What is Digital Engagement?

One of the core tenets I share over and over about digital engagement is the desperate need and drive that all things digital should drive people to something physical.   

I believe society has bought the lie… hook, line, and sinker… that social media will help draw us closer together as individuals and create better communities.  That very well may have been one of the original intents and it may even be a derivative of what we experience in social media.  But we’ve seen far more of an increase in jealousy, comparison, materialism, isolation, false security, and many other attributes that we don’t like about ourselves.  

This is why it’s important for anyone who leads a social community or digital engagement to always keep in front of them the deep need for all digital to drive to physical.  

I believe that we are all hard-wired for community and relationships with one another.  And while technology can make some great connections and provide great experiences, nothing can replace physical interaction and presence with other people.  This is most obvious when we are hurting and in need of a friend to process life.  No amount of social posts will replace being with someone who loves you and cares for you.  

Let’s make this more practical… how do you lead people from the digital space to something more relational and physical?

• Virtual Events - guide people to personal connections with other people of similar interests with a nudge to connect in person.  

• Virtual Events - guide people to joining groups in their area to keep process but also to see they are not alone.  

• eCourses - encourage people to take courses as a cohort and go through in person with others.  

• Online Groups - guide people from virtual groups and discussions to in-person events and gatherings.  

• Blog & Content - encourage practical engagement with your content in a manner that connects people in person.

• Membership Platforms - guide people to connect with others who are like-minded to meet in person and build sub-tribes.  

Be creative and have fun exploring how you can help guide people from digital to virtual.  You have a responsibility to make this part of your ethos.  

Okay, so yes, why am I talking so much about this concept in a discussion that’s primarily about digital engagement?  I write this because, for any digital engagement strategy to be successful, it must lead to relational connections.  And I would argue those relational connections should be physical (face to face).  The strongest digital communities and digital strategies keep this tension in place and guide people well in both.  May I encourage you to do the same as you build your digital engagement strategy.  

Cause Machine Solutions

The Cause Machine platform provides various modules and tools to provide digital engagement touchpoints (memberships, groups, events, and more).  The platform stands apart in how it uniquely connects two people in a community based on like-minded interests.  These connections help make a large community small and help create great relationship connections. Schedule a demo today! 

We have talked about the Digital Engagement ecosystem at various other points.  Your digital epicenter and ecosystem are part of the same model.  Your ecosystem is a combination of all your digital initiatives.  Your epicenter is your leading initiative.  

For example, your ecosystem could include social media, website, mobile app, e-courses, webinars, virtual events, metaverse environments, and plenty more. At any given time, one of these should be your “leading horse”.  

Alright, so let’s take a step back before identifying a digital epicenter because it’s actually about more than the delivery method… it’s about what’s driving your delivery methods.  

Most organizations or individuals have one specific area of key talent or interest.  That might be writing, speaking, hosting events, training, etc.  That key talent is what should be driving your digital epicenter more than anything.  Don’t try to force yourself into a box of delivery and content creation that isn’t you… start with what feels natural.  If you are a teacher… teach.  If you are a writer… write.  

It’s intuitive, but people who are core talented at teaching should be leveraging things like e-courses and blogs.  People who are core talented at hosting and pulling knowledge together should be leveraging events and aggregated thought leadership content.  

Another way to think about this is to look at your digital engagement ecosystem model and ask yourself… what feeds this machine?  Is it a single person’s content?  Is it a core event?  Is it a regular gathering of people?  

As you continue to explore both your digital engagement ecosystem and epicenter, sketch out your model and keep refining this.  

Cause Machine Solutions

The Cause Machine platform provides a backbone for your epicenter and allows you to configure the platform to focus on your strengths.  The platform allows you to engage in a few or multiple engagement points - giving you flexibility and the opportunity to explore new delivery methods.  Cause Machine is designed to work with your flow and focus.   Schedule a demo today!  

I’m not sure if you’re a church-goer or not, but that doesn’t matter.  I think all of us can picture a church with a choir singing and those people in the choir wearing choir robes.  And I think most of us think “wow, choir robes are so outdated”.  But here’s the point… at some point choir robes were a great idea, new, innovative, and people got excited about them.  I think if we unpack that story more we would go back in time to find there was some good reason for churches introducing choir robes and whatever that reason might have been… I’d put good money we probably still agree with the heart behind it… just not how it’s currently expressed.  

That’s the difference between the Principle - Method concept and the desperate need for leaders to help guide us to the principle over the method.  Let me try and better define this.

Principle - the reason, purpose, and vision for what could be.

Method - the tangible, strategy, and an executable way to bring a principle to life.

And here’s the key thing to know about the Principle - Method concept… principles never change while methods constantly change.  My challenge to you is to fall in love with the principles of what you more than your methods.  You will become a dinosaur if you fall in love with your methods.  They grow old and extinct.  

