Building an online Community

Building anonlineCommunity www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

About Communities • The basic principles of why communities form apply to an online community or a face-to-face community. • These principles are: • Shared interest or passion • Desire to bring about some kind of change • Same profession or participation in the same activities • External events/situations i.e. natural disaster • The benefits of membership in a community include: • Sense of belonging • Sense of mutual support • Greater influence in numbers • An environment which supports exploration of new ideas www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

About Online Communities Online platforms make possible a convening space for people far and wide to come together at a central point for discussion and shared analysis. There are basically two components to an online community: The community itself and the technology or platform which makes it possible to bring the community together. (The platform is analogues to the meeting room). www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Steps to • building an online community… www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Before you begin • Be sure you have an understanding of how online communities work • Spend time on other sites, particularly sites similar to the site you wish to create • Get a feel for how those sites operate, the number of community members and the degree of participation by the site’s community • If your site is connected to an organization, be sure there is buy-in and support for this effort from the key people in the organization www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Decide what your online community will be • Answer the following questions about the reason for the community: • What will the community be about? • What is the theme? • What is the purpose? • Who is your audience? • Note: audience members may not necessarily become community members. Audience members may just read the content but not become active in posting content • Who are your potential members? • Are they comfortable communicating in online platforms? • Are they ‘online capable’? • Are they geared towards ‘social’ online communication? • What are you hoping to achieve by building an online community? • Are there goals for the community? • What is the long-term vision for the online community? www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Decide if there is a need for your online community • Answer the following questions about the need for the community: • Does an online community similar to the one you wish to create already exist? • If so, define how your online community will be unique and different • What need or needs will your online community be filling? • What is the void you will be filling? • What niche or gap will this online community fill? • Is what you offer interesting enough to support, keep engaged and build an online community? • Do not go forward if there will not be enough interest or support to keep the community alive and vibrant www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Assess your capacity to build an online community Answer the following questions about the capacity to build the online community… www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Is there support for the effort to build an online community? • If you are building the online community for an organization, is there an understanding by key people in your organization of what the project is about and what purpose it will serve? • Do you and they understand the amount of effort, time and resources involved in building an online community? • Is there a core group supporting the effort and willing to take the time and exert the energy necessary for the project to succeed? www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Do you have resources to build and support an online community? • Is there staff, (paid or volunteer), to take on the following roles: • Community Architect, the person or group of people with the vision and plan for the online community and who will serve as the Project Manager during construction phase. They set goals associated with the community, articulate what the purpose will be, and determine what platforms/tools should initially be used • The entity in charge of overseeing the community, This could be the organization sponsoring the online community or a sub-committee comprised of community members. • Community Manager, Note:Community Managers vary from Architects, but they can also be the same person • Forum Moderator • In addition to the moderator, you may want to include an ‘animator’ or strong core group to seed the discussions and keep the conversation in the forums vibrant www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Do you have resources to build and support an online community? continued: • Do you have: • A budget to hire professional services if they are needed • Experience in the online communication and social media realm • A large permission-based mailing list to use as a tool to build community membership and to reach out in a broad way • Organization’s communications tools including publications such as blogs and/or newsletters through which to spread the word about the online community • Followers on social media • A large list of contacts and relationships with people willing to write a guest post or join a live-chat, (if your online platform includes a live-chat feature) • The time needed to create the site and build the community • Passion for building the online community • Ability to execute and move quickly to adapt, tailor and respond to the community www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

If you determine there is the need for your online community, you have the support and resources to build one and you decide to go forward… Build the community before you build the site www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Build in features for attracting, engaging and retaining online community members • Build a place where robust conversation takes place and where community members look forward to talking with each other • Have a ‘content draw’, a piece of information which is valuable, timely, accurate and available when there are no other sources providing it • Post content and seed discussions around the issues and topics which hold the attention of your online community • Create ‘interaction opportunities’ • Conduct a survey or a poll • Have question and answer sessions • Schedule online events • Live-guest chats • A guest expert answering questions • An interview with an issue expert or leader in their field • Make members of your online community feel valued • Have community content appear on the homepage of your platform • Run a regular feature story on a community member • Be a lead thinker • Offer creative online events i.e. online Town Halls on current and breaking issues www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

People must know the online community exists • Conduct outreach using the following tools: • Peer recommendations • Leverage all connections and networks available among the core leaders on this project • Encourage colleagues to join your online community and to recruit their associates • As your user base grows, turn them into advocates who help spread the word about your online community • Social media • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • If you have content on video, post that on YouTube with a link back to the online community • Other online tools • Engage bloggers • Send emails to your listserve • Issue a press release to the print and radio media to inform about the existence of the online community www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

