The Value of the Online Community "The most innovative membership organizations have a model that is based on community" - Anna Caraveli, PhD According to Anna Caraveli, PhD and author of Leading from the Outside In, at high-performing associations, the value of membership is not a package of static benefits. The value of membership is a structured member community where members can collaborate with each other, access information in real time, and answer questions to help other members. Although associations are created for a variety of reasons, a strong sense of community is at the core of every successful association. Professionals join associations for the value that they provide. As the role of associations continues to evolve, an online community has become an essential feature of an influential and successful association. For most for-profit companies, an online community for customers, users, or staff is clearly supplemental to the core product. At an association, on the other hand, community doesn’t merely support the core product; community in many ways IS the core product. Members want to learn, derive meaning, collaborate, and get speedy answers to their questions. They want access to the entire world as a participant, taker, and creator.
National REIA’s goal with our community platform is to allow our Chapters and local associations to create a secure, private online community, driving collaboration and engagement among members, giving our core constituents the ability to communicate and share information, experience and best practices.
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Why Online Communities Are Better Than Social Media Although associations are implementing social media as a tool to improve member engagement, a private online community can offer more value for an association than the social media platforms by eliminating the “noise.” Unlike social media platforms, we can ensure that our online community is always aligned with the goals and values of our association. An online community provides the opportunity for targeted discussion without the distractions. The election of 2016 is a prime example of the challenges with outside social media. The nonsense that filled social media had nothing to do with the legislative issues important to our association and our industry. The distraction of these commotions did nothing to pull together our investing community for common good. The National REIA community has to build on the things we have in common and provide a safe place for relevant discussions on issues directly pertaining to our businesses and our industry. There’s no denying Facebook has a large audience, but as we were busy filling that site with content and then it has a glitch for some users, like it did recently, we quickly realized the peril of building our “home” on someone else’s land. Facebook also makes changes to its allowances on a seemingly daily basis. It isn’t as if we are a paying customer. We will not
REAL ESTATE OPPORTUNITIES IN INVESTING