Think about the principle of needing to move/travel and all the methods - horse and buggy, train, car, plane, etc.

Think about the history of war - bow and arrow, gun, planes, drones, etc.

Think about communicating with each other - the pony express, telegrams, rotary dial phones, smartphones, etc.

Alright, why am I spending so much time making this point?  Methods are like gravity… they have this vortex-like a black hole.  Once methods are launched, we want to fight to keep them alive.  There’s often identity found in a method.  Creating new methods is difficult.  I’ll say it like this… methods are simpler while leading to principle takes a lot of work.  That’s why I challenge leaders to drive back to the principles that drive their methods.  Constantly evaluate if your methods are the best methods to activate your principles.  

Great leaders help guide their teams to re-invent and fall in love with the principles that drive things.  May I encourage you to do the same!

Cause Machine Solutions

The Cause Machine platform provides an environment to explore various methods of engagement with your constituents.  It’s your role to refine your principles for engagement.  Once you have, Cause Machine offers the means to deliver on the methods you narrow down engagement.  Schedule a demo today!

An ecosystem can be defined as a “biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment”.  This is fascinating to think about… a sophisticated interactive grouping of both elements and their environments.  Truth is, we all live in multiple ecosystems… families, work, education, friendships, local municipalities, governments, and so much more.  But what we’re talking about here is the idea of a digital engagement ecosystem?  

So I would define a digital engagement ecosystem as your collection of digital engagement points with your community.  These engagement points and tools should all be considered part of one larger system.  They do not stand alone. Your social media strategy should not be isolated from your blog strategy and so forth.  The tighter you integrate your digital elements, the stronger each one of them becomes.  So what are some examples of elements that fall into our digital ecosystem?  Here’s a start.  This isn’t comprehensive as you will certainly have others and technology is constantly changing.  

• Social Media - this is probably the most obvious and known element in a digital engagement strategy.  We see most groups having social media accounts but primarily lacking good strategy in this area and especially lacking integration between social and all the other efforts.

• Website - websites are still the foundation of how most everyone presents their digital persona and storefront.  These serve as great tools to educate and introduce yourself to the world.  

• Mobile App - some organizations and initiatives have dedicated mobile apps to drive a specific strategy or business function.  Mobile apps are best designed when a single app serves the purpose of a specific user experience or function.  

• Email - yes, email. Email seems to get the rap of the dark ages it seems but there are still great strategies for email engagement and the engagement data can still be really solid when done well.

• Virtual Events - these could be webinars to full-scale virtual conferences.  These serve to bring people together at a specific point in time to learn and be equipped.  

• eCouress - these deliver on-demand training and are equipped for people as they are searching for being equipped in something specific.  These are more point-in-time engagements but still great for equipping.

• Community Platform - these are private login and membership access sites where your community can privately connect in your controlled environment to better bond your tribe together.  

These are just a few examples of what could be in your digital engagement ecosystem.  Your task is to explore which fit your engagement strategy best.  Here are some tips.

• Dream Big + Act Small - dream big about all the things you could do in the world of digital engagement to build your ecosystem… but focus on acting small.  Don’t tackle all of this at the same time.  Have a roadmap for where you would like to be but don’t start by trying to do it all at the same time.

• Prioritize - run through your list of potential engagement pathways and force yourself to prioritize them in sequential order.  That will help you allocate time and financial resources as you continue to build your engagement strategies.  

• Natural Fits - look for the engagement pathways that make the most sense for your business strategy.  What are your people asking for and what would resonate best with them?  Meet them where they are vs. trying to force new habits on them.

• Be Creative - these are only a few examples of engagement tools but there are so many more.  Be creative and add others that fit your strategy and meet your audience well where they are.  

And the last tip… once you do have a good idea of what fits into your digital engagement ecosystem, build a visual that you can share with your team.  These are helpful for you to solidify your ecosystem and also to help communicate to your team.  

Have fun!

Cause Machine Solutions

The Cause Machine platform creates a primary environment for your digital engagement ecosystem providing website solutions, e-courses, virtual events, email sending, memberships, and more.  The entire platform of Cause Machine is designed to facilitate your digital engagement ecosystem.  Schedule a demo today!

When it comes to knowing how to create and sell online courses, it’s tough to know where to start, what to do, when to do it, and in what priority. I get these questions often. They go something like, “I think what I know is useful to people. But, I have no idea how to create and sell a course online. How in the world would I get started doing that?” 

What follows is my attempt to explain what I’d tell you are the steps you need to complete. If I was sitting with you having coffee, I’d map these things out with you. In fact, go ahead, grab a cup of coffee and let’s dive in. 

Question #1 Course objectives: what will your course help people do? 