In your outreach: • Craft a compelling invitation, telling people why they will benefit from joining the community • Offer something people want • Valuable content • Connection to an issue people believe in • The opportunity to talk to others about the issue • Use your brand and reputation • If the organization which sponsors your online community has a brand name or a positive reputation within your sector, this could help motivate people to join the online community and to assist in building the community www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Build the Site www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Consider what platform you will use • The most popular options currently available for online interaction are: • Forums • Blogs • Chat rooms • Email Listserves • Newsgroups • Private messaging • ‘Meet-up’ type groups • Streaming audio broadcasts • Online video www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Platform considerationscontinued • There are many options available. They can be used as stand-alone platforms or can be created as a package with various features. • Your choice for which platform/tool to use as the technology backbone of your online community should be based on: • Your resources • This is measured both in terms of in-house technology capability and funds to hire professional services if the capacity does not exist among staff or volunteers • The online platforms and tools your community is familiar with • Keep in mind the growing use of mobile devices so be sure you can optimize for mobile • The time you have to manage your site and its community www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Select your Technology • Be sure your platform is: • Created using the simplest tool(s) available • Do not overwhelm new visitors and existing members with overly complicated features • Too many options can be confusing, frustrating and distracting • Easy to navigate • User friendly • Easy to participate in • Do not add extra steps in order to participate i.e. do not require members to set up an account and use login passwords. These types of registration pages restrict the number of people who participate • However, if postings do not go through a Moderator first, all forums should have a ‘CAPTCHA’ in order for postings to be made. This will help address the issue of spam postings • Provide an option for keeping informed about postings to the forums www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Maintain the platform Should there be sign-up problems, first-time use problems or ongoing engagement problems, address those immediately www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Thinking ahead • When you build your platform, think ahead • Make sure the platform you use is agile to incorporate evolutions in technology and evolutions in policy advocacy techniques and grassroot strategies • Use a platform which can evolve to include ‘add on’s’ as your community grows in numbers and in their online ability • However don’t introduce new features unless there is evidence for demand – i.e. people posting a lot of links to images may suggest demand for a member photo gallery • When your community is ready and when you Community Manager has developed confidence and capacity, take chances and experiment ~ try new things www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Create the Operating infrastructure www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Establish • Rules and guidelines for operation of the site • Rules and guidelines for the community • Make your community guidelines simple, visible and accessible – post them in a prominent location www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Create • A strategy for attracting, engaging and retaining community members • A content calendar for the first six weeks • Identify specific responsibilities and who is to carry those out • A three to six month calendar of proactive actions to improve and develop the community • Refresh your content calendar at the beginning of every month thereafter • Keep content relevant and current www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Track • Determine how participation and the success of your community will be measured • Use analytics to understand which of your efforts get the best results • Repeat / replicate those efforts • When your community is ready, take those efforts to their next level www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Evaluate • Determine what your success indicators will be. This can be done by establishing clear targets for recruitment and engagement. Measure: • Number of members joining your community per day • Number of newcomers becoming regulars • Number of regulars becoming top contributors of content • Number of top contributors becoming volunteers who assist with the operations of the platform or the building of the community • Identify benchmarks • For recruitment, aim for growth by 1% per week • For engagement, aim to convert 75% of newcomers into regulars • Aim to convert 10% of regulars into high contributors • Aim to convert 1% of high contributors into volunteers who assist with the site or with the building of the online community • Your success indicators and benchmarks can be used to measure your Community Manager’s work • It is also helpful to have users provide valuable feedback www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Sustain • Devise a plan for how you will sustain or fund the management and operation of the site. Sustainability or funding could include: • An all volunteer team to keep the online community operational • Funding as a part of a line-item of a larger project • Crowdfunding to keep the online community operational www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Tremendous Resources for additional learning… Martin Reed, Community Building Specialist, Community Spark: http://www.communityspark.com FeverBee Community Consultancy: http://www.feverbee.com/2012/02/how-to-build-an-online-community.html www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Thank you to the Rural Supporting Organization andThe members of the Southwest Rural Policy Network a member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networkswww.ruralamerica.orgThe ‘rprp’ is an initiative funded by the Kellogg Foundation This presentation was made possible by funding from the RSO’s Rural Digital Advocacy Grant Program awarded to the SWRPN for the creation of the Rural Southwest Digital Community Center. This presentation was created in October, 2013. Research conducted by Mikki Anaya, SWRPN info@southwestruralpolicynetwork.org www.SouthwestRuralPolicyNetwork.org A member of the Rural People, Rural Policy family of networks

Building an online Community