1) Review the Project Specification Document from Your Vendor
The next step should be a detailed project specification. Look for an initial document that is in-depth yet flexible enough to incorporate critical changes. This important handoff should include a final community design mock-up.  Make sure to devote quality time to reviewing it. Carefully check the details and proposed functionality. The project specification should include feature descriptions, a timeline, along with roles and responsibilities of both parties. Sign off on the specifications and mock-up.

2) Receive the Formal Configuration Document for the Community
Approve all of the specification elements as well as module positioning, advertising scripts and url/domain name.  This is the outline for how your community will look and function when it is completed. 

3) Gather the Necessary Resources from Your Organization
Your social networking community provider should provide details on exactly which members of your team will need to be  involved in the building of your community. Most likely, members of your technical, web, and communications teams will  need to be present at minimum. These teams will need to be able to address questions around your databases, website, branding and messaging.

- If your organization is implementing Single Sign On with the community, plan out the steps to procure the technical information your community supplier needs to implement single sign on. If SSO with a custom-built database is being implement, you will need a technical resource on standby to work with your social networking community provider. Utilizing management systems from a provider such as Avectra, Blackbaud, Convio or TMA Resources will expedite the process, as these systems have standard Single-Sign-On procedures and tools that can help the process move faster

-Think about the look and feel of your community. Do you want the socially-enabled side of your web presence to perfectly reflect your website, or would you prefer the community to be unique? If you are creating a new look for your community, you'll need a designer that can work with you, and you'll also need to work with your community provider to ensure the CSS of your new community reflects the updated design

 -At the least, you will need to furnish your community provider with your website's header and footer so it can be plugged into your community design

-Because your website and servers have unique DNS settings, you will need to reconfigure them to create a unique subdomain for the new community (community.yourwebsite.com). Also, decide upon an appealing domain name that reflects your community and its mission.

It is important, as you create the project plan for the community, that you have gained appropriate buy-in from all departments involved in the community and get them to commit to project deliverables.

5) Construction and Branding of the Community
Your provider will tailor the platform to your needs in terms of design, branding and functionality. This may take as little as a week or months, depending on the configuration and sophistication of your community.  Gathering all of the required information from your organization's different departments in a timely manner will improve the time-to-launch for your community.

6) Community Walk-Through Followed by Q&A
Once the community construction and design has been completed by your providers, give the community close scrutiny and a rigorous trial.  Your provider should adhere to industry-standard Q&A and testing practices before releasing your community.  Key members of your organization should also take time to test all of the different components of the community, ensure that the organization's message and branding is properly reflected, and ensure that the community's work flow will make sense to your organization's members and constituents.

7) Final Review and Acceptance
Prior to deployment, you will have the opportunity to formally review your new community. When your team is satisfied, you will be expected to sign and return an acceptance certificate.

The final step in the process is launching the community and getting your members and constituents to join the community—we'll cover this next week.

Evaluating the process of a social networking deployment can be complicated. It is our hope that these common steps will aid your research. If you would like to learn more about the real-world benefits and ROI being realized by nonprofits and associations in white label social media, please click here.