When you’re considering your course objectives, this is a perfect time to think through the goals of your course. For example: 

• What’s the defining WIN? How do you define success? How will you know you’ve succeeded when you’re “done”? I know, you’re never done. But, it’s worth thinking about and defining it at this stage!
• What’s the value proposition? Write it down at this stage. 
• What does the person get (on the other side) of signing up? List everything out—no bad idea at this stage. You’ll hone this list down at a later stage.

Answering these questions at this stage will set you on the right path going forward.  

Question #2 Course structure: how will you break up the content so people will use it?

I know, you’re content is great. Everyone will buy it and finish every single minute! Wrong! You will need to consider how you will break up your content in pieces that are digestible for your followers. Consider a few options: 

• Break up content into a few sessions? This may be the most simple way. 
• Break into modules bundled together? Consider how your sessions might fit into modules.
• Take as you please? Maybe you don’t need an order for your content—and the buyer will decide?
• Time-spaced release? You post only a few things—and drop the rest of the content on a rhythm? 
• Unlocked sessions after another session? For content that needs to be finished in order, consider this approach.

Question #3 Course style: how will you teach so people will listen?

This is an important question. It doesn’t matter how great your content is or how well you break it up and deliver it, if you don’t get this part right—it can hurt your success. Consider a few options: 

• Voice-over slide deck? This option is the lowest on the tech need but can work for some content that needs a ton of examples.
• Full-on camera? This option is a bit techier—but typically worth the time.
• Team recorded? Will take more time and logistics, and more tech. But, it’s often worth it to get others in on the play—it helps your followers digest the content too.
• Zoom recorded? This will take a bit more tech knowledge, but it’s doable and can help you in getting started.
• Combo or hybrid? Maybe you do several of these options. 

While deciding this really depends on your comfort factor and content, deciding the style of your course early on will prove vital and help you answer future questions on this list. 

Question #4 Course delivery: how will people get your information?

Answering this question will take some thought. Depending on your content, what’s the best vehicle for launching your course? Here are a few examples I’ve seen work:

• Sign up as you please: this is usually done with a strong website and will take planning. This typically involves a hybrid of web, email, or even a membership site to accomplish.
• Cohort structure: maybe your content fits this style of taking a few people at a time through your course.

Question #5 Course personalization: how will you make people feel welcomed?

Another vital question is to think past the point of purchase. What will happen after a follower signs up? Consider a few things: 

• Welcome communications: will you send a series of emails? What will be in those emails? 
• Personal call or messaging: this will take a lot of time. But, the relational dot-connecting when you’re starting out can be invaluable.
• Welcome kits: will you create a kit that helps folks feel welcome? How will you deliver it? 

Question #6 Course tools: what will you offer to help people learn?

Answering this question depends on the content you’re offering and how your followers may want to digest it. Consider a variety of options. The more the better!

• Workbooks: provide guides that house reference content and can be used as the follower is walking through your course. 
• eBooks: be sure to have content you can use in bite-size chunks to deliver and encourage your followers. 
• Worksheets: is there some of your content that would fit this format? Adding as many varieties as possible to your course will aid the learner at this stage.

Question #7 Course price point: what will you charge people who want it?

This may be one of the toughest questions to get right. Trust me, answering this question will feel like shooting in the dark. Here are some ideas that have helped me and others answer this question: 

• Think 10x the value of your price point. Having this in mind will shape the entire course and your thinking about it.
• Under $100 for a key lesson type course. If you’re considering a topic-by-topic approach, this pricing may be in bounds.
• Over $500 for a full framework type course. If you’re going to cover several topics by the time someone finishes your course, this pricing may help you as you think through the timing of your course from start to finish. 

Question #8 Course marketing: how will you promote what you're doing?

Once you’ve created your course and answered the previous seven questions, guess what, you’re not done! You’re just at the starting point! It’s now time to market your course. Consider a few ideas for how you might promote your course: 

• Sample content: give a portion of your content away for free so followers will see it.
• Course outline: provide followers with an outline of all you will cover in your course from start to finish.
• Course objectives: spell out what you hope followers will learn from the course. 

These are the eight questions I’d ask you if I was having coffee with you in person. Answering these questions will help you get your head around the why, who, what, when, where, and how of creating and selling your online course. My guess is, if you’re reading this, you have a great idea and want to help people. It’s time to ask yourself these eight questions. I look forward to seeing where your answers take you. 

Need more help taking your community digital?

You want to have a dynamic and multi-dimensional community that thrives. In order to do that, you need a strategy of both online and offline engagement. This guide will help you think through your approach to engaging a virtual community. Download the free eBook: How to Take Your Community Digital.

About the author: Will Rogers is the Founder and CEO of CauseMachine. Will’s career has been spent leading organizations and helping to mobilize communities to a shared vision. He has served in various leadership roles to build community engagement and movements teaching him valuable hands-on skills and experience. Will has developed business and community engagement strategies for dozens of organizations in nearly 50 countries. He and his wife have two sons and now live in Kentucky after two decades in Colorado.