YOU must have heard or used the idiomatic and colloquial expression, “keeping the fire burning,” or similar variations. In the context of associations, it is keeping a sense of connectedness and belonging in a community setting.
I learned more about what this phrase meant for associations when I attended a webinar recently on “Keeping the Community Fire Burning in Associations” organized by Answers for Associations, an Australian online community for associations. The featured speaker was Marjorie Anderson, founder of US-based Community by Association, an organization that supports community management practitioners. My key takeaways from Marjorie’s presentation:
1. Define community and align. First, there’s need to agree with those involved on what the online community is and is not and where it resides, so it can be supported if it requires content generation, connecting with each other or providing solutions and resources. Once done, it is best to tell everyone else about it by communicating clearly the purpose and aim of the community.
2. People and process before platform. Understand the who (will be involved), the why (it exists) and the how (it will serve the purpose). Ensure that your strategy is sound and that your processes are in place and that technology supports people and process rather than the other way around.
3. Prioritize online trust and safety. Enforce moderation equitably to exhibit good behavior by making user guidelines and terms of use accessible and understandable. Also, empower your community members to help create your community’s culture and maintain it.
4. Invest in a dedicated community team. It is essential to hire a dedicated community manager at the very least and, at best, a community management team. Then provide the necessary budget for additional resources and ensure support for a full team.
The pandemic has caused associations to think and act differently on how they have to engage with their members now. As such, the future of member engagement looks very much different as associations move past the challenges associated with the pandemic and online communities can hold the key to overcoming these challenges.
The “State of Community Management Report 2020” by the Community Roundtable revealed that “community engagement supports every member’s success by giving them access to the knowledge and value of the entire community.”
“By supporting them in their work, it inspires their loyalty as well as exposes people to new ideas, prompts product and service use and rapidly surfaces shifting needs,” the report continued.
Online communities are here to stay and will work hand-in-hand with associations’ in-person activities like events, chapters and meetings. With the advent of Web 3.0, which is the third generation of the internet, it is foreseen that online community users will be able to have far greater experiences than now.
The main role of associations is to create connections so it is inevitable that online communities will continue to grow and prosper.
Octavio Peralta is currently the executive director of the Global Compact Network Philippines and founder and volunteer CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives, the “association of associations.” E-mail: bobby@pcaae.org.