Communities are becoming more and more important in the content and audience strategies of brands around the globe. But what are the elements that make for a successful community? And what are the elements required for proper management of it?

For humans, the sense of belonging has always been very important.

This was seen online in the very early days, with BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) being all the rage. You belonged to a community of misfits, visionaries, that were harnessing this new thing called the Internet.

Nowadays, there are dozens of ways to build a community, and dozens of types of communities that can be built. What is yours? As an individual, but also when you put your brand’s marketing hat on?

Michelle Goodall, CMO at Guild, recently published a great piece of content on the subject of communities. She created the Periodic table of community strategy.

In it, she takes the posture you have when putting your strategic hat on, when you are elevating yourself to look at all the elements that constitute a successful community.

She built the periodic table around 11 groups of elements:

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  1. Community strategy
  2. Community types/categories
  3. Community engagement techniques
  4. Social media platforms
  5. Community platforms
  6. Community goals
  7. Community management roles
  8. Community membership roles
  9. Community governance checklist
  10. Community checklist
  11. Community member potential motivations

With the list above, you can see how it can help you make sure you are asking yourself all the right questions when building your community, both from a process/governance angle and a content/engagement angle.

If you have a community or are thinking about creating one, this article and framework are a great way to make sure you are checking all the right boxes.

And be sure to get in touch with us if you need a hand building your community strategy, our experts can help you from a strategic, but also an operational standpoint.

(source: Guild)

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