There is the desire to participate in our community and the responsibility to measure its effectiveness that feel at odds. Take a moment to write down two things:
- What do you wish you could measure about your community?
- What do you value most about participating in your community?
If your community is seen as worth the investement, what do you want from the business that costs money? General ideas are great here. For example, do you want budget to run a user summit? Do you want to hire for the team? Do you want to be left alone (which is totally valid and also costs money)?
What do you have the capabilities to measure today? What might you be able to measure, even if its hard to do so (think back to your gut vs brain moment earlier for inspiration)? Write them all down.
You have a strong story for why your community is worth the investment. Now never report on all the metrics you gather. You need to be clear, and the more you offer the less clear it will be. Who can you present your top set of metrics to validate them? Who's your executive sponsor? Who in the company can negotiate with you to define the bounds of your value to the company?
To think of who, think about who you could ask:
“We are at X. If we got it to Y, how might you invest in the program? Headcount? Budget? How about if we get to Z?"
All business value ends up in a spreadsheet or a slide deck. The models that show their value are everywhere: from pie charts to customer logos to marketing funnels. What are the measurements and models that your company respects? If at all possible, find one already valued and mirror it. Community is out on a limb already, so it's not likely to be the right place to push for new concepts of business value. What models can you reuse?
I shared my list. What's yours? I'd love to hear more on Twitter @mbbroberg or via email. Happy measuring.