04/09/2019

Daily Buzz: Create Value With Your Online Community

Your association’s digital community can help grow the organization

An online community is just that: a community. But Marjorie Anderson from Community by Association said its purpose also extends far beyond community members.

“Your online community adds a tremendous amount of value to your association,” she said. “Your strategy should reflect that value as well as the benefit of engagement it provides to community members.”

To create value with your online community, it must be aligned with your organization’s larger business strategy, with the metrics to match, Anderson says.

“There should be some correlation that shows that your online community is providing tangible value, not only to members, but to the association as well,” she said. “And those metrics should be flexible enough to still exhibit value when there are shifts in the overall business.”

And as your organization’s business strategy changes, your online community should shift with it.

“The worst thing you can do is be so shortsighted that you don’t see the opportunities for growth and continued value for your online community because you’re not keeping the bigger picture in mind,” Anderson said. “Have conversations with other parts of the business to see where they are pivoting and be forward-thinking.”

Please select this link to read the original article from Associations Now.