12 Best Practices for Online Customer Communities

4 August 2008

2 Comments

Over at ZDNet Dion Hinchcliffe has written a very good and comprehensive list of important things marketeers should pay attention to when starting a community, or even when they are already running it.

Below is a quick run down of his points, as well as my added thoughts. For the entire article you can visit this page.

1. Put the needs of the community first

This is without a doubt the most important point. This is not about you and your brand. This is not just another way to push your marketing message.

You need to be genuinely engaged with the community. Listen to what people have to say and act on it. Join the conversation by sharing things of value. Be open, honest and authentic.

As Dion says ‘communities exist to serve the needs of their members’, and most definitely not the other way around!

2. Community is mostly not a technology problem

Again, a very valid point. Often people worry too much about the tools to use. Have a look at my ‘It’s not about the technology, it’s about the community’ post. It’s not about the newest, shiniest web 5.0 tools - it’s about creating an engaging and welcoming environment in which people will feel happy to participate.

3. Active community management is essential.

Extremely important! Often communities are set up, they are heavily promoted, members sign up and from there on people are expected to keep the community alive themselves. This does not work.

Whilst its true a great community will soon enough attract very active members who will take it upon themselves to keep the community going, but without any help from above this will only last so long.

Over at Talklfc we have noticed this. During periods when all staff members are very busy the community suffers. More arguments break out, the general tone of conversation tends to be effective negatively and people post less.

4. Measuring success with community requires new yardsticks.

True. It’s not important how many page views you get or even the number of members you have. Whilst these are interesting facts and prove a basis for analysis, they need to be put into context.

Within a community its about engagement and the activity of its members. In general terms 5 people who post 20 times a day are more valuable than 100 members who post once a day. But even this needs to be looked at under a microscope as some people may be held in high esteem by peers on the community even though they have a low post count, whilst post whores may be detrimental to your community.

Whilst both have value these members can and should be treated differently.

Obviously your metrics also depend on the objectives of the community.

5. Consumer social networks, grassroots customer communities, and business-initiated customer communities are closely related yet very different creatures

The way I read this, it’s an elaboration of point 2. It’s important to understand what you want to achieve, what the people you look to reach want and expect and what various community tools offer.

Weigh up the pros and cons of each tool and see which suits the needs of your community best.

6. Customer communities do work as a marketing channel, just not in the traditional way.

Communities are not a push mechanism! There is plenty to be gained form communities from a marketing point of view, but using it as another way to push your messages is not it.

It can help improve the customer service experience, communities can be great to support product innovation and they are a great vehicle to spread word of mouth. Also, reputation management should be an important factor of any community initiative.

7. The more the business is integrated, the better the community will work.

This builds on point 3. It’s not a case of ‘build it and they will come’. Neither will the community take over as soon as its formed. Extensive company involvement can both help to stimulate growth as well as keep the community active.

When we started Talklfc we kept it in stealth mode for a little while. First we create a solid base of content to make sure the place did not look empty. After that we invited a first round of our friends, who we knew well and who we knew would help build the community from the ground up.

So when we opened up to the public we already had a solid basis of both content and users. Think of it as a night out. If you walk into an empty bar you’re likely to leave (if you even entered it in the first place), but if you walk into a busy club, full of people seemingly enjoying yourself you’re much more likely to stay and join in.

8. Growth will come, but not until a community finds its identity.

It’s hard to predict how a community will grow. It’s also hard to predict how a community will turn out. Listen to the feedback of the community, they are the important people and if you treat them well they will help you grow.

9. Mutual ownership and control of communities enables trust and involvement.

Generally speaking, the more involved people get in a community the more sense of ownership they feel. This has both positive and negative sides. It means these people will be more active in harnessing the community, through moderation, promotion and regular input for example.

It also means that sometimes you just have to let go. Empowering people can be a great way to get them to be more engaged, plus it shows that good citizenship is rewarded.

At Talklfc we have promoted several key figures within the community to either moderator or official writer. The funny thing is, most people volunteered for these posts.

10. Most communities are highly social entities, and the rules of social engagement apply

This speaks for itself. Think back to the bar analogy. If you walk into a bar you are expected to resepct certain unwrittern rules. By active moderation and a good set of guidelines you can make sure people will mostly stick to these rules.

However, keep the rules simple and like they are in real life. When in a bar I’m fairly happy with not being allowed to bottle someone in the face, however - the rule of not being allowed to wear trainers seems ridicules to me. One rule makes sense, the other one doesn’t. No need to needlessly annoy your users.

11. Going to the community, instead of making it come to you, is a risky but increasingly viable strategy.

Sometimes, when there already is an active community is in place, it’s better to join than to build. Take the case of Scrabulous, one of the most popular Facebook applications which has been taking down because of legal threats from the Scrabble brand owner Scrabulous. This resulted in a lot of derisioun and ridicule of their brand.

However, joining instead of building does have its implications. Such as loss of ownership and data control, which are factors which should not be overlooked.

12. Connect the community with the other CRM-related aspects of the organization.

Communites can provide plenty of valuable data. Make sure you use it effectively.

All in all a great list full of valuable advice for any marketeer looking to try his hand at communities. Are there any other tips you’d add to this post? Please leave them in the comments!

Via Lode Broekman’s Propaganda