The Value of Launching an Online Community
While social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are fantastic, the reality is most of your followers don’t visit your page on a regular basis. They’ll see an occasional post or tweet–and may even engage with it–but aren’t going to spend an hour browsing your portfolio and interacting with other like-minded users.
If you really want to connect your customers and build value, you need to develop an online community.
The Concept of Online Communities
“An online community is a gathering of people interacting and collaborating toward a common goal,” writes James Davidson, an experienced digital strategist. “These days, companies are investing in building communities on open social networks like Facebook and Twitter, while also building their own community properties.” It’s this latter aspect of brand-specific community properties that we’re going to discuss in this article.
While open social network communities like Facebook and Twitter are extremely integral parts of a brand’s engagement strategy, the reality is that you don’t get much control over the community. You also have very little insight into the details of who your community is.
Owned online communities, on the other hand, provide much more value. They allow you to customize the experience, analyze member-specific activity, and drive users towards a specific goal. When properly leveraged, Davidson believes owned online communities present more opportunities for enhanced business value.
Benefits of Online Communities
Enhanced business value sounds good, but what does this actually mean? Well, consider the following tangible benefits of online communities:
1. Unites Like-Minded Users
When you think about the value of online communities, the first thing that comes to mind is the uniting nature of these groups. They bring people together and allow like-minded individuals to pool resources and knowledge for a greater good.
A wonderful example of a thriving online community is Built In NYC, which provides New York City entrepreneurs with access to geo-specific resources, news, events, and job opportunities in the startup and tech space. This network is relatively new, but has already done a good job of uniting a fragmented group that needed a unifying factor.
2. Self-Serving
One of the most valuable aspects of a community–from the business side of things–is that users are able to help their peers solve problems and answer questions. This alleviates a heavy customer service burden on your part and allows you to tap into the knowledge of your users.
One fantastic example of how powerful online communities can serve as knowledge banks is Reddit. This massive network is divided into thousands of microcommunities that encourage users to ask and answer questions, share ideas, and help each other out with common problems and issues.
3. Expands Your Reach
Any time your brand can carve out a larger Internet footprint, you’ll see direct benefits. Well, online communities do just this. These communities allow brands to grow beyond the confines of branded websites and social profiles. They allow for an additional point of engagement that’s different than any other medium you’re currently using.
A strong example of how an online community can expand a brand’s reach can be found with Being Girl. Proctor & Gamble launched this community in 2000 as a resource for young, teenage girls who have questions about growing up. It’s essentially the equivalent of a digital big sister. It’s allowed the brand to reach an entirely new demographic who will eventually grow up to be key customers.
How to Launch an Online Community
There’s no single framework for launching a successful online community. There are so many brand-specific aspects that it would be foolish to offer a step-by-step process. With that being said, keep some of the following in mind:
- Define a topic. The first step is to define a topic that resonates with a large portion of your target market. It doesn’t have to be directly related to the products and services you sell, but it should intersect with your value proposition.
- Study the competition. Are there already a handful of vibrant online communities that satisfy the needs of this topic? If so, you’ll want to go another direction. You’re looking for pain points that are currently unsatisfied.
- Develop a plan. The toughest part about building an online community is getting past the initial launch phase. People want to join communities that are resourceful and active. When you only have one or two members, it’s hard to attract more. Be very meticulous in how you launch, or you’ll find it hard to grow.
Putting it All Together
Online communities are incredibly valuable for both businesses and the community members. They allow people to gather around a central idea and connect in ways that were otherwise impossible before. As a business owner or marketer who has ignored the possibility of owning an online communities in the past, now may be the time to reconsider.
