On today’s episode we discuss the importance of harnessing an online community from your network of constituents, alumni and clients to connect, engage and mobilize them. Our guests today are Joe Prosperi, Director for Digital Strategy for Relay for Life at the American Cancer Society, and Holly Herbert, Community Manager at Blackbaud. Joe has been with the American Cancer Society for 13 years, and currently oversees online fundraising, social media and other digital strategies. Holly has been bringing people together online for the past 15 years, and joined Blackbaud 3 years ago. Join us as we discuss strategies to create and grow a community that will benefit and accelerate your organization.

Topics discussed this episode: 

• Defining an online community and why it’s important
• How to create an online community
• Connecting to and serving your community
• Strategies to grow and engage your community
• Segmenting community members for targeted content
• Easy engagement opportunities
• Social media channels versus official organizational online communities
• Advice to people starting or struggling to build their communities

Resources:

Relay Nation

Blackbaud Community

#NoFilter NonProfit Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #raiseandengage

Blackbaud - Facebook

[email protected]

"Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Image of engagement pyramid  - Source: Free Connection

Quotes:

“Creating an online community allows you to foster engagement with those audiences and gather those stories.” -Joe Prosperi

“Community is not just a place on a map. Community is a digital space where activity happens for your organization.” -Joe Prosperi

“Even if you’re not engaging in your digital space around your brand, people are already out there talking about it.” -Holly Herbert