(Originally presented at a CMSWire webinar)
How do you choose the right platform for your online community? Follow these ten steps:
1) Start with strategy
2) Know thy market
3) Develop your requirements
4) Prioritize your requirements
5) Create a checklist
6) Use a smart feature and functionality checklist
7) Compile a list of potential vendors
8) Invite vendors to complete your checklist
9) Use the smart checklist as your demo agenda
10) Use your smart checklist to inform your decision
Exploring Web 3.0 Growth marketing: Navigating the Future of the Internet
How to Choose the Right Online Community Platform
1. Ben Martin, CAE
Dennis Shiao
Chief Engagement Officer at
Online Community Results
Director, Product Marketing
at DNN
@bkmcae
http://www.onlinecommunityresults.com
@DNNCorp | @dshiao
http://www.dnnsoftware.com
15. Summary
1. Start with strategy
2. Know thy market
3. Develop your requirements
4. Prioritize your requirements
5. Create a checklist
6. Use a smart feature and functionality checklist
7. Compile a list of potential vendors
8. Invite vendors to complete your checklist
9. Use the smart checklist as your demo agenda
10.Use your smart checklist to inform your decision
16. We Invite You to Visit Us
Online Community Results:
http://www.onlinecommunityresults.com
DNN Evoq Social
Online Community Solution:
http://www.dnnsoftware.com/Solutions/Evoq-Social-OnlineCommunity-Management
Editor's Notes
What outcomes do you expect?What does success look like?How will your users interact with your community?
What outcomes do you expect?What does success look like?How will your users interact with your community?
Understand your potential users.Technographics.Focus groups, surveys.What are their hopes, dreams, aspirations, problems? How can your org help?
TechnicalFunctional
Not all requirements are equalSome aren’t even necessaryFORCE yourself to prioritize – force rank the requirements or put them into tiers
Not all requirements are equalThe checkmark assumes yes/no, but there’s more nuance to it than yes/noUse a percentage complete or percentage satisfiedAre the features fully baked? Compared to the competitors, how complete are the features?
Not all requirements are equalThe checkmark assumes yes/no, but there’s more nuance to it than yes/noUse a percentage complete or percentage satisfiedAre the features fully baked? Compared to the competitors, how complete are the features?
Not all requirements are equalThe checkmark assumes yes/no, but there’s more nuance to it than yes/noUse a percentage complete or percentage satisfiedAre the features fully baked? Compared to the competitors, how complete are the features?
You can use their responses to narrow your list of prospective vendors
Take control of the demoEvaluate each requirement based on level of completeness
Involve community stakeholders in the demos and completing the checklist
Bring your teammates checklists together and discuss them.The checklist is NOT the end-all-be-all for your decision.Use the checklists to inform your decision making, but do not feel obligated to choose strictly based on the numbers.