Building digital communities

In my last blog I talked about changing the way we traditionally publish content to members. In that blog, I advised people to ‘chunk it up’ and now I’m going to explain what I meant by that.Firstly, think about your current media – you probably have a hard copy journal which may also be published online, as well as an ezine, website, regular emailer and an active twitter feed. You may also have a facebook page and feature on Linkedin as a group perhaps.

Now think about all the different pieces of information and news you are providing for your members – at the moment they are probably all destined to be sent or published in separate areas – some on the website, others in your magazine, possibly some in the newsletter, ezine or emailer.

By looking at all these items as a whole package, you can really start to maximize on your digital communications and gather your community together coherently. Your members are probably accessing their news and member communications on a variety of devices including desktops, laptops, tablets and mobiles, so why not provide them with a range of communication options that will suit them all.

Audit your content

First of all list all the content you send out to members over a month period, or two/three months if that makes better sense to your organisation, and then just start thinking about spreading these more evenly, instead of publishing them periodically via a single vehicle such as a magazine or journal.

A good way to start might be to itemise all the information that’s included in your membership magazine or journal. As an example, I took one that I edit here at the Deeson Group and dissected a single issue.

The content comprised member news and updates, including information about a new website area, university course accreditations and launch of a special interest group, as well as member awards and calls to action; events and conferences, both invites and reports; new member registrations; technical features and case studies; industry news in general; AGM and prizegiving event report; Chairman’s report; member profiles (new Council members and a new chairman); opinion piece; and some graduate show reviews.

Now combine these with all the other pieces of information, news and other communications that you send to members – they really add up don’t they?

There’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t gather all this content and publish it in a hard copy magazine or on your website – however, why limit yourself to publication at a single moment in time? How about dividing all this content up and drip feeding it to members fortnightly, weekly, even daily? In this way you can keep your members engaged and feeling like part of a really active community of professionals.

I know this will mean a real sea change in the thinking among the people who currently manage your communications, publications and media (whether in-house or external) – everyone will have to work together and share their content. Instead of planning a single issue of a magazine, plan a series of articles, blogs, opinions, news items, CTAs and so on, and deliver them regularly, instead of waiting for a particular date and publishing them all at once.

I’ve simplified things here slightly, but if you think this is a path you would like to explore for your association, then please contact me. Otherwise leave a comment below.