What nonprofits and associations should know about launching a
social networking community Adam Steinberg Marketing Coordinator
www.theport.com Slide 2 Todays Topic What nonprofits and
associations should know about launching a social networking
community Slide 3 About ThePort Social Networking Community
Provider for nonprofit organizations Help worlds largest
organizations interact & communicate with constituents Most
open and customizable platform in the industry Integrations with
donor management systems Slide 4 Before we get started What is a
house online community? How is it different than Facebook? vs Slide
5 What is a house community? FacebookHouse Types of interactions
Friending, events, games Campaigns, Groups, Chapters, Actions In
Your Brandx Integrated with your databases x # of community members
Hundreds of millions 100 250,000 Deployment time hoursweeks Slide 6
Sierra Club on Facebook Slide 7 Sierra Club House Community Slide 8
Arthritis Foundation Support Forums Slide 9 Goal Learn how to
successfully plan, build and launch an online community built for
your constituents. Slide 10 Todays Agenda Initial Planning and
Research Compare Platforms and Costs Building out your community
Deployment strategy Q&A Slide 11 Stage One: Initial Planning
and Research Slide 12 First and foremost Know why you want to build
an online community Slide 13 What are the challenges you face? via
Worldle.com Slide 14 What house communities can do Bring people
together Become information hub Help people collaborate Help
constituents communicate Attract new supporters Keep your website
up to date Slide 15 Side Note: Integration Your Community Your
donor management system Information about constituents pushed to
databases. Enable custom reports & targeted communications
Slide 16 A key question: What do you want constituents to do?
Collaborate Join events Share news and causes Support each other
Raise money Slide 17 What types of programs can you
socially-enable? Campaigns Walks/Runs Education Information Sharing
Fundraising Advocacy Something new? Slide 18 How will you measure
ROI? Slide 19 Ways to measure ROI More participation among
supporters? New constituents & supporters? Fundraising dollars?
More subscribers to communications? New sponsorships & grants?
Slide 20 Define technical considerations Integration Points Slide
21 Integration with website Branding Header/footer
Community.domain.com Slide 22 Social Community Slide 23 Website
Slide 24 Database Integration Considerations Slide 25 Single Sign
On and Data Sharing Single Sign On Community Shares Data Back with
CMS Constituent management system Online Community Slide 26 Unique
Community Experience for Members? External data Slide 27
Socially-Enabled Events and Campaigns Slide 28 Improved constituent
data and marketing Create custom reports, targeted communications
Slide 29 Bottom Line Having your own community can help many of
your goals and programs. But, community doesnt happen overnight
Slide 30 Which department will own the project? Via Wordle.com
Slide 31 How much staff can you dedicate? Resources will dictate
how much you can do at first Which departments have internal
resources to fulfill goals? Which departments can pull in other
resources? Who can serve as community manager? Slide 32 Community
Management Short-Term Keep discussions relevant and healthy.
Provide a safe place to share passions. Image thanks:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbennett/50434313/ Slide 33 Community
Management Long-term Stimulate conversations & improve
community Blog posts Events Groups Newsletters New community
features Slide 34 Summary of considerations - Who owns the project?
- What do you want people to do? - What are your goals? - How will
you measure ROI? - Do you want to integrate external systems? Slide
35 Step two: comparing platforms and costs Remember: What are your
goals and ROI expectations GoalsToolsROI Slide 36 Questions to
consider Important questions to consider prior to selecting what
tools or vendors you will choose to launch your community Slide 37
Do you have technical resources on staff? Titles include:
Programmer Systems Administrator Web Designer Database
Administrator Slide 38 Do you need to own your data? Integrated
communications Data security Slide 39 Integration and APIs Do you
want to integrate with your constituent management system? Extend
functionality of community Build custom widgets Your community will
need Open APIs Slide 40 Do you want your community to be unique?
StandardUnique GroupsChapters, Committees EventsCampaigns, Actions
Personal InformationCauses you support Slide 41 Other
considerations when selecting a vendor Is vendor familiar with
industry and requirements? - Does the vendor work with
organizations similar to yours? - What type of support does the
vendor offer? - Technical - Thought leadership Slide 42 Other
considerations (contd) What is vendors uptime history? How secure
and reliable is their data center? Data centers go down! Slide 43
Will platform be able to grow with your organization? Add
additional and new features? Keep up with technology developments?
