This is part 3 of Zapnito's "The Complete Community Launch Playbook". Please follow the links below for the whole series:

• Introduction
• Pre Launch
• Post Launch

Check The Complete Community Launch Deck, with a week-by-week guide.

Launch

Planning - 1 week

Every platform vendor will have a different onboarding and launch process. While many will leave you with an empty platform tenant, at Zapnito, we work closely with your customers to elevate their strategy and translate it into an ideal community experience that is ready for launch in just a few weeks.

Project kickoff

The project kickoff call marks the start of your online community journey. It's a moment to set the vision, create a roadmap, and align with your customer success team. This provides a deep dive into your strategic goals, launch dependencies, and timelines with your customer success manager. Initial points to cover in this session are:

Review Goals and Guidelines: 

Ensure everyone understands the community's purpose and how success is measured. Align brand and style for a consistent identity. 

Roles and Responsibilities: 

Define who will own different initiatives and workflows in the community, reducing confusion and enhancing teamwork. 

Information Structure: 

Organize content and design an intuitive user experience for easy navigation. 

Admin Setup: 

Empower administrators with the tools they need to maintain order and safety. 

Content Structure: 

Decide on categories and forums to guide member discussions for meaningful engagement.

Other functional points to cover include:

• Adding all relevant stakeholders to customer communications channels and the Zapnito Community
• Admin invitations
• Community URL and contact email addresses set up

Platform Training

Indepth, 1-on-1 platform training quickly upskills your team on how to customize the Zapnito platform based on your specific strategy. This ensures that your community manager(s) can maximize the user experience and contributions, ultimately fostering a more vibrant and engaged community. Beyond these sessions, a wide range of resources are made available to break down set up tasks into simple steps.

Here are the elements covered in platform training:

• Analytics dashboards
• SSO 
• Notifications and newsletter emails
• Settings 
• Custom fields 
• Groups 
• Badges 
• Registrations 
• Homepage set up
• Email Directories 
• Pages 
• Channels 
• Rooms 
• Courses 
• Code snippets 
• Campaigns 
• Comments

Build - 2 weeks

General structure and settings

With your team trained on the Zapnito platform and regular launch timeline check-ins scheduled with your community success manager, your team can confidently begin to configure and add content to your platform.

Each of the steps below is supported by straightforward guidance:

Set up terms pages 

Using our templates to create key pages on your online community platform, such as Terms & Conditions, Privacy Notice, and Cookie Policy, is crucial to ensure compliance and inform users, with clear guidance provided for creating and configuring these pages to meet legal and user requirements.

Set up general settings 

Configuring your general settings in your online community platform, including SEO elements and social media links, is essential to enhance visibility, SEO, and communication about your community's purpose and identity.

Configure custom fields 

Configuring custom fields in your online community platform is crucial to collect specific user information and enhance user profiles, allowing you to tailor the community experience to your users' needs.

Notifications and newsletter emails

Configuring notification and newsletter emails in your community platform is vital to engage users effectively by keeping them informed and involved, with various automated email types tailored to their preferences and behaviors.

Create pages 

Creating key pages in your online community platform, such as 'About' and 'Contact Us' pages, is crucial for hosting permanent or long-lasting site content and providing essential information to users.

Create channels 

Creating channels in your online community platform provides a structured way to categorize and organize content, guiding community members on the topics and discussions they can find within your community.

Create rooms 

Creating rooms in your online community platform allows you to establish sub-communities that bring together individuals with common interests, fostering more focused discussions, content sharing, and connections within your larger community.

Create groups 

Creating segmented groups in your online community platform is crucial as they determine user permissions, access, and abilities, allowing you to customize and control what different users can do and see on your site.

Set up badges 

Creating badges in your community platform is a valuable way to visually link related content, helping users easily locate relevant information and enhancing their overall experience on your site.

Create user directories 

Creating user directories in your community platform allows you to showcase your community members, making it easier for others to find and connect with individuals or companies with the expertise they need.

