The Solution: Focused, Agile, Member-Centric
CIWM partnered with Cantarus to launch a fully branded, integrated online community – and did it in just 17 business days. Discourse was selected as the platform of choice for its speed and scalability, while seamless iMIS integration delivered secure, single sign-on access with minimal staff burden. The strategy focused on fast value: a members-only space and high-value content seeded before launch.
Community Strategy
CIWM and Cantarus confirmed key performance indicators for community success. Guided by Cantarus, the multipoint strategy based on industry best practices included:
- Members Only – The future goals for CIWM’s online community include surfacing community content to non-members, with an initial focus on members to own “their space” before inviting in others.
- Community Structure – An initial “all members forum” would offer a single primary place for members to interact and engage. Rigid segments for specific subgroups would be avoided at the initial launch and brought following initial adoption.
- Community Management – Staff “owners” of the platform and specific tasks to perform across community lifecycle stages were confirmed; training provided.
- Seeding – Resources of high value are often the best conversation starters. The community would be pre-seeded with documents, links and conversations to ensure every community visitor’s first experience was of value to them.
- Influencer Recruitment, Training & Tasking – Nearly all membership bodies have members and leaders who are well known and trusted. Recruiting these influencers to act on the seeded content and offer new knowledge enhances immediate value and establishes the community as a place for thought leadership.
- Multi-part Launch Strategy – All available marketing resources, including the website, email marketing channels, public social media and the newsletter would be leveraged to drive adoption. Community management time commitment in the first two weeks would be increased and then tapered thereafter.
Following the initial meeting, we committed to an expeditious timeframe with a goal of 2 to 4 weeks for release.
The Launch: Record-Breaking Speed, Real Results
From day one, leadership backed the project, with CEO Sarah Poulter personally welcoming members via a homepage message. A live webinar and walkthrough guide onboarded users quickly, while a social space encouraged informal connection. To stay on schedule, the team made smart trade-offs – cutting non-essentials and launching with a “good enough” mindset.