APIs available for additional customization? Slide 44 What are your
options? Open Source Slide 45 Pros ability to customize, cost of
actual software is limited, can launch fairly quickly Cons requires
time & resources, requires customization by internal staff,
hosting resources, continues development resources to remain on
cutting edge, no support hotline, typically no out-of-box
integration Slide 46 Ning Pros easy to deploy, branding can be
customized, requires limited resources, limited cost Cons dont own
data, no integration with external systems, no apis, limited
flexibility in platform, not nonprofit specific, may run ads Slide
47 White Label Hosted Platform Pros Out-of-box integration, limited
technical resources required, hosting and upgrades managed, vendor
works with client to tailor platform, can have Open APIs and
flexible platform Cons - No access to source code, reliant on
vendor platform and support, not free Slide 48 ROI What tools will
give you the best blend of functionality, ease of implementation
and cost savings? Slide 49 Evaluation Summary Consider Internal
Resources Remember Immediate and Long- Term Identify Technology
that can facilitate goals Choose platforms that complement staff
strength Slide 50 Stage Three: Building the community Review
project spec from vendor Know who needs to be involved and when
they will need to be available Will you need support from your
other technology vendors? Slide 51 Complete formal configuration
document People youll need Systems Admin Webmaster Marketing
Communications Community Manager Software Engineer (if implementing
integration) Slide 52 DNS community.yourwebsite.com Setup DNS
redirect Slide 53 Do you want to include any advertising scripts?
Supply ad code to implementation manager Slide 54
Integration/Single Sign On Provide path to your API May need to
work with your database vendor Work with vendor/team to identify
mapped fields Connect to community API Your SaaS Vendor will
typically connect integration for you Slide 55 Design
considerations Handled by Marketing or Web team Header/footer
Styles (fonts, colors) Featured content Community blogs or banners
Slide 56 Social Spaces and Custom Questions Do you need a unique
space for constituents? Campaigns, Walks, Chapters Supply
properties of each group to vendor Custom properties for profiles?
Certifications, Causes, Purchases Slide 57 Complete the project
timeline Week 1 Technical and creative specifications
Subdomain/Integration/Design Week 2 Community Walk Through Submit
Modifications Week 3 Final Review Acceptance Week 4 Launch Slide 58
Stage Four Community Launch Slide 59 Launch Strategy 1. Seed the
community 2. Recruit evangelists to help add initial content 3.
Give people something to do when they visit 4. Get the word out!
Slide 60 Seed the community give people something to do Active
profiles Groups with discussions Upcoming organization events
Topics in forums Campaigns to support Slide 61 Non-seeded Community
No one for new members to interact with when they join! Slide 62 A
seeded community Slide 63 Recruit evangelists to help add initial
content Who are your biggest supporters? Who engages you on other
social networks like Facebook? What staff members or volunteers are
likely to want to help? Slide 64 Leverage assets to get the word
out Annual event announce community and train Direct mail include
information in all pieces Email Newsletters tell all constituents
and create community-specific letter Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn
broadcast across networks Slide 65 Newsletter example Everything
links back to community. Slide 66 Encourage invitations and sharing
Use tools such as Addthis, Facebook connect Email Invitation Tools
Invite existing contacts Slide 67 Continue promoting Offer
incentives Earn points and redeem prizes Spotlight bloggers on
website or in newsletters Acknowledge community contributors at
events Slide 68 Innovate Continue to innovate As technology
evolves, so should community Activity feeds Status updates Social
spaces Slide 69 Wrap-up Plan Goals & Strategy Evaluate
Platforms Build the Community Launch and Continue Promoting Slide
70 Learn more Free resources -
http://www.theport.com/resources.aspx
http://www.theport.com/resources.aspx Learn how ThePorts platform
helps other nonprofits deploy unique online communities
www.theport.com www.theport.com [email protected]
[email protected] 678.391.7805 Slide 71 Questions ?
www.theport.comwww.theport.com
[email protected]@theport.com Thanks!