Set up advertisement code snippets 

Creating advertising on your community platform is crucial if it's a requirement for monetization and revenue generation, allowing you to position display ads effectively using code snippets.

Set up homepage 

Customizing your homepage on your community platform is essential as it allows you to change the look of your homepage and engage your audience effectively using various customizable widgets.

Update sidebar

Updating your navigation sidebar in your online community is crucial for providing an improved user experience and ensuring easy access to relevant content and features.

Pre-launch content

To inspire the type of knowledge sharing that your community is designed to facilitate, its important to create and curate strategic content creation before the official launch. These preparations are crucial for setting the stage for a clear and welcoming online community. Here essential content considerations and best practices to follow:

1. Migration from an existing platform

Migrating to a new community platform involves transferring content and user account data, which can be intricate. Migrating content and accounts is vital for maintaining continuity for existing members. At Zapnito, we collaborate with every new customer to ensure a seamless transition between platforms within your desired timeline. 

Content Migration: 

When migrating to a new platform, first pinpoint the essential content for transfer and comprehend its current format. Then, decide on its post-migration format, acknowledge related metadata, and strategize its placement within the new platform's structure.

User Account Migration: 

Determine the necessity of migrating user accounts and identify essential data, while filtering out redundant information. Ensure a user-friendly experience for members during their initial interaction with the new community platform.

2. Community Guidelines 

Describe the purpose and importance of having clear community guidelines that outline acceptable behavior for community members. 

Define Values: 

Identify the core values you want your community to have, like respect and inclusivity. 

Be Clear: 

Use straightforward language to explain what's allowed and what's not. Promote 

Good Behavior: 

Encourage positive actions like respectful discussions and collaboration. 

Address Bad Behavior: 

Clearly state unacceptable actions, such as harassment, and specify consequences. 

Involve the Community: 

Get input from your ideal community members to refine the guidelines. 

With clear and updated behavior guidelines, your online community will be a welcoming and respectful place for all members.

3. Seed Content 

Defining the content needed at launch to demonstrate the community's value and encourage early user participation is essential to a successful soft and full launch. Your community's strategy, goals, and what your organization can do will determine the types of interactions you want to create and the best format for content. Many communities start with a few content and engagement formats and add more as needed. 

Options include: 

Discussions 

Discussion threads create an ongoing dialog between multiple groups of members around a specific topic. Having a few example discussions started at launch makes it clear that this type of knowledge sharing is possible and encouraged

Articles and videos 

The right mixture of articles, announcements, thought leadership pieces or technical content all help set the tone at launch for the type of knowledge you will focus on sharing

Courses

Organizing articles or videos into structured learning journeys create an engaging and rewarding way for community members to learn, share and grow with their peers

Events

Listing past and upcoming virtual or in-person meetups and gatherings create opportunities for members to participate and connect in your community experience with peers, in real-time

4. Content Program 

Emphasize the value of a well-planned content program, including defining who will contribute to content creation, developing a content calendar to deliver engaging content regularly. 

Define Contributors: 

Identify key stakeholders and subject matter experts within your organization who will contribute to content creation. This ensures a diverse range of voices and expertise in your community. 

Create a Content Calendar: 

Develop a content calendar that outlines when and what type of content will be published. Regularly scheduled content helps maintain member engagement and expectations. 

Gather feedback: 

Ask your community what content they need to solve priority challenges and what format they most like to consume.

Measure and Adjust: 

Track the performance of your content program, including engagement metrics and member feedback. Use this data to refine your content strategy and ensure it continues to deliver value to your community.

5. Create a clear structure

A key element of structuring your community is building rooms or channels dedicated to specific forms of content. Whether they’re searching for expert insights, platform updates or an opportunity to meet other people, your members should be able to find what they’re looking for with ease. Creating a simple map of where knowledge sharing around specific topics should sit is a useful exercise to ensure your community platform becomes a valuable hub for knowledge sharing.

