ON January 10, 2018, I wrote here about “Community as a Strategy,” citing that members’ sense of community is an essential driver for an association’s success.
And rightly so. Community is present in your association, whether you recognize it or not. It is there in the form of special interest groups, committees, chapters, online and offline networks, friendships, and collegial relationships among members.
It is also true that connection with an association offers a loose-but-powerful structure within which we can meet our fundamental need to communicate with, learn from, and help others. Associations that focus on interests and facilitate experiences will attract members.
An important lesson associations learned from the lockdown brought about by the pandemic is that membership engagement still continued and even prospered during this time, albeit through another platform: the online community.
According to Higher Logic, a US-based industry leader in cloud-based engagement platforms, an online community or internet communityis a group of people with a shared interest or purpose who use the internet to communicate with each other. Online communities have their own set of guidelines and needs, like online community engagement, moderation and management.
An area of confusion for those who are new to the online community software industry, is the difference between large public social media networks, like Facebook or LinkedIn groups, and branded online communities that associations like the American Society of Association Executives have built for their members.
Building and managing a branded association online community takes time, requires investments, and needs dedicated people to make it work and be sustainable. When managed well and built on an online community platform that is reputable and reliable, associations can use their communities to: (a) drive engagement with personalized experiences; (b) unlock the knowledge of the group; (c) create loyal members and grow membership retention; (d) drive new revenue streams; (e) boost new user acquisitions; and, (f) reduce support workload and administrative burden.
The Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives, which I head, is fortunate to avail of a free branded association online community courtesy of Australia’s “Answers for Associations.” If your association is considering having its own branded online community, here are a few questions for you to answer:
- What is the purpose of the community? What are you hoping to accomplish?
- Why would your members want to come into such a community—e.g., do they want to discuss a particular issue? Are they looking for resources?
- Who are the people likely to be most active on the site? You can contact these people and ask if they can help to generate momentum for community discussions, perhaps give them specific roles.
- How will you communicate the existence of the community to members in a way that stimulates ongoing momentum? A single email doesn’t create momentum. You need to plan a campaign to get members using your group to build momentum. Don’t just talk about “the community” but give them a reason to visit, e.g., talk about a specific conversation and invite people in to see the full conversation.
- Which team member is responsible for keeping an eye on the site and updating any new resources, events, etc. from time to time?
The column contributor, Octavio ‘Bobby’ Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives and President of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations. The purpose of PCAAE—the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of ADFIAP, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the Philippine International Convention Center. E-mail: [email protected]