To help you get started, we’ve broken down the process into 10 straightforward steps that’ll take you from initial planning to launching a successful and thriving online community.
What does success look like for your online community? Is it more member engagement, better insights into members’ needs, or additional revenue streams from events or renewals? All of these are legitimate – and measurable – goals.
Think of your online community as an investment, and let the potential financial impact of these goals guide your budget and platform choice.
Most community platforms offer the basics, but there’s one important rule – don’t consider any solution that doesn’t summarise community content in an email! Look for a platform that integrates seamlessly with your email and CRM systems, as consistent, relevant email updates are vital to keeping members informed.
Consider open-source or modular options for customisation and the freedom to scale as your community grows. Don’t stress about being locked into one platform – data can always be moved later if your needs change.
While your vendor will manage the initial setup, make sure your team also understands the integrations. A robust, up-to-date CRM integration is helpful but not essential – many communities thrive without it. If your CRM doesn’t support automatic sync, focus on easy manual updates to keep your community data fresh.
Branding and design make a community feel like home, but don’t stress! Most leading platforms will adopt your colours, fonts, and logo with ease. A full design pass can be essential to some community strategies, but if JavaScript or CSS skills aren’t in your toolkit, don’t worry – your vendor should have this covered.
Clarify who will handle each part of the project. While your vendor will do the technical heavy lifting, your internal team will oversee the implementation, learn how to use the platform, and lead engagement before and after launch.
A dedicated community manager or team of volunteers will make a world of difference when it comes to ongoing management, content creation, and nurturing member interactions. Ensure everyone on your team knows the goals and is committed to the tasks that’ll allow you to accomplish them.
This step is where many organisations stumble. While integrations can automatically populate sections, regions, special interest groups, and committees, it’s important to establish a clear, phased strategy.
Before rolling out your community, make sure your leaders, chairs, volunteers, and trustees understand the purpose and potential of online community. They should feel confident and aligned with its goals before going all in.
To avoid overwhelming members (and creating ghost groups), start with an all-members area that establishes clear value. An empty or inactive group can significantly discourage engagement, so only add new groups when there’s a demonstrated demand or enough content to sustain meaningful interaction. A community strategy that doesn’t ramp up is a cliff.
Don’t rely on members to check the community platform themselves – bring the community to them! Integrate community updates into email, website feeds, and other channels such as a mobile app to keep members informed and encourage regular visits.
An attractive email summary of community activity is one of the most effective ways to bring members back to the platform, especially in the early days.
Your members may love you, but the information they need is in the heads of their fellow members. Recruit volunteers based on their expertise, leadership, and enthusiasm for your organisation to take an active role in the community before and after launch. This is invaluable for fostering connections, as well as helping new members to feel welcome.
Before launching, make sure your community is well-stocked with high-quality, valuable content. Repurpose existing content from your website, blogs, journal articles, or news stories to seed discussions. Volunteers can help ensure that every segment has robust content that reflects leadership in evidence to spark engagement. If you can’t find compelling content for a segment, don’t launch it until you can.
Once everything is ready, it’s time to launch! Use all your marketing channels – social media, email, newsletters, and more – to spread the word and encourage members to join.
Expect community management to need around 10 – 20 hours per week in the first couple of weeks, which will settle down to half that time within a month or so. This initial time investment is a small price to pay for the thriving community you’ll soon have.
This article was originally published in June 2020 but has since been updated to ensure accuracy and relevancy.