6. Engagement plan

Member Pathways established during the strategy phase, serve as the foundation for community engagement. Your engagement plan should aim to activate members and incentivize specific behaviors that add value to both the members and the organization. The key is to map out the distinct journeys your users might take in your community and consider how they should interact with the platform features to overcome specific pain points. These key actions can then help you identify where to spend time and effort creating integrations, email campaigns and management workflows.

7. Early access profile creation

Early access profiles play a crucial role in shaping your online community. They provide the foundation for meaningful interactions, networking, and knowledge exchange. To ensure your community members get the most from their experience, it's essential to create rich, engaging profiles that facilitate the type of connections and knowledge sharing that your community is designed for. Here are some recommendations of what profiles should include: 

Name: 

Start with the basics. Include the member's full name to establish a personal connection. 

Profession: 

Highlight their profession or occupation. This helps others understand their expertise. 

Company: 

If applicable, mention the company they work for. This provides context and encourages professional networking. 

About Section: 

Offer a brief bio or introduction. Share personal interests, hobbies, or a fun fact to make the profile more relatable. 

Areas of Expertise: 

List their areas of expertise or interests within the community's scope. This helps others identify potential collaborators or mentors. 

Goals for Joining the Community: 

Encourage members to state their objectives. Are they seeking knowledge, networking, or career opportunities? 

Content They've Created:

Showcase their contributions to the community. This highlights their engagement and expertise. 

Set up integrations 

Connecting your online community with your existing tech tools is essential for improving user experience, streamlining tasks, and getting more from your community. Here are some core platforms that can benefit from synchronized data:

CRM (Customer Relationship Management): 

You can enhance your online community by syncing member data with your CRM, resulting in detailed user profiles, and automating tasks based on community actions, such as sending notifications and emails. Additionally, you can leverage CRM data to demonstrate the community's impact on your company's goals and return on investment (ROI).

Website Integration: 

By sharing community content on your website, you enrich the user experience, and displaying community-generated results in site searches improves users' ability to find relevant information. Additionally, personalization based on user information allows you to customize site pages and provide tailored content and recommendations.

Support Systems:

Integrating your community with support systems allows for seamless issue resolution by transferring community support issues to your support system and automating tasks like ticket assignment based on community actions. This integration also ensures up-to-date user contact details and facilitates a feedback loop for continuous improvement in support services.

Data Warehouse:

Harness the power of raw community data by feeding it into a data warehouse for comprehensive analysis and the generation of creative insights.

Integrating your online community with CRM, your website, support systems, and even a data warehouse can create a seamless ecosystem. This improves engagement, streamlines workflows, and adds substantial value to your organization.

Soft Launch - 2 weeks

Before fully announcing your new community platform to all your ideal community members, it's wise to conduct a soft launch. A soft launch allows you to introduce your platform to a select group of people, identify any opportunities for improvement, and gather valuable feedback before the full-scale launch. Here are the key steps and strategies for organizing a successful soft launch of your community platform. 

Internal Communications

Develop a thorough launch plan to inform your company and set community expectations. Prioritize employee onboarding with guidelines, messaging, educational sessions, and assistance with sign-ups to ensure internal clarity and alignment for the community launch.

Define Your Soft Launch Goals 

Clarify the specific objectives and outcomes you want to achieve during the soft launch. Determine the metrics and KPIs to measure the soft launch's success.

Communication and Onboarding 

Craft a clear and concise onboarding process for a dedicated group of passionate customers, inviting them to participate with clear role expectations, and reward them suitably for their engagement. Your communication plan should inform participants about the soft launch, its purpose, and guidance on how to use the platform's key features and functionalities.

Gather Feedback and Iterate 

Encourage participants to provide feedback on their experiences with the platform. Use feedback to make necessary improvements and optimizations. To effectively manage early access feedback, establish a feedback collection mechanism and a structured process for reviewing, prioritizing, and implementing suggested improvements, while maintaining transparent communication with the user group about the status of their ideas.

Monitor and Measure 

Continuously monitor platform usage, engagement, and any issues that arise. Evaluate your defined metrics and KPIs to gauge the soft launch's success.

