Building the Business Case for Community

In every corner of an organization, the idea of having an online community is brought up. But often, the idea remains just that – an idea – because starting the journey seems daunting. How should we begin to build the business case for it? How can we translate the hard-to-explain-and-grasp benefits of community into a comprehensive and convincing plan? What lessons can be learned from others who have succeeded? How can we report the value in business terms?

Your business case process is not simply a way to get approval for your community project. When well done, it is the outline for an effective strategic plan that includes requirements, vendor selection, implementation and operational steps for your online community launch. It will serve as your guide to develop the myriad of operational opportunities into potent complements to community initiatives.

To answer these questions and more, we are sharing a detailed roadmap to set you firmly on course!

Below is a replay of a webinar we created for DNN Software that provides the best practices we’ve learned and implemented in one shot. You’ll find all of the templates, research, and advice you need to get a substantive head start to building your informed and persuasive business case. It includes great advice and lessons from eight of the top online community practitioners around the globe: Claire Bovill from Cisco, Robin Carey from Social Media Today, Scott K. Wilder from Marketo, Jessica McDouall from SPS Commerce, Jennifer McClure from Thomson Reuters, Steve Roth from School Dude, J.J. Lovett from CA Technologies and Fernando Castagnari from Mars Petcare Brazil.

Topics covered include:

• Defining the strategic outcomes you want from the community
• Specifying the overlapping business and audience needs it will serve
• Mapping business requirements into feature requirements
• Developing business metrics and measures to determine outcomes
• Establishing the budget

(click to play)

If you just want just the highlights, view the Slideshare presentation here.

11/2014