From Network to Community: How One Association Built a Social Networking Tool that Really Works

From Network to Community: How One Association Built a Social Networking Tool that Really Works

Sunday, March 25, 20122:45 – 4:00Hub Tag: #ideas12LS5

Amanda AdolphShelley Sanner, CAE

Why are you here?

• Are you thinking about building an online community for your members?

• Have you built a community that is thriving?• Have you built a community that you can’t seem

to get off the ground?• What else brought you here?

Community – the official definition

“A group of people having common interests.”- TheFreeDictionary.com

Community – Facebook’s Definition

“I founded Facebook on the idea that people want to share and connect with people in their lives, but to do this everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times.”

Community – MeetUp’s Definition

“Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles from the Twin Towers, and I was kind of the person who thought local community doesn’t matter much if you’ve got the internet and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I hoped they wouldn’t bother me. When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors…people said hello to neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally ignore. A lot of people were thinking that 9/11 could bring people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet – and grow local communities?”

At the end of the day, what do you want to do?

• Purpose– Why do you want to do this? What problem do you want to solve?

• Audience– Who is it for and is it a want? How do you know?

• Research– What data is available that indicates that this is a reasonable use of your team’s time?

• Tools/Tactics– Rationale behind the effort should lead you to the right tool for your purpose

• Communication Plan- If you build it will they come? - What do you need to do to seed it? Feed it?

• Evaluation– What does success look like?– How will you know you are there?

Who is AGB and its board professionals?

• AGB serves the boards of trustees and senior leadership of 1250 colleges, universities, and institutionally-related foundations

• Membership is based on the board, but it is about the people

• 36,000 people at 1900 institutions (some boards serve multiple institutions, like UC)

• Board professionals are the individual liaisons to the board, a critical membership connection

The Genesis of the Network

• The challenges we faced: – listserves are annoying, and didn’t foster the kind

of relationship needed for the board professionals to connect

– This audience segment is critical to our business, and we needed a better way to understand their challenges

Board Professionals Network(agbbps.ning.com)

• Purpose– Listserves are dead. Long live the community!– Lurk – watch what they were working on as another feedback loop for

the organization– Keep people engaged beyond once a year– Connect them to the only other people who know exactly what they

experience• Audience

– Very niche group. Subset of our members. Wanted to use it as an easy test case. They don’t have a professional organization beyond us.

• Research– Engaged in conversations about it with the members’ leadership

group

Board Professionals Network(agbbps.ning.com)

• Tools/Tactics– NING – closed social network, cheap, easy to set up– Predated an AMS and a web conversion

• Communication Plan– Pilot group/BPLG– Through volunteer membership and marketing committee– Membership director’s role– Feeding the beast– Ongoing upkeep

• Evaluation– Numbers, rate of growth– Activity– Quality of use

A story about one online community…

A Sampling of Recent Activity

Bottom Post Shows Staff Engagement

Now, for the real story

Small moves that make a big difference

• Faces make a difference• Seeding the network with some leaders• Establishing an expectation that the leaders

would reach out within 48 hours with a welcome to new members

• Establishing an expectation that questions would be answered – by different voices

The day the network changed

From Network To Community

Questions for us or each other

Thank You for Coming!Amanda AdolphSenior Vice President, Marketing and CommunicationsAssociation of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB)202.776.0827o; 202/658.8876 cAmandaa@agb.org www.agb.orgAfter April 20: amandafore@comcast.net

Shelley Sanner, CAEManaging ConsultantMcKinley Advisors202.333.6250 ext 314ssanner@mckinley-advisors.comwww.mckinley-advisors.com