Offering Vendors Access to the Community

Technology Platform

There has been an explosion of new technologies in community management in the last 12 months, and you’ll find a vendor directory on the CLI website which showcases the wealth of innovation in this area.

Detailed platform evaluation and analysis is beyond the scope of this playbook, but we will be covering Platform evaluation and comparisons in detail in the CLI Community on a regular basis – and we already have a number of short platform reviews which summarize the capabilities, opportunity for customization, ease of use for the organization and for its members, and cost effectiveness. If you’re a member of CLI, you can also access a copy of our Platform RFP Template, in the Tools & Resources section.

To help you get an overall grip on tech platforms available, it’s worth understanding the 5 key platform types available to you, before you start your RFP.

Software As A Service Platforms These are platforms that have been specifically built for community management and are generally available on a per user or license basis. Examples include Circle, Tribe, Vanilla Forums, Mighty Networks and Disciple. They’re intuitive to use and don’t require any technical know-how – however, they’re built more to serve your community than to build it, so you need to have a clear strategy about how your audience finds and joins your community.

Messaging Or Chat Software Increasingly, brands, events, and products are building 4 communities on the back of apps primarily designed as messaging tools – such as Slack, Whatsapp or Telegram. Typically, these systems aren’t sufficient to support a growing community, but they might offer a good springboard for providing the forum/networking/ messaging elements of a community that’s just started Social Platforms Social platforms like linkedin, facegroup and meetup are home to many communities, in the form of dedicated groups. Some might argue that a linkedin or facebook group isn’t, in essence, a community – and yet some of the most interactive, vibrant and engaging groups take place in these platforms. A key disadvantage is that you have no control or ownership over these 3rd party apps, and are therefore at the mercy of changes they might make as well as having no or limited access to data on your participants in these groups. Again, these platforms can serve as a springboard, or as a funnel to a membership community.

(Cont. in the next page)

1

2 3

NEXT STEPS: GRAB YOUR COPY OF OUR 90 DAYS TO LAUNCH CHECKLIST AND GET ACCESS TO 25+ INVALUABLE COMMUNITY TOOLS WHEN YOU SIGN UP TO COMMUNITY LEADERS INSTITUTE FOR FREE TODAY. WWW.COMMUNITYLEADERSINSTITUTE.COM