Selecting a technology solution can be a complex process. There's often a committee that works together to arrive at a final decision. The stakeholders on the committee include technologists, implementers, business users and budget holders. In larger organizations, the decision needs to be approved by procurement, IT and Legal.
Selecting an Online Community Platform
To build and manage a successful online community, it's essential that you find an
online community platform that's well suited to your needs and objectives. At this stage, most people jump right in. They go to Google, search for platform vendors and start visiting the vendors' websites.
But there's a better way. You first want to establish the methodology behind your evaluation. Understand (and document!) your organization's objectives for the online community. Prioritize the features that are most important to you (e.g. "must haves"). Only then should you research and contact particular vendors.
To help you find your footing, we share a number of resources below. Feel free to review these resources before doing research on vendors.
Online Community Platform Buying Guide (eBook)
Download: Buying Guide for Online Community Platforms (brief registration required)
Our buying guide provides you with a methodology for evaluation and selection. While it does list particular features that we deem essential, it doesn't go too deep there. It's less a "100 point feature checklist" and more about the process for making your decision. The outline of the eBook:
- How to determine your organization’s online community software needs
- The various online community platform choices that are available to meet these needs
- The key features to look for in an online community platform
- How to map these key features back to your needs
Introducing the Community Manager Experience for Evoq Social
by Chris Paterra
Selecting an Online Community Platform (On-Demand Webinar)
Online community expert Richard Millington is Managing Director at FeverBee and author of the book "Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities." Millington was the featured presenter on a DNN webinar, which is now available for viewing on-demand. In addition to providing key insights on platform selection, Millington answers some very interesting questions during the Q&A portion (it begins at the 44 minute mark of the webinar replay).
View the webinar on
our BrightTALK channel.
Selecting an Online Community Platform (Slides)
While I strongly encourage you to view the webinar replay (i.e. to obtain all of the interesting nuggets provided by Richard), you may also browse through the webinar slides:
Buyers Guide to Online Community Platforms from DNN