The Ghosts of Community Predictions Past
Community Strategy // Every year, Higher Logic Vanilla, in conjunction with leading community experts, releases the Community Predictions eBook. Let's take a look at some of the ghosts of predictions past...
Nuala CroninEvery year, Higher Logic Vanilla, in conjunction with leading community experts, releases the Community Predictions eBook.
Every year covers a wave of new predictions, all related to the community world, and all based on insight and expertise from some of the best in the business.
This year’s book features Carrie Melissa Jones, Marjorie Anderson, Jono Bacon, Jenny Weigle, and more!
But while Predictions 2023 is starting to take off, we thought it would be fun to review some of the predictions of the past and see which ones have come true and which ones are still evolving!
Let us know which ones you enjoyed reading the most, and which ones helped you strategize and plan for better community results over the years!
Ghost of Predictions Past #1: Community as a Strategic Advantage
In the Community Predictions 2021 edition, released in December 2020, we predicted that community was on the path to “providing organizations with quantitative proof of community impact.”
Were we right?
Yes!! There are so many examples of the impact community has made on businesses but there is further to go.
In this year’s edition, we discuss the evolution of measuring community impact and proving value through better benchmarking and measurement – and how tying these to business goals is the key to long-term success.
Find out more about how this prediction continues to mature right here!
Ghost of Predictions Past #2: Community as Part of the Center of Excellence (CoE)
In the 2022 edition of Community Predictions, we discussed the dawning of Community as a part of the Center of Excellence (CoE) both internally and externally.
“Community, if done right, is at the heart of an organization – both internally and externally. Community can be a CoE and guide best practices across the organization and the customer base.”
We predicted that Community would be used to enable better internal alignment and bridge silos between departments and act as a centralized space for customers to find everything they need to be successful.
Though it is slower than we had hoped for in 2022, communities becoming part of the CoE is an ongoing process. We discuss how this has progressed and how much further it will go in 2023 in the new edition of Community Predictions available here!
Ghost of Predictions Past #3: CX and Customer-Centric Design
In Community Predictions 2020, released in 2019, we predicted that Customer-Centricity was going to play a significant role in community building.
“Organizations and community builders alike will keep the customer top of mind going into 2020.”
Wow, that was an understatement!
In 2020, customer-centricity became a key business objective – with the onset of the pandemic and the upheaval in business practices, customer experience (CX) became even more important than ever.
We have seen Community become a solution to improving CX ten-fold though there is plenty more that can be done!
In Community Predictions 2023 we discuss how “going forward, we will see online communities further used to integrate business functions to improve CX.”
Download your copy of the new edition here!
Content Marketing Manager
Nuala is the Content Marketing Manager at Vanilla by Higher Logic. She has adored writing since a young age and graduated with a Master’s Degree in Publishing and Literature from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
