Who are your community champions? Do you know how to find them? And what to do with them once you identify them?
A community champion is a member or stakeholder who actively engages with other participants in the community. A champion could be someone you know well, or it could be someone who emerges from the periphery of your membership now that they have a way to engage online. Champions are:
- Positive and optimistic (mostly!)—champions look for the best in the industry and the organization. And they have positive interactions with other members, even when they disagree.
- Credible experts—champions are people that other members respect and admire. They might be recognized in the industry. They might have an impressive work history or a high position in an important company. They might just have a knack at expressing themselves in a way members respond to.
- Open and respectful—champions appreciate the ideas of others and look for input, not just from people they know, but also from other members of the community.
Finding Your Champions
As a community manager, you should always be on the lookout for champions. Engagement ebbs and flows for your members—someone who was an active champion three months ago may not be in the position to help this month. So who are your champions today? Take a look at your community, and list the people who:
- Are actively posting new discussions.
- Are actively replying to discussions from others.
- Are highly respected and willing to engage.
- Handle debate well and are willing to carry on a conversation.
- Are great association champions in real life, if we could just get them to engage online as well.
Champion Engagement Checklist
Once champions are identified, community managers can reach out to them and explain how they can help. Champions have an important role to play when a community manager needs to use an indirect route to support community activity. So how might you engage your champions? Here is a checklist of ideas to choose from.
Making Contact
- Make a phone call to an individual champion.
- Schedule a conference call with a group of champions.
- Hold a meet-up at your annual conference. Ask your ED, elected leader, or a senior executive to attend.
- Schedule coffee or a meetup with your ED when s/he visits their city.
- Honor champions by inviting them into a closed group where you can communicate about community progress and business.
Asking for Help
- Can you help us monitor the [specific] group and reply to posts when people ask questions?
- Can you help us welcome new members? [Explain how.]
- Can you help us get the word out about [something specific] in the groups you belong to?
- Can you give us feedback for how we might engage more members?
- Can you give us a testimonial for how and why you use the community?
Asking How You Can Help
- Can we provide you with anything that would make it easier for you to participate?
- Can we provide you with anything that would make your community experience better?
- What should we be doing that we haven’t done yet?
Showing Gratitude
- Offer free advance copies of upcoming publications or research.
- Offer CE credit for participation in qualifying discussions.
- Gift a free webinar or local live program registration.
- Send a hand-written note from your ED or elected leaders.
- Award a digital badge or give some kind of recognition in the community.
Note that I waited until the end of this post to mention gamification, leaderboards and badges. While those things are certainly useful, finding the right champions to help you nurture your community goes beyond automation and points. It’s essential to remember the value of building real relationships–as a community manager–with real people who may be able and willing to help you grow a truly engaged community.
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