Building and Engaging with Communities – An AIIP 2024 Symposium Preview
Our journey as infopreneurs relies on building and engaging with our communities. They are sources of information and assistance, and we need them – our trusted advisors, our family and friends, and of course our most critical community, our clients – to do business. Success depends on engaging effectively with these communities and continually building and developing them as our business grows. For many infopreneurs AIIP is, and has been, a trusted community, both online and in-person. It is something the association prides itself on.
Susan Tenby, Director of Global Community at TechSoup and a social media expert and community builder, will examine these issues when she presents the Roger Summit Award Lecture at the AIIP 2024 Symposium in April. We asked her a few questions about her work and to give us a sneak preview of her lecture. (Responses have been edited for length.)
“Being a community manager has taught me that online communities have the power to drive social impact and create positive change.” — Susan Tenby
The focus of your program for AIIP 2024 Symposium is building community as infopreneurs and solopreneurs. What are some things symposium attendees will learn?
We look at the basics of creating a community from the ground up – strategies for growing a community, what to look for when reaching out to new members, and how to get member and executive buy-in. We look at understanding community value and how to make everyone in an organization understand that value.
I will introduce the concept of “Community Everywhere” – how community has gone from a strategy of “meet them where they are” to a strategy of creating community channels in customer or member engagement. We examine the trend of users seeking smaller communities and private groups in which to participate and collaborating with their trusted network more.
What special challenges do solopreneurs like AIIP members face in building communities?
As a solopreneur, you don’t have the benefit of a team to help you with all aspects of refining your strategy. You are expected to implement and analyze and then make strategy adjustments, based on data and your own instincts and experience.
A particular challenge we face as solopreneur community builders (and I am on both sides, since I consult on the side and have a day job with a team) is remaining relevant. As a solopreneur, you don’t have a brand to rely on for trust and partnerships. Getting new community members and having them contribute are challenges. One way I address this matter for myself is joining relevant groups on LinkedIn and Alignable and attending virtual meetups with small and medium businesses in my interest areas.
What’s the single biggest challenge you see in building community?
Engagement is the biggest challenge for a community builder. Many people lurk and post but don’t engage with others’ posts. Getting an engaged community whose members engage with each other is an ideal situation, but it takes a while to create. Even the largest tech brands struggle with engagement.
What’s your reward in helping individuals and organizations build community?
I love being the go-to person when someone, say, wants to know someone at a certain company or organization. The fact that I am generous with my network makes me an asset to others in my consulting and my day job. Building and growing a network and being generous with introductions provides you with social capital and makes you a valuable team member.
It is great to demonstrate how the simple basics of community-building can be implemented across sectors and subjects – a nonprofit community or a startup community or a project-based community all follow mostly the same structure and have the same success metrics.
You’ve had a long career with the TechSoup family – what makes it so rewarding?
We are encouraged to come up with ideas and develop strategic programs based on our insights. TechSoup trusts all of us to become entrepreneurs in our teams and departments. I have worked on many teams in the past 24 years, so it doesn’t feel as if I am in stasis in my career. Moving around from team to team and learning new skills makes me more inspired and productive in projects. Some teams may use a certain methodology for project management, and others may use a completely different one. The absence of a standard procedure helps us devise new ways of working efficiently for each project.
How has the changing nature of the internet and online world affected your work?
AI, of course. Whether or not to have chatbots help with moderation has become a common question that I answer. AI presents an increased need for security to prevent cyberbullying and misinformation.
Communities are getting smaller and more focused. More people will look at feeds that are relevant to their interests, like subReddit threads and hyper focused Facebook groups.
Finally, do you have any background resources about community building to share?
Community Roadmap: From Brainstorm to Execution in 5 Steps
CMX: Helping Community Professionals Thrive
Susan Tenby will deliver the Roger Summit Award Lecture AIIP 2024 Symposium on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
Chris Cochran is Editor of the AIIP Connections Blog. He started his company, Cochran Information Services, in 2022 after a career in U.S. federal libraries.
