How do you align your online community goals with your business objectives and outcomes?

In my experience, defining the community's purpose and value proposition is essential to aligning objectives. This establishes a clear foundation that connects the community to the business objectives. In a previous project, we created a community manifesto that outlined the mutual benefits for members and the company, which facilitated the communication of value and engagement.

Your community should be directly in service of your business objectives—it’s not just a side gig for the community team, but a core driver of value across the WHOLE company. For a community to thrive, it has to be centered within the company, and INTO your strategy. A successful community aligns with the company-wide goals, amplifying efforts across all departments, from marketing to product to customer success. Think of it this way: every department stands to benefit from the community, so every department should be involved. When your community is firing on all cylinders, it boosts brand loyalty, provides invaluable feedback, supports customer retention, and even drives new leads.

I always say this over & over again: the value proposition of your community has to be crystal-clear. Members have to know exactly what they are in for and what they gain out of being a part of your community. - What do they gain from the community? - What do they have access to? - Is there a monetary value attached to becoming a member? - What exclusivity do you offer members when they are part of your community? Make sure you can answer all of these questions, when you define your purpose.

The goals for your online community are dependent upon the function or department your community team sits within your organization. Community most often sits within Marketing, but it can also exist within Customer Success, Support, Product, or Customer Experience. If your community team is part of the Marketing organization, you'll want to focus on community's impact on revenue growth. If it sits within Support, you'll want to look at support cost reduction. For Customer Success, you might look at the impact on NRR (Net Revenue Retention), time to value, and churn. The key is to understand the goals/objectives your team supports, and align your community goals to those desired outcomes.

I love prioritizing: I prioritize creating a clear strategy that connects community engagement to key performance indicators. This involves actively listening to community needs, fostering collaboration, and encouraging user-generated content that reflects our brand values. Regularly measuring engagement metrics and adjusting our approach ensures that community growth directly supports business outcomes, such as customer retention, brand loyalty, and increased sales.

We all have heard about 'Milestones'. I believe having smaller milestones and setting KPIs to ensure that you achieve them al is a good way to go ahead. This will help you focus more on your end goal and deviate less.

Different KPIs measures have different uses. You want to be measuring your; 1) Commerical success (How is your community supporting the business that is funding it) 2) Your operational health (Process, documentation, governance) 3) Your community health (Engagement)

Understanding alignment between your community's KPIs and your business goals is crucial. To foster professional development among your employees, consider including a KPI that tracks their learning progress.For brand amplification and customer acquisition, determine how to best track customer journeys and the community's impact on the marketing and sales pipeline. Remember, a thriving community prioritizes its members. Unless it provides value, no KPI will guarantee success in achieving business objectives.

To align online community goals with business objectives, I set SMART goals and track key performance indicators (KPIs): 1. Growth: Monitor the number and quality of members, visitors, registrations, and referrals. 2. Engagement: Track participation frequency, interactions, contributions, and retention. 3. Satisfaction:Collect feedback, ratings, reviews, recommendations, and testimonials. 4. Impact: Measure outcomes, results, value, and benefits for both the business and its members.

Setting clear objectives and KPIs is crucial for tracking progress and aligning community efforts with business goals. Define SMART objectives for your community. These might include metrics such as member growth, engagement levels, and community satisfaction. Align these objectives with your business goals, and regularly measure and analyze these KPIs to ensure your community activities support business success. Set SMART Goals: Define clear, achievable objectives that support business aims. Measure Success: Use KPIs like member growth, engagement, and satisfaction. Align with Business Goals: Ensure community metrics support wider business outcomes. Tracking KPIs helps maintain a focus on how community efforts.

Consider using journey mapping tools with project management features to help visualize the journey and manage tasks to identify opportunities for alignment with business objectives. Ask yourself questions such as: who is the target audience I need to attract to build the community that adds value to the business? Where can I find them? On which platforms? What are their age brackets? Their preferences? Most suitable timing to what we have to say? What are their motivators? Their personas? Spending habits? Lifestyles?…. Then craft an overall communications and engagement strategy for the overall journey and its touch points with detailed action steps for every touch point to streamline snd optimize engagement.

Consider creating visual user journeys with tools like Miro or MindMeister. These maps can effectively depict a user's path, interactions, communication channels, and key contacts. Using this approach often reveals surprising insights, areas requiring additional information, and sparks innovative ideas.

Mapping out your community journey is like designing a user-friendly game level. How do members discover, join, engage, and become advocates? What are the key touchpoints? Define each stage of the member lifecycle from discovery to advocacy Identify critical interactions that drive engagement and retention Optimize each touchpoint to enhance user experience and business goals A well-mapped community journey ensures that every interaction is purposeful and aligned with both community and business objectives.

Mapping your community journey means you need to consider the stages, actions, and emotions they experience. Identify the touchpoints/channels/platforms you use for interaction and communication. Reflect on what YOU would want your journey to be like as a community member—it’s key to understanding the user experience. Don’t overlook your community architecture: Is your platform setup aligned with your project goals? Is there room to simplify or refine it? Ensure members know where, what, and how to ask to create a smooth, valuable experience that meets their needs.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that the community need a lot of content. The community does not need a lot of content or need "more" content. It needs unique and relevant content. The kind of content that the members could have asked anywhere, in many other community but instead they choose to ask it in your own community. Because they trust that your community would be the best place to ask and receive the answer. These are the best kind of content that you can hope for. So, focus on how to develop your community into a place where members feel like the place where they can share their problems and receive the engagement, the answers, the support of peers.

A key strength of online communities lies in user-generated content (UGC). This refers to original content created by members and shared on various platforms like social media, blogs, and newsletters. In business-focused communities, consider these questions: Who among your members is most likely to create content aligned with your brand and objectives? How can you incentivize them to participate? Fostering a culture of transparency and authenticity in your approach to UGC can significantly boost community engagement.

Creating engaging content and activities that align with business goals fosters a vibrant and purpose-driven community. Develop activities that resonate with your community and support your business objectives. This can include educational resources, discussion forums, and events. Plan and schedule content that addresses both the needs of your community and your business goals, encouraging active participation and co-creation among members. Engage and Educate: Provide valuable content that aligns with community and business needs. Encourage Participation: Facilitate user-generated content and community-led activities. Strategic content planning ensures that community activities are consistently aligned with business goals.

We offer various content to support our members. This includes educational resources like tutorials, guides, and industry insights. We encourage participation through thought-provoking questions, polls, and topics. We also showcase member stories to foster a sense of community. Our content includes articles, FAQs, infographics, videos, memes, and more. We use quizzes, polls, live Q&A sessions, and webinars to engage with our members. We plan our content through a content calendar to ensure consistency and relevance.

When creating content and activities for your community, don't just wait on the sidelines—take an active role in sparking discussions and guiding conversations! Plan content that’s engaging and relevant, in various formats like articles, videos, or polls, and make sure it's distributed where your members are most active. Encourage user-generated content and co-creation by inviting members to share their experiences. But here's a hot take: not every comment needs a response from you! Step back and let members engage with each other—this is the goal. Focus on creating a vibe where members feel comfortable to connect and chat on their own. It’s all about setting the stage for organic interactions!

A well-defined community policy is essential for cultivating and maintaining its culture. During strategy development, establish clear guidelines for member behavior and steer the community towards your vision. Transparency is key. When members understand expectations and what's incompatible with the community's nature, two outcomes are possible: increased commitment due to clarity, or opt-out by those who don't find it a good fit. Both scenarios benefit the community. Your goal is to foster a sense of belonging and contribution among members. Therefore, invest time in crafting desired values and rules, but also outline how to encourage and enforce them. This ensures a thriving community that aligns with business goals.

Quand on construit une communauté, la culture et la gouvernance sont vraiment essentielles. Pour moi, la clé est de définir dès le début les valeurs qu’on veut promouvoir et de s’assurer que les règles sont claires pour tout le monde. J’ai souvent constaté que la transparence aide à éviter les malentendus et renforce l’engagement. Il est aussi important de reconna?tre le travail des membres actifs et des leaders. Personnellement, j’aime beaucoup voir comment les bons processus pour gérer les conflits et les retours permettent de maintenir une atmosphère positive. Chaque communauté est unique, donc il faut rester flexible et adapter les règles à ce qui fonctionne le mieux pour les membres !

When building a community culture and governance, here's what I do: First, I define the values, norms, and behaviors we want to promote, making sure they align with our brand and resonate with our members. Then, I clearly communicate our community guidelines, rules, and policies, ensuring they're easily accessible and understood by everyone. I also make it a point to recognize and reward our community leaders, advocates, and influencers, empowering them to take active roles. Lastly, I establish processes for handling conflicts, issues, and feedback, ensuring we address everything with transparency and fairness.

Building a strong community culture starts with a clear purpose and shared values, such as respect, inclusivity, and collaboration. Establish comprehensive guidelines that outline acceptable behavior and content standards. Foster engagement by creating a welcoming onboarding process and organizing regular events. Encourage members to contribute and recognize their efforts. Promote inclusivity through policies and education, celebrating diverse voices. Facilitate open communication with feedback channels and regular updates. Empower members with leadership roles and adapt based on feedback and data. This approach cultivates a vibrant, respectful, and engaged community.

Data without action is just noise. Go beyond traditional metrics and dive deep into the qualitative aspects of community engagement. Use sentiment analysis to understand the emotional tone of member interactions, and deploy network analysis to identify key influencers and community dynamics. Implement advanced analytics for deeper insights Use real-time data dashboards to track and adapt strategies Prioritize feedback loops and iterative improvements Elevate your community management by making data-driven decisions that are not just about numbers but about understanding the heartbeat of your community. This proactive approach ensures you stay ahead, continuously evolving to meet both community needs and business goals.

One thing that resonates for us is staying close to the communities we support. By regularly connecting with the 2SLGBTQIA+ and HIV communities through social media, events and regular touch bases, we ensure we’re always listening and evolving alongside their needs. This way, our efforts stay relevant, meaningful and impactful. Keep your focus on what really matters—understanding and addressing the evolving needs of the communities you’re supporting. When you align your actions with their voices, not only do you support the community better, but you contribute to positive, lasting change within those communities.

I usually start by collecting and analyzing community data through surveys, engagement metrics, and feedback loops, and report these insights to the team. I measure ROI and VOI by correlating community activities with key business metrics like customer acquisition, retention, and revenue growth.

You can't mine loyalty with a marketing pickaxe. Treating online communities as marketing channels yields short-term gains, but stifles long-term growth. Crypto communities are teeming with innovation potential. Members are more than users; they're builders and knowledge seekers. A purely marketing focus overlooks this valuable resource. I cultivate a collaborative ecosystem. We work with the community to leverage their expertise and insights, fostering a sense of ownership. This fuels long-term engagement focused on the project's impact, not just short-term gains. Invest in their purpose, and they'll invest in yours. Move beyond marketing speak! Empower your community to co-create the future of crypto.

Make sure you promote transparency as mach as you can towards your community. The more transparent and clear you are the easier it will be for the community members to see and understand the bigger picture and support your shared goal.