I want to share one final element we cover in our courses (which launch next week) which I think has a huge influence upon the success of a community.
Systems!
When we begin working with a new client, we assess how they are doing against a set of standards in multiple areas. These are our benchmarks. They cover best practices in:
- Community Strategy.
- Engagement Experience.
- MVP/Superuser Programs.
- Gamification.
- Onboarding newcomers.
- Community staff/team.
- Overall levels/ratings.
Once we’ve benchmarked how a client is doing today, we can identify the next level they need to reach and begin training for that.
Most importantly, this gives us a set of standards for how the community is run.
If we’re hiring someone new, redesigning the website, managing a superuser campaign we can set a reasonable level (based upon skills/resources) and ensure nothing falls below that level.
Everyone can see what’s expected of them in every engagement.
This also serves as a useful tool for clearly summarizing to others internally (and sometimes externally) how well the community is managed, what we need to work on next, and what kind of resources/processes/training is required to reach to do it.
In short, it provides a set of standards for people to easily assess our work and a system for managing future community activities.
We recommend you have standards which clearly distinguish bad, ok, good and great in your community activities. You can develop your own, but ours are based on 10+ years of experience with hundreds of clients.
And if you sign up for our courses, you can get them for free. I think it’s a good deal.
(or you can buy them for $120 at this link)
p.s. If you’re on the fence about our course, here’s a case study which will hopefully tip you off the fence (watch your landing!)