Did you know that engaged customers in communities spend 19% more?1
Your clients want information at their fingertips – without having to pick up the phone or write an email. Portals and communities give them instant access to you anytime and anywhere. Learn how to drive customer engagement with client communities, integrate your business with partner communities, and transform the workplace with employee communities all in 5 easy steps.
1 MAP – Map Out Goals
A successful community meets the needs of both your business and the community members. Explore those needs, and see where they overlap. That’s where your community should be.
2 INVEST – Invest In A Community Manager
You want your community to bring value to all members. You’ve set expectations internally about what a community is, and how working together openly is different from a 1-way broadcast. Now you’re ready to move your community forward, and put customers at the heart of your business.
3 BUILD – Build Community With Community
Now that you’ve invested in community management, designed the community, and selected the technology, here’s where the fun starts. Start small with a core membership, gather support, build trust with the community, and start proving value. These behaviors will become the blueprint for what happens next.
4 ENGAGE – Engage Hearts And Minds
Your community’s active core group of customers, partners, and employees have been sharing, seeding great content, and building community together. Now it’s time to gradually open the doors to a bigger population—or keep your community purposefully small, depending on your business goals.
5 MEASURE – Measure, Learn, Repeat
There are many ways to measure the health of your community. Creating dashboards and a regular schedule of check-ins is just the beginning. Remember, what you measure should be defined by the goals you’ve identified at the onset of creating your community.
1University of Michigan
