The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

  • Who we are
    • Our Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Clients
      • Client Success Stories
    • Community Leadership Awards
      • Community Leadership Awards 2022
      • Community Leadership Awards 2021
      • TheCR Awards 2020
      • TheCR Awards 2019
      • TheCR Awards 2018
      • TheCR Awards 2017
    • Careers
      • 2022-23 Community Management Fellow
  • What we do
    • Benchmarking and Audits
      • Community Performance Benchmark
      • Community Readiness Audits
      • Community ROI Calculator
      • The Community Score
    • Models and Frameworks
      • Community Maturity Model™
      • Community Engagement Framework™
      • Community Skills Framework™
      • Community Technology Framework™
      • The Social Executive
    • Research
      • The State of Community Management
        • SOCM 2022
        • SOCM 2021
        • SOCM 2020
      • Community Careers and Compensation
      • The Community Manager Handbook
        • 2022 Edition
        • 2015 Edition
      • The Social Executive
      • Special Reports
    • Training and Events
      • Upcoming Events
      • Data-Driven Community Management Workshop
      • Connect
        • Connect 2023
        • Connect 2022
      • Community Technology Summit
      • Training
      • Resource Bundles
    • Resources
      • Vendor Resource Center
      • Community FAQs
      • Community Management Podcasts
        • Community Conversations
        • Lessons From The NEW Community Manager Handbook
      • Community Management Jobs
        • Job Board
        • CMGR Profiles
      • Community 101
        • Community Management Glossary
        • Community Management FAQs
      • Case Studies
      • Community Webinars
  • Who we serve
    • Resources for Community Managers
    • Community Program Owners
    • Community Executives
  • TheCR Network
    • Member Login
    • Join TheCR Network
    • Roundtable Call Library
  • TheCR Library
    • Subscriber Login
    • Subscribe to TheCR Library

I need to build a community strategy. Where do I start?

September 2, 2014 By Shannon Abram

By Shannon DiGregorio Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

strategyWhether you are starting from scratch with a new community, or taking over an existing community that could use some love there is a good chance you’ll be tasked with building a community strategy. This can be both daunting and exciting. In our State of Community Management 2014 research we found that the foundation of a successful community really is the presence of a well-defined strategy- one that integrates social tools and methods with business goals and processes. A good community strategy also aligns an organization’s goals with member needs setting you up to succeed in both keep engagement high and provide ROI.

So – we agree a strategy is important, but how do you get there from here? In an earlier post “Building a Community Strategy” we outline the some of the primary tasks related to each competency of the Community Maturity Model as they relate to strategy building and planning. They include:

Strategy

  • Define the business objective
  • Articulate the community purpose, from the members’ perspective
  • Assemble research to help build your business case
  • Complete competitive audit – what competes for members’ attention?
  • Build a business case
  • Calculate and secure investment required

Leadership

  • Find or develop executive sponsors
  • Determine what executive and stakeholder education is necessary
  • Calculate and secure investment required

CultureCommunity Maturity Model

  • Articulate cultural limitations and opportunities
  • Assess willingness and aptitude for change
  • Determine if specific training or change management initiatives are needed
  • Calculate and secure investment required

Community Management

  • Understand the community management approach needed, based on business objective and member characteristics
  • Define roles and responsibilities
  • Calculate and secure investment required
  • Assign roles and responsibilities

Content and Programming

  • Define content and programming needed to reach the business objective
  • Determine gaps in available and required content and programming
  • Calculate and secure investment required

Policies and Governance

  • Assess current policies
  • Amend or develop policies as needed
  • Audit current governance – or lack thereof – of social media and collaboration environments
  • Develop a governance model
  • Calculate and secure investment required

Tools

  • Determine required tools – software, applications, templates, and guides
  • Audit current toolset
  • Calculate and secure investment required

Metrics and Measurement

  • Articulate primary value that will enable business goal
  • Articulate secondary value
  • Determine metrics for executives, operational management and tactical management
  • Assess ability to capture metrics
  • Build capacity to capture metrics, as needed
  • Calculate and secure investment required

Etienne Wenger’s book, “Cultivating Communities of Practice” is another fantastic resource when thinking about some of the big community building blocks questions . They include questions broken down into categories to help you step back and really evaluate what you are working with, and working towards. They include:

Domain:

  • What topics and issues do we really care about?
  • What are the community’s values and goals?
  • What kind of influence do we want to have?

Community:

  • What roles are people going to play? Who are the stakeholders, decision makers and leaders?
  • How often will the community meet and how will members connect on an ongoing basis?
  • How will members deal with conflict?
  • How will newcomers be introduced into the community?

Practice:

  • What knowledge will we share, develop and document?
  • What kinds of learning activities will we organize?
  • Where are sources of knowledge and resources outside the community?

The whole book is really worth checking out if you’re feeling overwhelmed and need a primer on strategy building.

Another great resource is our Start Toolkit ($299), which includes a strategy template, but also walks you through the exercise of who, what, when, where & why for all stakeholders with the end goal identifying the overlapping wins for your organization and community members. (Disclosure: as an organization we tend to err towards a simpler strategy that can adapt and be responsive as the community matures and then use the Community Maturity Model as an assessment tool to create a detailed roadmap. This might work great for some communities and not for others, so definitely check out the Toolkit and see if it would be helpful for your needs.)

For those of you building an external community (not an employee or other internally-focused community) our friends at Feverbee have a very detailed community strategy template that you might find helpful if you’ve already sorted out the answers to your main goal-based questions. Other resources that you may find helpful include:

  • The Basics of Strategic Planning and Strategic Management, Balanced Scorecard Institute
  • Online Community Strategy Framework, Lauren DeLong
  • Online Community: Heart of Social Strategy, Lithium
  • The Ultimate Framework for Planning an Online Community Strategy, Socious

Are you in the process of building out a community strategy? What tools or resources are you finding useful as you tackle this project?

—–

Looking to take your career in community management to the next level? 92% of members agree that TheCR Network supports and advances their personal and professional goals. Learn how our research, access to peers and experts, targeted content and exclusive concierge service can help you achieve your goals.

About Shannon Abram

I love dogs, drinks, and the oxford comma. Writing from the great commonwealth of Massachusetts, I almost definitely need a nap.

comments powered by Disqus
Community best practices

Resources for the people who build online communities.

ABOUT US
Our Values
Our Team
Our Clients
Careers

RESOURCES
Vendor Resource Center
Podcasts 
Job Board
Community 101
Case Studies
Webinars
Upcoming Events

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Benchmarking and Audits
Models and Frameworks
Research
Training and Events

RESOURCES BY AUDIENCE
Community Managers
Community Program Owners
Community Executives

QUICK LINKS
Blog
Newsletter
About TheCR Network
About TheCR Library
About TheCR Academy

LOGIN
TheCR Network
TheCR Library
TheCR Academy

Contact
Support
Partnership
Inquiries
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter