Richard Millington, Managing Director of FeverBee and Author of the book "Buzzing Communities" was our guest speaker on a webinar about selecting an online community platform. Millington provides a comprehensive guide for buyers who are in the market for an online community platform.

1. A Buyer’s Guide to
Online Community
Platforms
1
Richard Millington
Managing Director, FeverBee
Dennis Shiao
Content Marketing Director, DNN

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RICHARD MILLINGTON
FEVERBEE LIMITED
AUTHOR - “BUZZING COMMUNITIES”
@RichMillington
www.feverbee.com
course.feverbee.com
richard@feverbee.com

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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations makes
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Looking for successful examples (and failures)
• Checking feature set and design
• Negotiating and validating

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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations makes
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection

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BIGGEST MISTAKES WHEN SELECTING A PLATFORM
• Developing your own bespoke/custom site
• Spending most of your budget on the website
• Putting form over function
• Selecting a platform without a long-term future
• Not finding successful examples
• Failing to check integration/feature set

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Many organizations miss the purpose of the
community website

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The purpose of the community platform is to
facilitate interactions

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Platforms that facilitate interactions succeed

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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations makes
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection

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STEP 1: DECIDE PLATFORM CATEGORY

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STEP 1: DECIDE PLATFORM CATEGORY
• Traditional
• Social Media
• White Label
• Open-Source
• Enterprise
• Bespoke

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STEP 1: DECIDE PLATFORM CATEGORY
• Budget - What platform can you afford?
• Skills - Can you develop/design a platform?
• Resources - Can you maintain a platform?

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• $0 to $1k (traditional / low-end white label)
• $1k to $10k (traditional, white label, very low-end enterprise)
• $10k to $50k (white label, open-source, and enterprise)
• $50k+ (enterprise / bespoke)
BUDGET

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• None - White label, enterprise
• Basic - traditional, white label, enterprise
• Significant - Open-source, bespoke, traditional, white label
• Does your team have the time to do this?
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT SKILLS

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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations make
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection

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STEP 2: NARROWING OPTIONS WITHIN THE CATEGORY
• Which platforms have a bright future?
• Which have the specific features you need?
• Which have the misc needs you require? (integration/security?)
• Which match the audience needs and habits?

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WHICH PLATFORMS HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE?
• Google trends
• Funding
• Innovation
• General reviews

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WHICH PLATFORMS HAVE SPECIFIC FEATURES?
• Essential features
• Useful elements
• Key processes
• Future promises?

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Feature selection: The essentials
• Discussion area - place for members to interact
• Content/CMS - place for members to get new information (build
habits!)
• Landing page - show members who/what is new/popular
• Contact page

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• Access levels
• Show latest posts on landing page
• Exportable data
• Integration
• Show unanswered posts
• Processes (private messaging, notification, signatures, etc...
Discussion Area

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• CMS - create/edit etc..
• Commenting
• Sharing
• Multi-author/user submissions
News Page

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• Latest news
• Latest member contributions
• What’s new/popular?
• Who’s new/popular?
• What’s needed?
• Notification/replies
The Landing Page

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• Community history
• Upcoming events
• FAQ
• Member profiles
• Groups
• Multimedia
• Blogs
• Pages for jobs,
events, products &
services
• Newcomer info pages
Useful Elements

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• Integration
• Notification
• Analytics
• User levels
• E-mail
• Automation
Essential Processes

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WHICH PLATFORMS MATCH YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS?
• Integration (salesforce etc…)
• Security
• Weird stuff…
• Be flexible

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• Not as important as you might think
• Has this audience used a similar platform?
• Is it integrated with existing habits (e.g. e-mail, phone, facebook
etc…)?
• Any unique expectations? (designers need more visual, for example)
• What platforms do they use? How old are they?
AUDIENCE HABITS

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TODAY WE WILL COVER…
• Biggest mistakes organisations make
• Deciding the platform category
• Narrowing platforms within that category
• Making your selection

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STEP 3: MAKING YOUR SELECTION
• References
• Customer service
• Negotiating
• Contract

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• Referrals from unsolicited clients
• Examples of success (quantity)
• Search for happy/unhappy customers (and interview them)
• Which match the audience needs and habits?
• Ask in relevant forums (adminzone/e-mint/CommunityGeek)
SEEKING REFERENCES

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• Speed of response
• Do they customise their efforts to you?
• Make very specific requests (map out in detail)
• Ask who will be the main contact (and google them)
CUSTOMER SERVICE

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• Low marginal costs
• Ask is that the best you can do?
• Ask specifically to beat a competitor option
• Seek guarantees
• Market works in your favour
NEGOTIATING

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• Check carefully
• Don’t do long-term commitments
• Seek minimum service guarantees
• Carefully read copyright (who owns the content?)
• Don’t be afraid to make changes and send it back
CONTRACT

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GOOD LUCK!
www.feverbee.com
richard@feverbee.com
@RichMillington
For more information on DNN’s online community platform:
Evoq Social Community Software