The SPACES Model for Community

What is community? Where does it live? Who manages it? Who is accountable for it? These are just a few of the questions that trip up many companies when thinking about their communities. Historically, companies, brands, and organizations have viewed community building as a money pit. How can they accurately measure their ROI? Because of this, community is often funneled into customer support or social media. While both are important elements of community it can hardly be limited to either.

I'm a firm believer in community being its own department. While also being a strategic approach across all departments within a company.

If this is still stumping you as a manager or leader at your organization, a helpful approach is the SPACES model, designed by the team behind CMX and the CMX Summit (I'll be attending, will you?).

Personally, I think this approach is a huge help right off the bat. One, because I'm a visual learner and it helps to see these areas broken out. And two, it connects the dots between strategy and implementation.

For example, for Acquisition (or Advocacy), you can measure success through metrics like new users, conversion engagement, active users, even attendees, new user sign-ups. If you review the SPACES model and the example metrics per area, you'll notice that there are consistent metrics throughout. A reminder that sharing community-focused strategies across channels isn't so unrealistic or unmeasurable after all. Using this lens, you'll notice community really is intertwined throughout your business.