Setting up your Community on Campfire
Your community’s purpose and strategy will shape how the digital community space is set up. In the same way we build campfires in different ways, for different reasons and to serve different purposes, community spaces are built to meet the needs of each individual community. When building a digital community space, you need to consider your community’s purpose and strategy, your community members, the types of collaboration and interaction that will be taking place and the vibe or atmosphere you want to create within the community. All of these will impact on which tools and features you add to the community space and the resulting member experience that is created.
Designing a Member-Centred Experience
Providing a great member-centred experience is essential to driving engagement, interaction and collaboration within a community.
Things to consider when designing your community’s digital space:
- Creating a safe space: How will you create a space where members feel safe and brave?
By creating a safe and brave space community members will feel comfortable voicing their ideas, questions and concerns, sharing resources and knowledge, and collaborating with others. A sample community code of conduct is provided here that can be adapted to suit the needs of your community. Consider the following questions when establishing the community’s code of conduct:
- What are the rules of engagement with each other online and offline?
- What is allowed here, what is frowned upon and what is a total no-go?
- How will we reinforce the code of conduct and hold each other accountable?
- Where will the code of conduct be displayed within the group?
- How will the code of conduct be communicated to new members?
- Navigating the community: how will members find things within the community? Some communities may find the Campfire group space works well in achieving its purpose, with members able to easily navigate and find what they are looking for. For large groups, or those using a wide variety of tools, sharing numerous resources, holding many events, and facilitating numerous discussions, dashboards and landing pages may offer a better user experience and help members more easily navigate the group. Dashboards and landing pages can bring together all of the elements of a group to be viewed on a single page along with additional headings, text and graphic blocks.
- Communicating with members: what tools will you use to communicate with members and how often?
The group stream highlights new activities (discussions, posts, topics, events, and polls) within the group, while all new content results in a notification to the member on the platform. Notifications may also be emailed to members depending on their personal profile settings.
Posts directly on the stream should only be used for short pieces of information that are of a general interest to the whole group. Please be aware that members are unable to search the stream for important information that you may be sharing, so do consider using discussions or topics which are both searchable. You may choose to group all of your latest news into a single discussion thread or create topics tagged with a particular subject such as “News”.
Use emails to individual members for immediacy, intimacy & impact:
- For individual questions or things requiring discretion
- Things that require special attention
- Where a response is required and critical
Use emails to all members for making group announcements and sharing important information:
- Keep messages short - direct members to a topic, discussion or event on Campfire for further information
- Consider alternatives to group emails such as a post in a Latest News Discussion and remember that new content within a group will generate a notification to community members.
- Information organisation: How will you organise information and resources within the group to ensure members can quickly and easily find the content they are looking for?
Tags make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for and are useful when developing custom content blocks on dashboards and landing pages. Within the group, you can tag popular topics to help members find the information they’re looking for. Members can filter on the tags on the overview and search pages. They can also follow these tags as an area of interest, receiving notifications when new content is created with the specified tag.
- Branding - Are the WAGGGS branding guidelines being used appropriately within the community?
Ensure you consider how the space and content is branded, particularly for global and regional communities. Resources shared by Member Organisations will feature their own branding as appropriate. Resources created by global staff and volunteers and intended for global consumption should be WAGGGS branded. The WAGGGS Style Guide can be found here.
Campfire Group Settings
Communities on Campfire are created using the groups' tool.
Types of Groups
There are three types of groups that can be created on Campfire and your decision will depend on your community’s purpose.
Public Groups: Users may join without approval and all content added in this group will be visible to all community members and anonymous users. People can only post or comment on group content or enrol in group events after logging into the platform and joining the group.
Closed Groups: A closed group is a group where members within the community (logged-in to the platform) can only join by invitation from one of the group managers. The stream, events, and topics created in the closed group are not visible to people that are not a member of the group. A non-group member is only allowed to read the about page and see who the group manager/s are.
Flexible Groups: This group allows the creator of the group to customize many group settings to their needs, including the visibility settings for the group content and the joining method.
Campfire Team Hint: Once chosen the group type cannot be changed later. We recommend creating all groups as Flexible Groups.
Group roles - Managers & Admins
To assist in the effective management of groups on Campfire there are two leadership roles that can be granted to members, Group Manager and Group Admin. These roles should be assigned as needed to those members of your community who will be assisting with community facilitation tasks as reflected below in the additional permissions that these roles provide.
Group Manager
When you create a group, you automatically become the group manager. You can only manage the members of groups for which you are the Group Manager. All Group Managers are listed on the group’s about page so that members and non-members know who to contact for questions about the group.
A Group Manager can:
- Add users directly to a flexible, public, or closed group
- Add multiple users at once by separating each user with a comma (',')
- Send invites to users to join the group
- Manage any requests to join by approving or declining users.
- Change the role of members into a group manager, group admin or normal group member.
- Remove members from a group. (Note: When removing members from a closed or secret group they will not be able to see the content anymore, including the content they have created themselves.)
- Email members
Group Admin
The Group Admin has similar permissions as the group manager but does not appear in the group manager list on the group about page.
