community engine for membership

Changing the way we do business

Sunday, 1 April 2012

The internet as a level playing field“The internet has become a major place for trade and we need to

ensure that it is a fair place and does not become a place where big

business can use their power to unfairly dominate sales.”

~ Peter Strong, Council for Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA)

community engine and the internetWe build software with a purpose.

We’re Australian made, have strong roots in the community, and we

have built a place where the local store has equal footing with the big

brands. A place where everyone can be heard.


Community groups in Australia

There are 600,000 community groups, contributing $43 Billion to the economy.

Constitutes 8% of national employmentPay taxes & employ staff

Reliant on volunteersTime-poor administratorsHard to find new membersOnline presence is expensive to do well.


Volunteers in Australia

6 million volunteers in Australia donate $14.6 billion in unpaid work each year.

Source: Office for the Not-for-Profit Sector


‣16.4M internet users monthly‣12M+ use social networking sites‣60% are over 35.‣They’ll spend $33B online in 2012.

The online opportunity forcommunity organisations


Problem: The internet is full of paid-for noise, vying for ATTENTION


BUT the average manager of a community organisation has too many responsibilities to know how to break through the noise and find new members.

Community group manager and member of the local community

MarketingCommittee organiser

Manager HR

Event planner

Public Relations

Membership manager

Events coordinator

Treasurer

Manager

Secretary

I just want some tools ‘off the shelf’ to:• communicate with my members• collect membership fees and donations.

Make it affordable, with ways that I can find new members too. So I have time to see my family at the end of the day.


Why is community engine different?

Social Commerce is about connecting people only to the things that we know they might be interested in and nothing more.

That means no advertising, and less noise.

We provide these ‘recommendations’ based on our knowledge of things they like, stuff they do, and what other people ‘just like them’ have in common.

Stuff I do Clubs I’m a part of

Stuff that 'people like me' also do

Recommending your organisation

to potential members


Online marketing - from advertising to social commerce

ADVERTISING eCOMMERCE SOCIAL MEDIA

GROUP BUYING

SOCIALCOMMERCE

• Pay for ‘share of attention’ (mass audience, or ‘pay per click’ etc)

• No customer relationship

• No guarantee of transaction

• High cost to acquire new customers

• You pay for cost of website design, build, ongoing maintenance

• You still need to advertise and promote your site

• You receive direct transactions and customer relationships.

• You can build customer relationships online

• The data does not belong to you

• No transactions occur

• You need to promote and advertise your social presence

• social media is still considered a ‘personal space’ where businesses may not be welcome

• Sell high volumes of prepaid inventory online

• Reliant on discounting

• Low sales margins

• No ongoing customer relationships (the data does not belong to you)

• Reliant on the group buying site advertising and promoting their brand

• Capacity to handle sales volume can be an issue

• Pay only for transactions

• Self-serve offers

• Own and manage your customer/ member data.

• Your business and offers are ‘recommended’ to potential customers

• No advertising costs


The noticeboard

Connect

Invite both new and existing customers to interact with you online.

Communicate

Communicate in real-time with your customer or member database via their personalised community noticeboard.

Transact

Sell memberships, create customised offers, accept payment online without complex merchant account paperwork.


An organisation profile

Information about the business, association, or community group.

Post updates, comments, photos

Recommend member events, businesses, offers to your own

audience

Collect membership fees

Notices relevant to your organisation appear here


The noticeboard

Businesses and clubs you follow, or ones that might be of interest.

Public notices you might be interested in (events, lost/found,

FREE,For Sale etc)

Offers and memberships you might be interested in purchasing

(one click to buy)


How it worksYour personal noticeboard

Organisations invite their members.

Members sign up and ‘follow’ groups and businesses they like.

CommunicateCollaborate

Collect membership fees

Each individual receives recommended community groups, offers, and notices based on their likes, interests, location and what other people "just like them" are doing.

Businesses find new customersAssociations find new members

The community as a whole becomes connected

COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS

MEMBERS RECOMMENDATIONS


Russell MillsChief Executive OfficerNorthern Rivers Tourism

As a not for profit small business association with a lot of stakeholders, we were keenly interested in what Community Engine could do for us. Using social media for business advantage, member management tools and harnessing the power of recommendation are important priorities for our organisation, and Community Engine have helped us to gain a much better understanding in these areas.

...All we have had to do is be willing to learn and adapt to new ways of thinking about connecting our members with their target audience.

Community Engine are highly recommended for any small business or community-based organisation looking for tools and resources to make doing business more efficient and enjoyable.

Our learnings in Byron Bay


To get started, visit www.communityengine.com.au

For more information, call 1300 COMMUNITY

or email [email protected]


Technology

community engine for membership