By following these steps, you can ensure a smooth and effective soft launch for your community platform, setting the stage for a successful official launch.

Full launch - 3 weeks

A successful community platform launch requires careful planning and ongoing operational efforts. This step-by-step guide will help you achieve a full and impactful launch. 

Pre-launch Promotion 

Email Outreach: 

Start by building an email outreach strategy. Create compelling email content that explains the benefits of joining the community when it launches. 

 Social Media: 

Leverage your existing social media channels, such as Instagram and LinkedIn, to promote the community. Share teaser posts and encourage your followers to become members. 

Customer Team Engagement: 

Collaborate with your customer-facing teams (sales, support, etc.) to guide existing customers toward the community. Train them to explain the community's value to customers. 

Internal & External Experts: 

Identify internal subject matter experts who can contribute valuable content to the community. Encourage them to actively participate and share their expertise. Also, consider inviting external influencers in your field to contribute and promote their involvement to their networks. 

Organic Search Optimization: 

Ensure that search engines can index your community's content. Optimize posts and pages for relevant keywords to improve organic search visibility. 

Events Leverage: 

If you have events planned, use them to your advantage. Promote the community before, during, and after events. Offer exclusive post-event content to encourage sign-ups. 

Website Integration: 

Make sure your website prominently features calls to action (CTAs) that prompt visitors to sign up for the community. Keep the registration process quick and user-friendly. 

Customer Advocacy: 

Empower your existing customers to promote the community to their networks. You can even consider implementing a referral program with incentives for successful referrals. 

Employee Advocacy: 

Encourage your employees to actively recruit their professional connections to join the community. Leverage their extensive networks for community growth. 

Plan for ongoing operations 

Gathering Feedback: 

Create a systematic approach for gathering feedback from community members. Use surveys, polls, or discussion threads to collect their input. 

Prioritization: 

Establish an internal process for reviewing and prioritizing enhancement requests based on user feedback. Involve relevant stakeholders in this decision-making process. 

Transparent Communication: 

Maintain transparency by communicating the status of ideas and requests back to the community. Keep members informed about which suggestions are being considered and implemented. 

Roles and permissions:

Zapnito provides "permissions" to manage member access and abilities, often grouped into "roles" set by Community Managers. To optimize the member experience, it's vital to understand differentiate member types, define roles, set triggers for attaining them, and review regularly for scalability. 

Launch Promotion 

A successful launch sets the tone for your online community and can significantly impact its growth and engagement. Follow these best practices to ensure a smooth and impactful launch. 

Pick the Perfect Time and Date: 

Selecting the ideal time for your community launch is pivotal. Ensure success by aligning it with industry events or trends to engage your target audience. Schedule the launch when your ideal members are most active online, and avoid launching during major holidays or distracting periods.

Communications calendar:

A well-coordinated communication plan is vital for a successful community launch. Utilize email campaigns to showcase the benefits of joining your community before the launch. Generate excitement through social media teasers and countdowns, update your website with launch announcements, and consider sending a press release to relevant media outlets for additional exposure.

Host a Welcome Event: 

Hosting a welcome event is essential to establish a positive community culture. Consider launching with a live webinar or virtual event featuring experts or community leaders. Encourage engagement through interactive Q&A sessions and create networking opportunities to create immediate member connections and relationships.

Trigger Email Campaigns: 

Leverage email campaigns to facilitate member onboarding effectively. Initiate with a welcoming email upon joining, followed by comprehensive guides on community engagement and periodic updates showcasing valuable content and success stories. Encourage feedback to ensure a continuously improved member experience.

Encourage Ideal Members: 

Boost engagement by targeting and motivating your ideal community members. Extend personal invitations to those who align with your community's objectives, provide exclusive content, offer recognition and rewards to early adopters, and organize engagement challenges to foster participation and camaraderie among members.

By following these best practices, you'll be well-prepared to launch your online community successfully, drive engagement with ideal community members and start delivering against your strategy.

Click here to check the forth step towards your full community launch - the post launch phase.