Site and Content Managers have the permissions to edit groups that are not created by themselves. This is independent of whether they have joined the group or not. If they join a group, they are granted the role of Group Admin automatically. If they are also a Group Manager, this role will need to be assigned to them.
Both group Managers and group Admins will have additional tabs within the Group that allow them to manage group members.
Campfire Team Hint: The person who creates the group on Campfire will be assigned as the initial Group Manager. They will be able to add others as Group Managers and Group Admins and if required remove themselves.
What do Campfire groups look like?
Group members will find several areas to explore within the group space, including:
- Stream: shows what has been happening with the group including discussion posts, topics, and events. Posts and comments can also be made directly in the stream.
- Members: a list of members in the group with the opportunity to connect and interact through messages, chat, and email.
- About: detailed information about a group including the list of group mangers
Depending on the type of group chosen the following can be added:
- Events: list of events organised for group members.
- Topics: topics created in a group to share information and resources.
- Discussions: share and discuss information, resources, ideas and anything else relating to the group.
- Polls: allows polling of group members and appears on the information tab of the group.
Group setup and settings
Before you start creating your group on Campfire be sure to gather the following:
- Group Image – This is the most visible of your community on Campfire and will be your first opportunity to grab the attention of potential members. It will also become the image that your members will associate with the community and should be something that resonates with them. Therefore, it should represent the purpose and energy of the community.
- Group Description for the about page – The description should expand on your community’s purpose statement and provide an indication of the types of activities that take place and what community members gain from actively participating. Consider this description of your community as a letter of introduction to a potential member.
- Welcome email – This is the first official piece of communication that a community member will receive. Be sure to include:
- Outline of how the community operates and methods of communication
- How to contribute and get the most out of the community
- Activities, discussions, and projects that new members can become involved in
- How to connect and meet other community members
- Who the community facilitators are and how to contact them
- Resources on how to use the tools available within the community such as setting up their Campfire profile, configuring their notifications and navigating the community space
- Community guidelines or code of conduct
Creating a group
Required role on Campfire: Content Creator
- You can add a group by using the "+" button in the header menu
- Choose your group type:
- Public Group
- Closed Group
- Flexible Group
- Basic Information
Provide the following information about your group:
- Title – this is the name of the group.
- Image – this is the image that will appear at the top of the group page and part of it will appear as the group image on group listings. This must be an image file.
- Description – this is the group description that will appear on the Group’s about page.
- Personalisation
This section relates to discussions and posts:
- Enabling discussions – allows discussions to take place within the group
- Enabling posts for members – allows all members to publish posts in the group. If not ticked only group managers are able to publish posts in the stream.
- Access Permissions
Group Visibility – determines who can see the group. The following options may be available depending on the type of group chosen:
- Public: All users including those users who have not logged into Campfire can see the group
- Community: Only users who have a verified/authenticated Campfire account can see the group
- Group Members only: Only members of the group can see the group (secret group)
- Role specific: only users who have been assigned a particular role/s on Campfire can access the group.
Group Content Visibility & Join Methods:
The type of group created and the visibility setting selected will determine the content visibility options and join methods that will be available to select from.
The choices for Group content visibility may include:
- Public: All users including those users who have not logged into Campfire can see the group
- Community: Only users who have a verified/authenticated Campfire account can see the group
- Group Members only: Only members of the group can see the group (secret group)
- Role specific: only users who have been assigned a particular role/s on Campfire can access the group.
Join Method options may include:
- Open to join – anyone with a Campfire account can join the group.
- Request to join – anyone with a Campfire account can request to join the group but a Group manager or group admin must approve them.
- Invite Only – Group Managers and Group Admins must send each potential member an invitation to join the group.
- Location
Set the location of the group if it pertains to a particular place or country, if not leave blank.
- Additional Information
This section allows a number of different tags to be attached to the group including:
- Created by
- Region
- Subject
- Target Audience
Adding the appropriate tags is important to potentially help new members find the group when building landing pages and dashboards.
- Settings
In this section you can add your group’s welcome message, attached the group to an Organisation on Campfire and determine which group tab both members and non-members will land on.
The group welcome message can include formatted text, pictures, source code (HTML including iFrames), tables and media such as videos.
- Revision Information
When editing group settings in the future it is a good idea to list what was changed, why it was changed and the date. This will help with tracking changes and assist in resolving any technical issues that may be experienced within the group.
- Save
Once you have finished entering the group information and selecting the required settings click the save button at the bottom of the page.
Finding, onboarding and managing group members
When communicating with potential, new and existing community members, you should ensure you adopt a welcoming, friendly and understanding tone as it has the potential to impact the atmosphere of the entire community. The way in which you manage and interact with members as a community facilitator will impact members level of engagement and commitment to the community. It is also vital to ensure you have a clear understanding of how to efficiently use the group member management tools on Campfire.
When finding and onboarding new community members be sure to use the purpose statement you created to communicate the intent of your community clearly and easily. By sharing the purpose statement widely throughout the organisation, you will likely find others interested in joining the community that share your passion that you did not personally know. Ensure that any materials created to promote the community and find new members include information on how to sign up or get in touch with the community facilitators. If providing a link to the group on Campfire, ensure that it is a link to the group’s about page. Although using official communication channels is always recommended, do support these with unofficial channels such as social media and allow others to share the information through their own personal networks.
