and all the members in that region seem to love your community and all the content and experiences that it offers. However, your members in India, Japan, or Africa aren’t engaging as much and you can’t seem to understand why.

This isn’t a hypothetical scenario. Associations worldwide face this challenge even when they have global staff. It’s especially true with online communities in these spaces. We’ve seen time and time again the desire to create online communities to serve global member bases without the needed support to do it effectively. There may be budget, but only one community staff member. Or there may be a community team, but all based in one part of the world. As talented and strategic as these professionals are, many times they do not have enough of a lens into the needs of global members to understand and implement the experiences needed to speak to the membership regionally to foster meaningful engagement.So what happens?

We dig into our community management toolbelt and start thinking about what most community members want and need holistically to foster participation, connection, and conversation. And while this works for a little while, sooner or later it’s not enough to keep a global community engaged. No experience is one size fits all in any area of experience design and community is no different. You cannot expect that the same webinars, discussions, and content will resonate with anyone who comes into your community. Nor can you assume that the way that those experiences are delivered (including timing) work for everyone. At PMI, we have had many members reach out and ask us if there was any possibility to hold webinars earlier in the day or later in the evening to allow members in other parts of the world to participate live versus having to watch the sessions on-demand every time. So, where we’ve been able to, when speakers are willing, we schedule webinars outside of “optimal” viewing times to ensure just that. Additionally, our events team has started holding our virtual events at times that allow for more global participation – even if that means a 5am EDT start time for staff headquartered in the US.

And these things work really well for a well-staffed, well-resourced online community within an association. But having those resources and the staff to carry out a regional community management plan aren’t always possible, especially for small staff associations. In this case, how do community professionals who are a team of one account for the experiences of community members outside of their global headquarters?

First things first, strategize for global participation and engagement. If your online community strategy doesn’t consider the fact that you have community members who live in parts of the world outside of your home country, go back to the drawing board. This is an incredibly myopic way of thinking about delivering value. And there’s no judgment associated with it. However, it’s easy to fall into when all your association’s business activities are centered in one location. Use data that you already have access to (market research, member satisfaction surveys, etc.) to help guide your way forward here. It shouldn’t be a guessing game. Where you think you have holes or gaps in that data, reach out to your community to understand the need and incorporate that feedback into your plan. Without that step – and the data to back it up – the rest of your efforts are just a guessing game.

I also believe that you can put some of the power back into the hands of your community members. You know there are gaps. Your community members who have cared enough to point them out have already shared this feedback with you. Many of them have likely even provided possible solutions. Those same community members are likely more than willing to help shape those experiences for the benefit of the greater community. Don’t be afraid to lean on volunteers to help you hold webinars at times that work for members in different regions or deliver AMAs, office hours, or other community rituals that provide value to your global member base. Form groups within your online community around a specific topic or industry that may resonate more with members in Korea or Scotland to allow them to feel like they also have a home within your online community. You can also enlist the help of your global staff members to help create the experiences and content members want. Those partnerships and relationships you’ve built across the organization can certainly come in handy here.

If your association is a bit better resourced, during budget season make the case for exploring a regional community management staffing model that will not only lend to the experience but ensure ownership and accountability for the community’s success on a larger scale and help expand your community program’s reach and value.

Putting some effort and time into understanding who your community members are and what’s important to them helps create holistic approaches that account for all community members. In doing so, you deliver an immense amount of value to your members and keep people at the center of what you do. And isn’t that part of what building community is all about?

What ways have you effectively created experiences for your global community? What are you still struggling with? Tell us in the comments below!