Shared Activities, Events & Networking

Member Engagement

Shared Activities, Events & Networking

One of the most important characteristics of successful memberships, is the degree to which members feel a strong sense of “belonging” and hold the Brand and their fellow members in high regard. In a remote work environment, one of the most often cited weaknesses of virtual communications is the loss of the random or 1:1 “hallway” conversations. Strong membership communities offer their participants a variety of ways to engage with one another. The best offer education and some fun!

You may wish to offer some or all of the following within your community:

Networking

A key value driver for online communities is the ability to connect people around common missions, ideas, and projects. Buyers in this market at all levels, feed off each other and look for peerto-peer information exchange. Communities and events play a critical role in enabling these peer-to-peer connections, so we highly recommend that networking be a pillar of the community— whether online or physical.

Robust member profiles where members can learn about each other and what expertise they are willing to share, along with platform capability to message or connect and to generate conversations, be it in the community through messaging or outside via phone or video conferencing.

However, this should likely be enabled only for buyer-to-buyer connections and you will need to adapt a different approach to meter how suppliers insert themselves in the conversation. One proven tactic is to enable buyers to connect with suppliers/ consultants/finance and other vendors by accessing a Vendor Directory with robust profiles and in the future, even a member rating or comment section.

Buyer Profiles

This feature is essential to inspiring connection by providing ways community members can get to ‘know’ each other. This has potential to also be a revenue opportunity as vendors will want access to this information. However, it is especially important to structure any information gathering and any offering so that members never feel like ‘prey’. If that impression is given, it can lead to a precipitous decline in community trust and engagement.

Discussion Forums

Forums are a popular online peer-to-peer Q&A and engagement method that takes on more importance in a community. Because the participants in the forum are part of the community ecosystem and not outside actors, members are more likely to seek connection. Topics can be seeded and managed by the community manager and other ‘ambassadors’ to ensure that the discussions are relevant and stay fresh. It is important to note that forums can grow stale quickly without regular posts and they require moderation to ensure people are following engagement rules and not posting anything offensive.

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Member Engagement

Sponsored Webinars with Member Chat Capability

These could be live or pre-recorded, but live webinars have the advantage of a moderated chat function, which improves engagement and attention. The chat provides a place for members to ask questions live without having to speak on camera. And with moderation, the community manager can provide useful links to member content that supports the topic. The chat is also a great source of ongoing market research.

Ask the Expert Live (Virtual) Q&As

This popular activity can provide for a lively and engaging discussion of hot topics, the types of issues that are more complicated and better understood with an expert-led Q&A and discussion. The expert is usually someone who is known for his/ her expertise in a certain area and can draw an audience to hear what he/she has to say. We recommend at least monthly events in the beginning, perhaps moving to bi-weekly frequency as the community and capabilities increase. The ATEs—or AMA (ask me anything)—can potentially be sponsored if done in a way that is clearly content and expert first.

Live (Virtual) Panel Discussions

Like ATEs/AMAs with perhaps a broader topic, one that benefits from different opinions and points of view. This is another opportunity for sponsorship as the sponsor could serve as the moderators and/or panelists if their background brings expertise to the discussion.

Community Roundtables

This audience engagement offering enables small group discussions by limiting the audience so that everyone has a chance to speak and ask questions of each other. This format benefits from a moderator to keep the conversation moving and ensure everyone has a chance to participate. A key topic is identified and then some seed questions developed by the moderator. Attendees are prepped ahead of time to encourage participation.

Partnering/1-on-1 Meetings

Partnering is slightly different in this context than networking, as it implies a more specific business purpose beyond peerto-peer info exchange and insight. This might be where a large power user is looking for a supplier, and perhaps some financing options, and can bring the group together to forge a solution. We recommend that this avenue be explored for the vendor to buyer connections. There would be the ability for the buyer to accept or reject a partnering discussion request, to initiate them on their own, and to bring in other parties. Once the connection is made and agreement reached, the meeting will occur virtually or IRL outside of the community.

Internal and third-party recruiters will pay to generate a quick understanding of the market and a list of top potential candidates. However, there are inherent issues that must be considered before moving ahead and we strongly recommend this be a feature that is discussed and validated with top member candidates. Job boards can elicit bad feelings as a company is paying for a license to a community where recruiters are actively trying to move them from their current employer.

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Member Engagement

Supplier Directory and References

A robust supplier directory provides significant value to the Buyer community as a centralized source of information about Suppliers and Vendors. A well-researched directory can save Buyer members time and often serves as “worth the price of admission.” Listing in the directory could be free for a name mention and then paid for larger and larger space in the directory. It is important for credibility, that the basic listing be as complete as possible. Enabling this online could offer the chance to have community Buyers review the different Suppliers and/or pose questions directly to them.

Councils or Workgroups

Small groups that meet regularly to provide feedback and insight and discuss topics of significance. These findings can then be shared with the broader community and even pushed forward as industry initiatives. Another avenue to bring various community members together and drive discussions forward.

Recruiters/Job Boards

Many member communities choose to offer discreet job boards and recruiter access. We suggest this feature be pursued with caution and perhaps delayed until there is a robust and active community. There is no question that internal and third-party recruiters will pay to generate a quick understanding of the market and a list of top potential candidates. However, there are inherent issues that must be considered before moving ahead and we strongly recommend this be a feature that is discussed and validated with top member candidates. Job boards can elicit bad feelings as a company is paying for a license to a community where recruiters are actively trying to move them from their current employer.

Events

With a community there is a slight shift to where the event becomes more reflective of the community itself—thus providing exposure to the community, special features or VIP events for members, and aligning with the community brand. Your success with educational content and oneto-one meetings will be amplified in the community. Leveraging event content for community members is highly recommended.

Virtual events that add peer-to-peer connections, buyerto buyer-meetings and decision support around vendors and strategies can also be leveraged and amplified as key features in a new community. Certainly, the regular event features of Keynotes, sessions, networking, certification, board meetings, roundtables, issue/platform votes, etc. would continue, but should now be approached with the question, ‘How can we leverage what we’re doing live/ virtually in our community and vice versa?’

It may be worth considering a model that includes an event registration (or more) to community members, but now attaches a fee to those not part of the community. It represents a shift from the hosted buyer model currently in place and requires customer feedback to inform this decision, both on a macro and micro level, but is worth consideration.

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