There are 3 levels of client engagement that organizations hope to achieve through use of the web:
Level 1 - Organizations first look to the Web as a way to talk to customers.
Level 2 - Soon,
they advance to the next level where they hope the web will also help their
customers talk to them
Level 3 - Real engagement and learning happens when you get to the third level. At this level, not only are you having dialogue with your clients, but your clients are having dialogue with each other - sharing good and bad and best practices, as well as struggles and objectives. This is "social collaboration." This is where the real growth occurs. Knowledge is shared, trust and respect are developed and everyone is better off.
Social Solutions is a great example of an organization that is operating at this level. Here's their Success Story, shared by Clare French, ETO Community Advocate for Social Solutions:
"I manage our Groupsite and cultivate client relations for Social Solutions, the leading provider of performance management software for the human services and nonprofit sector. Our mission is to challenge and equip human service providers and their funders to turn good intent into measurable change by relating efforts to outcomes. By living our mission we have managed to do something few software companies achieve: create a jazzed group of folks who are excited to be involved with Social Solutions and ETO (Efforts to Outcomes) Software. We opted to create an online community to continue to foster networking connections that we make with our clients, and that our clients make with each other, at regional and national in-person events. CollectiveX also allows our Groupsite members to encourage additional collaboration and share education around best practices and lessons learned.
A major benefit to us has been the ability to keep our Groupsite private and available by request or invitation. This gives us an added piece of mind where our software trade secrets are concerned. It also provides us with an additional avenue to stay connected with our clients. Encouraging members to join "by request" allows us to develop new relationships alongside more seasoned relationships. It also gives us a way to reach out and "get a snapshot" of what's happening in our clients' organizations. This may help us learn when one of our clients has a human resources shift, like a new Executive Director or Program Manager for example, and creates the perfect opportunity for us to reach out in other ways, as well.
We have also capitalized on some of the newer features of Groupsites, including content modules. By creating widgets and embedded flash objects, we've been able to showcase available tools and promote events. We even created a poll widget, which allowed us to gauge members' favorite CollectiveX features. Armed with the polling results, we have been able to create a well-received new page in our Groupsite for resources, articles and other links.
All in all, our Groupsite is a constant work in progress - we are continually excited about new ways to interface with our members and have created some really unique stuff, like the portion of the site dedicated to the mastermind behind ETO Software, the Dave Butz Fan Club photo gallery. With a little creativity and ingenuity, you can do anything!"
Thanks for telling your story, Clare!