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What better way to get to know each company than by interviewing the six CEOs. We asked them some questions viaemail—yep, just like homework—and included their answershere. We give them straight A’s, by the way.
This document will not include one o those massive charts withlittle check boxes. Instead, we thought it would be more useul tolay out the particular platorm specications in a more narrativeway—in each vendor's own words.
presents…
FEATURINGCONTENTS
Six Online Community Vendorsor Associations: An Analysis
Compiled and Edited by Maddie Grant, CAE and Lindy Dreyer
©2009 SocialFish •Share •
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©2009 SocialFish •
e have been approached many times by associationcolleagues looking to investigate the possibility o setting up a white label social network or onlinecommunity or their association — something thatwould integrate with their AMS or single sign-on, and something thatwould merge seamlessly with their main website. We’ve been asked,“who would you recommend we look at? Who have you workedwith?” The purpose o this paper is to highlight six online community vendors, and show o what we eel makes each special. We’ll belooking at
Higher Logic, MemberFuse™
(by NFi Studios),
ThePortNetwork, The Social Collective, Socious, and MemberToMember™
(by SusQTech). We sat down with each and asked all the initialquestions we eel are important and compiled their answers or you.The online community vendors we have chosen or this paper are among the companies we work with. They are also an integralpart o the association community—which is massively important.They understand association issues and concerns, and understandcommunity needs based around a ramework o membership andcitizenship (volunteerism and work). They even helped und thecosts o writing, designing, and producing this white paper so thatwe could oer it to you as a ree resource. There are other greatproviders out there, and as long as you know what you are trying to accomplish you should be able to nd a good slate o people todemo or you; but you can’t go wrong by starting here. We have very specically chosen NOT to put together one o those massive tables with check marks that no one outside o the ITdepartment can actually interpret. This paper is aimed at the rest o the decision makers—those o us who are less rom IT but insteadrom marketing, communications, government relations, PR, andmembership departments, or those “many hat” wearers rom smallsta associations whose responsibilities cover several o these areas.
ChOOSING A VENdOR
This document is just a starting point. None o the specs are ully detailed, but we eel there is enough inormation here or you to geta eel or each o the vendors. You’ll denitely want to experience the demos, as we did, so you can see and touch each tool.Vendor selection is a very individual thing or every association.A ew things that we eel are very important to keep in mind…
•Userexperience:
Does the platorm accommodate the way your members use the internet, or is it something you believe they’ll easily adapt to? This is why demos are so important, alongwith a list o sites and reerences or each vendor so you can see the product in action.
A NOTE FROM ThE
•Socialobjects:
Social objects are pieces o content that compelmembers to take social actions. What are your social objects? Or another way to ask the question: what will your members do in the community? The vendor you select should oer the eatureset to accommodate that activity.
•Cultureandvision:
How well does the vendor’s vision o onlinecommunity match your association’s vision? The CEO interviewsincluded in this document should help you get a eel or thevision behind the tools.
•Outposts:
I your organization has a presence in outposts likeFacebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or others—or you’re planning to havea presence—it’s important to consider how your white labelonline community might eed your outposts and vice versa.
•Compatibility:
You may want to make sure the vendor youchoose can work seamlessly within your IT inrastructure. Weput this last because i this is important to your objectives, webet it was already at the top o your list.Most importantly, make sure you approach this process armed withan understanding o specically what YOU want out o setting up awhite label social network or your association. Avoid the “eaturecreep” trap. Just because many, many eatures are available doesnot mean you or your members need them all. Think about your social objects—the things you want your members to DO and talk about in your online community—which is more than givingmembers a way to connect. Connecting in itsel is not enough tosustain an online community. Will they be mostly working on speciccommittee projects? Will they be posting events? Will they be usingit as an inormation and news source? Will they be sharing photosand videos? It may be all o the above, but some actions will bemore important than others.On the back end, too, certain aspects may be important or you to prioritize. Will your community be more open, or more closed?How important are permissions or dierent kinds o members todo dierent things? Will you want to help members link to someor all o their public outpost proles like Twitter or Facebook? Howmuch fexibility do you want as sta administering the site? Do youwant to be able to play around with the design and modules as the community grows, or do you want it to be all set up or you?Knowing the answers to these questions ahead o time will help youocus during your demos and eventually choose the right platormor you.
W
Maddie & Lindy
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CEO INTERVIEWS
©2009 SocialFish •Share •
ROb WENGER, hIGhER LOGIC
SF:
Tell us a bit about the history behind Higher Logic.How did you get where you are now?
RW:
I have been designing and building web sotware or associations and non-prots or over 10 years. Initially, I designedwebsites and applications that integrated to the back-end systems that organizations used to run their business. Later, I became theprincipal R&D architect or one o the leading AMS vendors whereI designed the next generation Association Management System. While thinking about the uture o the AMS, I started looking atsocial media and social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn,Digg, Google Groups, etc. I realized how well the community building concepts o these tools matched with the goals o mostassociations: real-world networking, inormation sharing, and groupcollaboration. I saw a need or a social media solution that associations could useimmediately with little to no customization— a solution that wouldextend the value in their back-end systems to their members. I wasvery ortunate when hiring my management team at Higher Logic to bring in many veterans o the association industry. Higher Logic’sConnected Community was developed with input and ideas rompeople with real world experience and a clear understanding o how social networking can radically change the member experience.
SF:
What’s your vision or the company? Where are you going?
RW:
During the initial phase o our company’s growth, weocused on getting the platorm and the tools built, and ondeveloping a clear understanding o what our clients needed rom these tools. This is a never-ending task o course—as needs change,new ideas come up, and lessons are learned. I am very pleasedwith where our tools are today, and I am even more excited aboutour upcoming Connected Community suite enhancements andnew products. In Phase II, our ocus is on what it takes to make social media tools even more successul or our clients. When we started, therewas little to no history on social media tool use in associations.However, ater two years, we have a much better picture o whatworks and what doesn’t. My goal is to provide meaningul, tangible ways or clients tomeasure success, and we are doing that now. By empowering our sta, clients, and industry thought leaders to analyze how the toolsare being used, I have no doubt that together we can come upwith even better blueprints or success. My vision or Higher Logicis that we continue to innovate and produce exceptional productsand provide associations with new opportunities to enhance their members’ experience.
SF:
What makes Higher Logic’s platorm unique?
RW:
I we are just talking about the technology, the actual tools that we sell, I would say there are two major things that make our platorm unique:The ocus on integration with the AMS. We built our suite1.rom the ground up with integration to our customers’ back-oce systems as a primary architectural eature. I don’t think anyone else has really done this nor does anyone else haveanywhere near the experience in doing this that we do. Weintegrate to 15 AMS systems now and have more comingonline all the time.The extensibility o our platorm. Connected Community 2.is almost as much a development platorm as it is a socialmedia product. Our services sta, clients, and partners canbuild customizations or extensions and add them to their community sites using our tools.Interview continued on page 9
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