The world has never encountered anything like COVID-19 before and this has inadvertently given rise to the true power and meaning of community, where different communities have rallied together against a common “enemy” to do their part, to flatten the curve.
Community builders and leaders from around the world have been challenged to pivot and re-strategise on how they can engage their communities, moving all activities from offline to online, in the combined efforts to practice physical distancing and yet preserving social connectivity.
These efforts serve not just to keep brands and businesses alive and relevant, but also to preserve the sanity of community members who will suddenly find the need to fill a void in their life.
Kampung Collective, based in Singapore, very quickly pulled together a dipstick survey involving 66 community builders from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China and India.
This exercise also involved 30 Community Builders from a diverse representation of verticals and industries involving startups, venture capitalists, freelancers and government bodies, in both the profit and non-profit spaces, who participated in an online discussion addressing five key challenges that COVID-19 has impacted their respective communities.
We summarise below the points of discussion and further findings from Kampung Collective:
Challenge #1: How do I build deep relationships with my community online?
One thing is certain, all who participated in the online discussion unanimously agree that over-communication on the online space to community members is preferred over not being heard at all.
The data also suggests that even though members might not be interactive and engaged through the online channels, it does not mean they are not seeing and reading information and activities that are happening real-time as you read this report.
Understanding what your community wants and needs is crucial as this will determine if the connections should be one-to-many or one-to-one and how regular the “check-ins” need to be and at what intensity.
Challenge #2: Our people are facing distress, how can we help?
Show vulnerability and talk openly about feelings because this shows authenticity and builds trust to allow for deeper connections even on the online space.
Now is the time to be creative – explore and start activities and challenges that take members outside and away from work-mode. Adopt more than one channel of connection for each member and understand what works best for each.
Also Read: All in the family: How to build a community that accelerates business
By identifying other empathetic community champions and leaders within the community, we can elevate them and empower them to further your reach and touch more with the personal touch.
Challenge #3: What are some ways we can engage with our community online?
Whilst most people are going to the more accessible and traditional platforms such as Zoom and Google Hangouts, there are actually quite a number of other free-to-use (or paid) platforms available for you to explore, from intimate one-to-one to one-to-many conference-style options.
Challenge #4: Our people are finding it hard to survive or secure their jobs, who will care about community?
It never is easy to communicate a cause and message that is larger than life and especially one that is eating up every aspect of everyone’s life, but as leaders in your respective communities, it is your responsibility to help your members understand this.
As Winston Churchill aptly put it, “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”
Now is the time for Community Builders to lead our communities to the common goal to flatten the curve and help bring normality back to everyone’s life again.
Challenge #5: Unsure what type of content should we be sharing now with our community
With the large amount of unreliable information being circulated on different channels, it is important as leaders in your community to be careful to only communicate facts! Content should be positive and can be interspaced between news, resources and fun facts.
Also Read: The Unicroach approach: 10 tips on community building
Understanding what your community would find valuable and useful will help you decide which channels and mediums to use and what sort of innovative initiatives to roll out.
Also for your interest:
The discussion also brought to light more areas for further consideration and have been tabled for the next online meet-up.
Some key areas to highlight would be the issue of digital overload and fatigue with everything now being brought onto the online space; the possible consolidation of resources and channels as a solution to sieve through all the content (noise) for the most relevant to the receiver; attending to those who do not have the means to have the information delivered to them through online channels; and also understanding if the new engagement systems that have been put in place will be the new norm as a long-term implementation for community builders, even after the COVID-19 crisis.
For a more detailed report of the data, you may access it here
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