Thread by @brianoblinger

One month into the new gig and our community strategy is nearly complete. I’m not going to share the actual strategy, but I can talk about the components in an effort to help anyone out there trying to put one together. Here we go. #cmgr 1/

Before you even think about forming a strategy, you have to LISTEN. Meet as many people as you can, attend as many meetings as you can take, dig into the minutia, don’t stop until your brain can’t accept any more information. Everything you learn will inform the strategy. 2/

Get the data. Every audience and organization is different. Yes, you have a lot of experience and know what you’re doing, but don’t make the mistake of trying to fit your square peg strategy into a round hole community. Your real value is knowing when to tailor to the audience 3/

One mistake that is easy to make at this phase (I always make it) is to excitedly throw out a bunch of ideas in initial meetings. You’ll think that you’re sharing a vision and proving that you know your stuff, but what you’ll likely do is scare the shit out of everyone. 4/

Remember that for many of the folks you’re meeting, this is the first time they’re hearing about this new initiative. Change is hard, and you don’t need to throw additional fuel on that fire. Go easy and let them get comfortable with the ideas over time rather than forcing it. 5/

Most importantly, if you sense (or are directly told) that you’ve scared people or that they’re feeling like you’re coming out of nowhere to change everything they’re doing, stop, apologize, and have a real conversation about each of your goals and where you can work together. /6

OK, so you have the context and are ready to start putting together a strategy. Great. Start with a simple, understandable statement about the value of community to your organization that normal humans can understand. Drop the community pro lingo. Plain. English. /7

This is also where you need to start aserting yourself as someone that understands the business and can deliver more than just a neat community. How will you impact the business? Savings? Revenue generation? Happier customers? Answer me this: Why we investing in this? /8

Test the message with some people you trust that have been at the company a while to give you a good sense of how it will be received. Keep working on it until the general recation from anyone that sees it is “yeah, makes perfect sense.” /9

This is the tip of your spear. It’s the thing you’re going to say when someone at the company asks “what do you do?”. An example:

<Brand> Community will enable customers to connect with like-minded peers, get product help quickly, and build their skills in the industry.

/10

That’s it. You’re going to be tempted to come up with some buzzword-filled paragraph about all of the insanely awesome things you’re going to do. Don’t do it. My Grandpa could understand the example above. Don’t make it harder for people to get on board with your initiative. /11

Transiton from that mission statement to the research you did. This is the time to talk about what you heard. What’s good that can be used? Where are the opportunities that community can have an impact? This is not your narrative, it’s actual quotes and data to ground things. /12

Next up: Inspiration / Success Examples

Put together a page/slide/whatever of organizations that have communities that deliver specific aspects of your vision/strategy. It could include your previous work, competitors, or aspirational implementations. /13

The key here is to show tangible examples and results that people can look at. It’ll lend credibility to your plan. The message is “These are the best in the world and there’s no reason why our logo doesn’t belong with these. We’re going to do this.” Commit to excellence. /14

Pivot to strategic details. Who are the audiences community will serve? What kinds of content will be there? What programs will you launch to grow and support the community?

This is where your experience will shine. Do what you do. /15

Get the roadmap together. Timelines, names, dates, milestones, KPIs, cross-functional requirements. Stakes in the ground. Make sure that everyone called out has seen this and agreed to it. Don’t surprise people by committing them to things. /16

What resources do you need? Approved budget. A community vendor. Headcount. State all of this very clearly and make the connection between them and the value you’ve already described. To do X, we need Y by Z date.

This is where people get nervous. Don’t. Say what you need. /17

Have asks prepared in advance for the specific audience you’re presenting this to. This is the “here’s what I need from you/your teams” portion of the conversation. Explain the value you’re going to bring to their slice of the business. Don’t expect value without giving some. /18

Have a Bottom Line slide at the end that you can skip to if time is running short or you need a final message to drive it home (usually for execs). Wrap it up and end strong. Leave people with a buzz and a feeling that they need to be on this train with you. Close the sale. /19

Pro Tip: Use active, confident, and immediate language. Nothing kills a strategy faster than hedging, passive langauge, and lack of confidence. If you don’t belive it, no one else will. If you’re not at least a little uncomfortable, your plan probably isn’t ambitious enough. /20

You’re going to have A LOT of content. Don’t present it all. Create a superset of everything you think anyone might ever want to know. Hide a good portion of it and keep the main message simple. Mission > Vision > Execution > Results > Asks.

Flip to details as needed. /21

Finally, be relentless. Present this strategy to as many people as you can. Repeat it often. Repeat it more than you think you should. Then repeat it again. It will take time for people to -get it-. Be patient. Show them the wins and results along the way to build trust. /22

Now the real fun begins: Execution

Let me know if this was insightful. If so, I’ll do more of these on selecting vendors, executing, programs, etc. Thanks for tuning in. 23/23