The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: Why Community Is the New Competitive Advantage A Customer Community Is Born The Rise of Community-Driven Business Giving Customers a True Sense of Community The Unrivaled Scalability of Community Community is an Extension of Your Team The Power of Owning a Topic in People's Minds The One Thing They Can't Copy Good for Business, Good for Humanity CHAPTER 2: The Fundamentals of Community Strategy The Three Levels of Community Strategy The SPACES Model: The Six Community Business Objectives Metrics and the Attribution Challenge Finding Your Community Focus Growth Engines vs. Cost Centers Choosing a Measurement Framework The Community Investment Journey CHAPTER 3: Creating a Social Identity The Social Identity Cycle Who Is Your Community Built For? Who Doesn't Belong? Investing in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Day One What Is Your Community's Personality? How Can You Make Your Members Feel "Cool"? Should Your Community have a Unique Identity from your Company Brand? Finding Sub-Identities within Your Community Defining Identity by Levels of Contribution CHAPTER 4: Mapping the Community Participation Journey The Commitment Curve The Four Levels of Participation How to Attract Members to Your Community Creating Intentional Barriers to Entry Designing a Compelling Onboarding Experience How to Move Members Up the Commitment Curve Activating Community Leaders CHAPTER 5: Validation, Rewards, and Incentives Creating Habits with Rewards Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivations Avoid Replacing Social Norms with Market Norms SNAP! A Framework for Effective Extrinsic Rewards The Thing about Gamification Come for the Utility, Stay for the Unity Measuring Community Health and Engagement Using the Social Identity Cycle CHAPTER 6: Designing Community Spaces and Experiences The Two Kinds of Community Experiences Repetition, Repetition, Repetition The 7Ps of Community Experience Design Curating the Right People for the Right Purpose Aligning Size with Purpose Choosing Community Software Platforms Should You Host Your Community on a Free Social Network? Designing Spaces that Make People Feel Seen Starting with a BANG! Creating Peak Moments Facilitating Small-Group Discussions Tell Your Members How to Participate How to Get Members to Be Open and Vulnerable Keep Your Rules Short and Simple to Start My Three Go-To Community Rules 1. What's Shared Here Stays Here 2. No Self-Promotion 3. Critique the Idea, Not the Person Using Metrics to Optimize Community Spaces and Experiences CHAPTER 7: Activating Community Engagement Engagement Is a Constant Experiment Personal Invitations and "Doing Things That Don't Scale" No One Wants to Be First to Raise Their Hand Ask for Permission Don't Fear the Crickets Talk Funny How to Spark Great Debates Moderation Is Never Personal Default to Transparency and Admit Your Mistakes Use Your Authentic Voice Keep your Energy High and Positive Go Forth and Build Community! Bibliography About the Author Index