When onboarding new community members are sure to send a welcome email that sets them up for successful participation within the community. What to include in that email was outlined previously.
Campfire group Management - Adding members
You can add a member by clicking on the top right of the sub-menu – ‘Manage members’:
There are two options under Add members:
- Add directly
- Invite Users
Adding members directly to the group
By selecting Add directly, Group Managers and Admins can add multiple members directly to the group by searching using either usernames or email addresses. Users will be added to the group without having to take any further action.
Sending invites to join the group
By selecting Invite users, Group Managers and Admins can invite multiple users to the group by searching using either usernames or email addresses.
Selected users will then be sent an email invitation to join the group directly. The email is a template email that cannot be edited but does include links to the group and to information about Campfire.
Manage invitations
In the manage members tab, you have the option to view the status of all your invitations. Here you can view who has accepted, declined, or not yet responded to your invitation. If needed, this is where invitations can be cancelled.
Approving group membership requests
The membership Requests tab on the group menu allows Group Managers and Admins to approve users requests to join the group if this was set as a join method.
Emailing members directly
- From the Manage Members tab, select the member/s you wish to email.
- Click the Action button and select Send email to group members.
- Enter the details of the message and click Send email.
Changing member roles
- From the Manage Members tab, select the member/s whose role you wish to change.
- Click the Action button and select Change the role of selected members.
- Chose the role you wish to give the member/s and click on Change role.
Removing members from the Group
- From the Manage Members tab, select the member/s you wish to remove from the group.
- Click the Action button and select Remove selected members.
- Confirm you wish to remove the member by clicking Execute action.
Configuring the Group
The following content can be added to a Campfire group:
- Discussions: Provide group members with a place to ask questions, discussions ideas, and share knowledge and experiences on a particular topic. They have the potential to allow group members to continue discussions for as long as needed and keeps conversations going between scheduled events. Discussions in online communities have the advantage of allowing every topic of interest to be explored, as a productive discussion needs just two group members. Live and in person sessions do not always have the time needed to deal with issues that are of interest to only a few.
Discussions can be open or closed to comments, and if required can have all comments set to require manual approval. They can be scheduled with moderators assigned to each one. When a new discussion is created within a group it will appear in the stream and a notification will be sent to group members advising them. All new comments within the discussion will also appear on the stream with notifications sent. The discussion list has filtering options and they can be added to the Campfire resource library. File attachments can be added to both the discussion and to any comments made.
Set up needed discussion threads. When group members first explore the discussion tab it is good to have some spaces for them to engage. Start a few conventional top level threads:
-
- Group Introduction
- Latest News & Updates
- Q&A
- Technical Support
- General Comments
- Members Lounge
Be sure to seed each thread (discussion description): Include a statement or question to get the conversations started. Open ended questions that do not imply a simply answer can be a great way to launch a discussion
- Topics: A topic is a type of content which allows users to share information and files using text, images, source code including iFrames, video and attachments. They are great for information that does not need to be discussed with the group but that group members might need to refer to or use, such as tools, documents, resources & policies. They can be open or closed to comments and their publication can be scheduled. When a new topic is created within a group it will appear in the stream and a notification will be sent to group members advising them of the new topic. The topic tab on the Group page has filtering options to assist in locating relevant topics.
- Events: An event is an activity, session or meeting held synchronously either virtually or in person. Meeting links can be embedded within the description of the event, they can be open or closed to comments and their publication can be scheduled. There is a choice of enrolment options along with the ability to limit the number of people enrolled. The event list has filter options and new events appear in the stream when they are added, and group members receive a notification.
- Polls: Each group can have one active poll on its information tab on the left had side of the group page. Polls allow group members to vote for one answer to a multiple-choice question. They provide Community Facilitators with a way of gathering feedback from their community members. When a new poll is added to a group a notification is sent to group members.
- Dashboards & Landing Pages: These pages can be set up to provide community members with easy access to quick-links and multiple activity streams, along with additional headings, information, and picture blocks. A well designed and organised dashboard or landing page can help community members use the Campfire platform more effectively and engage and collaborate more comfortably.
Please refer to the relevant sections of the Campfire User Guide on how to create each of these types of content. All of these content types can have their visibility settings adjusted to suit the requirements of the group, including being restricted to Group Members only (except for dashboards and landing pages). To assist in managing content within the group make use of the schedule content option within the settings of each content item.
Reflection Questions
- What is the atmosphere you want to create within the community?
- What are the values that underpin the community? (Examples might include trust, cooperation, growth, experimentation, sharing or learning.)
- How do we make new members feel welcome and create a delightful first experience?
- How can members find each other and communicate with each other?
- How will we ensure that members know how to use the tools as they engage within the community?
- What is the first thing members see when they join the community?
- Do they know how to use the community? What to post? Where to post?
Get back to the menu: Campfire Community Facilitator Guide