Like a good dress shirt, contacting your community is not one size fits all. Wash-and-wear may be just fine for Sunday morning lounging, but when you're dressing to impress, it's all in the fit. Think of getting the word out to your community as a "dress to impress" moment, rather than a Sunday morning. You must be scrupulous and observant, and tailor your words meticulously.

While communications strategies will vary, communities can be broken into roughly six segments including visitors, newcomers, lurkers, registrants, actives, and veterans. Each of these has unique needs requiring different styles and frequencies of contact. 

So says FeverBee's Richard Millington, who will lead an online chat about segmenting, contacting, and understanding your community. 

Join us on Tuesday, January 22, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time for the weekly CommBuild discussion on Twitter as Richard shares how to meet the needs of different parts of your own community.

How to Participate

  • Join us directly on TweetChat.com to follow along with the conversation
  • Participate in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #commbuild

Have questions about sorting your community you'd like to make sure we cover during the discussion on Twitter? Tweet them to @TechSoup before January 22 and include the hashtag #commbuild.

Never participated in a tweet chat before? Check out this how-to in TechSoup's Nonprofit Social Media 101 Wiki and watch the video below.

About Richard Millington

Richard MillingtonRichard Millington is the founder and managing director of FeverBee Limited, a community consultancy, and The Pillar Summit, an exclusive community management training course.

Richard's blog, FeverBee, is ranked among the top ten UK marketing blogs and is widely cited as best practice in helping organizations around the world improve their community efforts.

Richard is also the author of the Online Community Manifesto (PDF), arguing for a change in our approach to building communities. 

About CommBuild

The CommBuild Community of Practice focuses on issues and topics relevant to those working in social sector community building or community management roles.

Anyone interested in community building, whether you are formally in a community management job or not, is welcome to join the group and participate in the weekly chats.

Michael DeLong | Online Community Manager