Why you need to track Community ROI

Measuring the ROI of community is hard. Unsurprisingly, many of us put it off.

Some of us are even encouraged to. ‘We get it’ says the supportive manager, ‘just focus on creating value for members.’

There’s just one problem with that. It never lasts.

Good vibes may power you for a year or two. But sooner or later, you’ll need to prove your worth. And when that day comes, you want to be prepared.

Here are three reasons why you should track your Community ROI, even if your manager says you don’t:

Do it for the business

One inevitability in business: things change. A new boss, a different strategy, a board member demands results, the economy shifts. Whatever the trigger, as soon as the pressure comes to tighten up on spending, anything seen as a cost center will be scrutinized.

I’ve seen thriving communities get shuttered because they couldn’t show the value of community to the business. Or even, because they couldn’t communicate the value the right way.

According to the CMX Community Industry Trends report, 37% of community managers were impacted by layoffs in the last year. Either directly or a team member. Almost half are concerned about losing their job in the next year.

Reporting ROI is no silver bullet to preventing layoffs but it at least gives you the tools to change perceptions of what community does for the business ahead of time.

It’s not just useful in down times, though. If you want more people, budget, or resources, you’ll need to make your case. Post counts and attendance figures won’t cut it. You need to show business impact and that doesn’t happen by itself.

Community may have been around for millennia, but it’s still not widely understood in a business context. While you live and breathe community and have a nuanced understanding of its benefits, almost all your colleagues do not.

It’s your job then to nurture that understanding through clear communication of how your efforts contribute directly to the goals your business cares about.

Do it for your members

A common reason for wanting to skip reporting is so you can spend more time with your members. After all, you want to support them as best you can.

Without reporting, though, you may be doing them a disservice. In community, there are lots of things you could do. Choosing the right things to serve your members needs clear understanding.

You can’t get all the information you need from speaking with or surveying members. People don’t always act the way they say they will. Collecting and making sense of quantitative data that reveals member behavior gives you a fascinating insight into how members really spend their time and what they value.

By tracking community data across platforms you can get a complete picture of member involvement in your community. Being able to relate that to what your business needs identifies the win-win activities you should double down on.

Do it for you

Sinking into spreadsheets, directing data pipelines, and zipping systems together with zaps isn’t why you got into community.

But getting serious about reporting is a huge learning opportunity. You’ll acquire new skills that will help you in this role and your next. It’s a key skill set you’ll need in any job.

Plus, you can think of it as a form of self-care. It’s easy as a community manager to run yourself ragged–trying to be in all the places, all of the time. But doing those things and not being appreciated for your efforts is a recipe for burnout. When our hard work feels pointless, that’s when we can really get ourselves into trouble.

Reporting ROI enables you to see the impact of your actions. The clarity will give you confidence to have richer, deeper conversations with colleagues about the work you’re doing. They’ll be more effective discussions, too, because you’ll be able to explain your wins so they understand.

How to Get Started with Community Reporting

Hopefully, you’re coming around to the idea of tracking your community ROI. Another factor that stops people from reporting regularly, is that it seems like a big undertaking.

But here’s the thing. When you’re just starting:

• It doesn’t need to be complicated: start with a simple one-pager
• It doesn’t need to take much time: track the things you can already measure. Let tools like Talkbase do the hard work of integrating platforms and bringing your community and business data together.
• You don’t need to share it: At least initially. If you’re not being asked for it, then create it just for you or to share it with your team.

I’m not going to pretend like it isn’t difficult. Knowing what to measure is tricky. Getting your data out of and into the right systems can be hard. Likely, you won’t be able to do it all by yourself long-term. It’s never-ending, too. The more things you report, the more questions you’ll get. The more KPIs you track, the more you’ll need to deliver. And the more successful you are, the bigger the expectations become.

But you don’t need to worry about all of that now. Just get started. Do it for the business, do it for your members, do it for you.

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