Richard Millington, Managing Director of FeverBee and Author of the book "Buzzing Communities" was our guest speaker on a webinar about selecting an online community platform.
Millington provides a comprehensive guide for buyers who are in the market for an online community platform.
What is Google Search Console and What is it provide?
Buyers Guide to Online Community Platforms
1. A Buyer’s Guide to
Online Community
Platforms
1
Richard Millington
Managing Director, FeverBee
Dennis Shiao
Content Marketing Director, DNN
2. FeverBee Community Consultancy @RichMillington 2FeverBee Community Consultancy @RichMillington
RICHARD MILLINGTON
FEVERBEE LIMITED
AUTHOR - “BUZZING COMMUNITIES”
@RichMillington
www.feverbee.com
course.feverbee.com
richard@feverbee.com
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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations makes
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Looking for successful examples (and failures)
• Checking feature set and design
• Negotiating and validating
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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations makes
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection
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BIGGEST MISTAKES WHEN SELECTING A PLATFORM
• Developing your own bespoke/custom site
• Spending most of your budget on the website
• Putting form over function
• Selecting a platform without a long-term future
• Not finding successful examples
• Failing to check integration/feature set
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Many organizations miss the purpose of the
community website
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The purpose of the community platform is to
facilitate interactions
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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations makes
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection
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STEP 1: DECIDE PLATFORM CATEGORY
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STEP 1: DECIDE PLATFORM CATEGORY
• Traditional
• Social Media
• White Label
• Open-Source
• Enterprise
• Bespoke
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STEP 1: DECIDE PLATFORM CATEGORY
• Budget - What platform can you afford?
• Skills - Can you develop/design a platform?
• Resources - Can you maintain a platform?
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• $0 to $1k (traditional / low-end white label)
• $1k to $10k (traditional, white label, very low-end enterprise)
• $10k to $50k (white label, open-source, and enterprise)
• $50k+ (enterprise / bespoke)
BUDGET
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• None - White label, enterprise
• Basic - traditional, white label, enterprise
• Significant - Open-source, bespoke, traditional, white label
• Does your team have the time to do this?
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT SKILLS
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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations make
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection
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STEP 2: NARROWING OPTIONS WITHIN THE CATEGORY
• Which platforms have a bright future?
• Which have the specific features you need?
• Which have the misc needs you require? (integration/security?)
• Which match the audience needs and habits?
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WHICH PLATFORMS HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE?
• Google trends
• Funding
• Innovation
• General reviews
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WHICH PLATFORMS HAVE SPECIFIC FEATURES?
• Essential features
• Useful elements
• Key processes
• Future promises?
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Feature selection: The essentials
• Discussion area - place for members to interact
• Content/CMS - place for members to get new information (build
habits!)
• Landing page - show members who/what is new/popular
• Contact page
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• Access levels
• Show latest posts on landing page
• Exportable data
• Integration
• Show unanswered posts
• Processes (private messaging, notification, signatures, etc...
Discussion Area
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• Community history
• Upcoming events
• FAQ
• Member profiles
• Groups
• Multimedia
• Blogs
• Pages for jobs,
events, products &
services
• Newcomer info pages
Useful Elements
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• Integration
• Notification
• Analytics
• User levels
• E-mail
• Automation
Essential Processes
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WHICH PLATFORMS MATCH YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS?
• Integration (salesforce etc…)
• Security
• Weird stuff…
• Be flexible
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• Not as important as you might think
• Has this audience used a similar platform?
• Is it integrated with existing habits (e.g. e-mail, phone, facebook
etc…)?
• Any unique expectations? (designers need more visual, for example)
• What platforms do they use? How old are they?
AUDIENCE HABITS
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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations make
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection
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STEP 3: MAKING YOUR SELECTION
• References
• Customer service
• Negotiating
• Contract
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• Referrals from unsolicited clients
• Examples of success (quantity)
• Search for happy/unhappy customers (and interview them)
• Which match the audience needs and habits?
• Ask in relevant forums (adminzone/e-mint/CommunityGeek)
SEEKING REFERENCES
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• Speed of response
• Do they customise their efforts to you?
• Make very specific requests (map out in detail)
• Ask who will be the main contact (and google them)
CUSTOMER SERVICE
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• Low marginal costs
• Ask is that the best you can do?
• Ask specifically to beat a competitor option
• Seek guarantees
• Market works in your favour
NEGOTIATING
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• Check carefully
• Don’t do long-term commitments
• Seek minimum service guarantees
• Carefully read copyright (who owns the content?)
• Don’t be afraid to make changes and send it back
CONTRACT
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GOOD LUCK!
www.feverbee.com
richard@feverbee.com
@RichMillington
For more information on DNN’s online community platform:
Evoq Social Community Software