A simple way to measure internal support for any organization’s community is to see where the community is featured on the homepage.
If you visit SAP.com (a client), you will see Communities featured on the homepage navigation bar just after Solutions, Support, And Training. The homepage also features contributions from the community.
Visit Oracle.com and you will see the community featured as a navigation tab but it’s smaller and not in the main bar. There are no member contributions in the community featured on the homepage.
Now visit Apple.com. Can you find the community? You first need to click support and scroll down below search, products, popular (support) topics, iTunes/gift card scams, Apple care and warranty, repair and service, counterfeit parts, and then Apple support communities.
All three are great proxies for the priority and value given to the community. If the community is hidden or buried within the homepage, it’s usually not a priority for the business.
This isn’t a side-issue. This directly impacts the level of traffic you receive and thus how successful your community will be. Being featured more prominently on the homepage is one of the very few areas which directly and immediately bend the trend lines in your favour.
Don’t just lobby for more resources and support, lobby for positioning too. The worst thing that can happen is a redesign that gives the community less priority. The best is being featured more prominently.
