Memchat: Developing online communities

Following the success of the our previous Socialbury session, we continued our discussions on Developing Online Communities in our quarterly Memchat meet-up. 

We wanted to see if member organisations were experiencing similar challenges as other businesses and to hear any success stories they’ve had. 

The attendees at the session were from a variety of organisations from healthcare associations to royal societies. 

This blog post summarises some of the key discussions covered during the session. 

Learning from your community

We wanted to see the business case for organisations owning an online community and really understand what they wanted to get from them. 

Many of the attendees had one key reason for running an online community as part of their online activity and this was learning from their members. 

Whether it’s asking what they want from their membership or finding out what content they’d like to see more of; communities provide organisations with a platform for a two way conversation with their members. 

This two way conversation can provide rich, qualitative data that organisations may not have necessarily received without their community. It’s not all about getting one-off feedback, community platforms allow organisations to have ongoing conversations with members.

Key challenges

All of the organisations in attendance were at different stages with their online community but there was some common ground when it came to the challenges being faced. Whether you’re just starting out or you have an established network of online members, we’ve outlined some of the common challenges being faced by member organisations today. 

Encouraging participation
The most common challenge was how to get members talking and actively involved within the community. Many of the organisations felt that they were simply broadcasting messages and not receiving much interaction in return. 

Time heavy
Whether it’s a Facebook page or an entire forum, online communities can require a lot of hours to maintain. The key to managing your communities effectively is to make sure that you have a content plan in place so you know what areas you’ll be discussing in the coming weeks. By producing a content plan, this allows you to schedule content and allows for more time to proactively get involved with community conversations. 

Selling social
Showing the value of social media can be a difficult when trying to get buy-in from the board. Many of the attendees had experienced difficulty in getting the go-ahead to start social media.

Generating participation

As there was common ground regarding member participation and interaction, we explored this in greater depth. Gaining traction and starting conversations can be a difficult thing and is something that all of our attendees had experienced. 

We wanted to find out how they’ve managed to get their members talking and share any successful tactics used to generate more participation. 

Being proactive
Being proactive and actively engaging in conversation is key for having quality and timely conversations with your audience. Uses a single ‘broadcast’ approach can give the impression you do not value your member’s opinions and can lower the amount of interaction you receive. Whether you're searching Twitter and getting involved with hashtags or having a debate on a forum, two-way conversations are really important. 

Questions & polls
Asking your members questions can be a great way of igniting a conversation. This could be between the organisation and a member or even amongst the members themselves. Again, asking questions shows that you value the opinion of your members and can be an effective way of gaining insight from your audience. 

Guest posts
Some of the attendees at session had experimented with guest posts and seen a fantastic response. Allowing thought leaders or influencers to post can help establish authority and helps diversify content that’s being posted. Some examples shared on the day included recruiting actual members to write content - what better way to show you appreciate your community! 

Organisational vs. topical: get the balance right 
With regards to content, it’s important that the right balance is established when it comes to organisational vs. topical content. Constantly pushing organisational focussed content can sometimes lead to members thinking you’re only there to self-promote and can mean interaction begins to decline. It’s important to vary posts so they contain topical posts which cement your organisation as a thought leader and an authority within the industry - these could include industry news or events. 

What makes a good community manager?

In the room we had varying levels of experience in managing online communities and we wanted to know the key characteristics for a good community manager. We discussed a variety of areas but there were some stand-out points to get right. 

Understanding the members
This doesn’t mean knowing members on an individual basis but being able to know what they like and they way they behave. A good community manager has empathy with members and knows the ways in which they think. 

It’s not uncommon for complaints to be raised on community platforms so it’s important that the community manager has the knowledge and understanding of the business in order to deal with these effectively. 

Forward-thinking
Managing online communities can be a time-heavy responsibility so planning ahead can really help when it comes to improving efficiency. Creating a content plan for the forthcoming month allows your community manager to concentrate on other areas of community management such as being proactive and starting conversations with members. 

Dont forget - using a content plan also means you have visibility of what's coming up and can assist with internal communications and management. 

Knowledge of the organisation
On a day to day basis, your community manager will be speaking with members about a variety of issues - from upcoming events to membership costs. In order for the manager to have timely and constructive conversations, it’s imperative that they have a good understanding of the organisation. 

Good communicator
As well as communicating with members, it’s important that your community manager is able to talk with internal stakeholders effectively. Being aware of upcoming events and latest news allows managers to post rich and diverse content to your members. 

Key take-aways

Learn from your community - Online communities are the perfect platform for getting qualitative feedback and information directly from the horse's mouth. If looking at changing a membership or updating the website - ask your members what they’d like to see as they may share something you hadn’t thought of!

Be proactive and get involved -  The best interaction levels are generated when an organisation is actively being a part of the community and making members feel valued.

Diversify your content - Avoid one-way communications that constantly focus on your organisation. Share topical content that instigates two-way conversations between your members and you.  

Get the right people - Make sure your community managers are knowledgeable about your organisation and understand your audience. This will allow them to have constructive conversations and provide meaningful responses. 

We run these kind of events regularly in London. If you'd like to attend a future Deeson Digital Breakfast event please let us know.