How To Develop A Community Strategy

Managing Unpredictable Changes

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At the beginning of this project, we mentioned that most community management careers are defined by constant, unpredictable changesTweet This . Your boss might leave, your resources might be cut, you might move on, a new product might be launched, etc.

These are not anecdotal stories, rather they are the constant change you must appreciate. Most strategies go out of date very quickly. Sometimes, they go out of date even before they are written.

This leaves too many community projects without a strategy. It leads too many people to give up on the process of strategy altogether.

This is a big mistake. It’s the result of smaller mistakes.

Strategic Plan Is A Living Process

A strategy isn’t a published document, but a living process. This process is constantly tweaked and refined. This process needs to adapt rapidly to external changes because external changes happen often.

External changes are not usually your fault. It’s simply the nature of rapid change within organizations today. However, it will be your mission to adapt quickly when change does happen. A change isn’t a reason to throw out an entire strategy. It’s a reason to assess which parts of the strategy are still relevant and which are not.

Your challenge is to find out at what level things change and make adjustments as necessary. Is it the goals, strategy, tactics, or execution that changes?

In the final part of our community strategy project, we’re going to talk about being adaptive to different situations and ensuring that you can still be strategic, regardless of whether the goals shift.

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