Recap notes from CMX 2023 Summit session. Grammatical errors and typos are my own 🙂

Abstract

Audience preferences have changed. Platform-centric community strategies are becoming a thing of the past. Today your audience seamlessly engages with each other across platforms you do and don’t control. And you have a choice to make about whether you want to be a part of this future or not. In this talk, FeverBee’s Richard Millington will explain the key drivers of the new era, what you need to change to thrive in this new era and why is a tremendous opportunity to emerge from the shadows, deliver better support to our members, and demonstrate amazing value to our organizations. This session will cover: What makes the ‘Community Everywhere’ era unique from what came before Four strategic approaches you can take to thrive in this era. Framework to select the right approach for your organization. The best examples of the ‘Community Everywhere’ today. How to measure success in the Community Everywhere era. How to manage internal change in the Community Everywhere Era. – Richard Millington, Founder, FeverBee

Notes

Community Everywhere

• Not just one place where people go to anymore. They go to several different platforms – Reddit, Instagram, Community, Facebook, influencers, etc.
• Needs are the same, but preferences have changed – it will always change
  • Belonging – Events
  • Learning – Books
  • Support – forums
  • Influence – Social media profiles
• We need to adapt
• Groups – hosted sub-groups are dying
  • Usually the host or organizer posting
  • Others are directing people to other places
  • Language groups aren’t doing that well either
• Forums are for debates – don’t waste people’s time with short messages
• Groups are for chat
• Knowledge bases are relics of a bygone era
  • Now usually share in platforms where they have more control (search for going viral)
  • Beginner items – YouTube video (several views) – e.g. how to tie a tie (50M views)
  • Where will you share advice for a new skill? People might create a course for revenue.
• Your members will follow the path of least resistance to achieve their goals
• Don’t fight preferences.
  • Rather change how you think about community and create more opportunity
• Before – superfans, learners, and support seekers.
  • Now, focus on detractors and others
• Embrace other trends that are building community and don’t miss the boat
• Depends on your ecosystem
  • Brand loyalty information – “Community”, but nowhere to engage
  • Align your strategy to your ecosystem (what are the current member trends)
    • What is stable in your ecosystem…what is changing?
      • successful? then optimize
      • changing + successful? adapt
      • Stable, but not successful – repair community
      • not successful and changing – replace community
• Do you need to engage everywhere? NO
  • Figure out what’s happening in your ecosystem and what trends matter to you

What can you do? Look at Maturity level vs. Audience Size

• What is their level of connectedness? (how do they connect?)
• What is the engagement type? (Hosted Q&A, support, share job links, share media, share and ask feedback, etc.)
• What is the business ecosystem around this? (Partners > leaders)
  • Partners involved and had something to sell, but not outright selling

Where does community fit into the support experience?

• help center/virtual agents (easy) > community (in btw. Qs) > customer support (difficult Qs)
  • AI bots
    • Excel at questions that save time
    • will give false answers and cause problems for:
      • need workaround, need best answer, need personal experience

Be specfici where your support community fits into customer journey?

• first or last place?

Approach 2 – ??

• Alteryx – good example
• Don’t launch things that aren’t successful or things that people don’t need

Approach 3 – hub-and-spoke

• do customers engage?
• Can you offer value?
• Can you gain unique value
• Is the platform rising or falling in popularity?

Approach 4 – Leader-led

• support leaders to do what they want to do (partners, veterans, consultants)
• What do they want to do and give it to them & support them in the platform THEY prefer
  • Promote their content on their preferred platform – spreading best knowledge around

Take the wikimedia approach: https://wikimediafoundation.org/participate/

• Create a destination leaders can visit. forguidance to become a great leader

Summary

• the way audience prefer to engage in communities is changing
• we should embrace member preferences, not fight them
• select the needs you satisfy and then the preferred platform
• Align your apperoach to your ecosystem’s maturity level