Increasingly, companies are looking to create vibrant and healthy online communities for their businesses. But many companies are seeing their efforts fail or produce less-than-expected results.
Here are six reasons why many online communities never materialize, and what you can do to improve your own efforts to build online communities.
1. You think monetization up front
Probably the fastest way to doom a community-building effort online is to focus on making money off the community before it even exists. Companies that think this way usually build a community site (or slap up a page/profile on a social-networking site) and wait for the community to come so they can make money off its members.
If you look at Wal-Mart's Facebook page, you immediately notice that there's little to no feedback from Wal-Mart, and at least half of the posts/comments/content created by others reflect anti-Wal-Mart sentiment. Wal-Mart has apparently done what many companies do: It slapped up a Facebook page and has done very little to manage it since then. People who visit the page can sense what little effort Wal-Mart is putting into using this page as a way to communicate with customers, and they are reacting negatively.
How to fix it: Don't put the cart before the horse. When creating your online community, keep in mind the best interests of the people you are trying to reach. Communities don't form around the idea of being monetized, so make sure that your community-building efforts have a clear utility built in for its members. Understand that monetization can't effectively happen until the community exists, and the community won't exist unless there's something in it for the people you are trying to reach.
2. You don't create a clear value proposition for your community
If you cannot immediately identify what value your community efforts create for members, then you are in trouble. If you aren't creating something of value for your members, or if there is no advantage for your members to connect with others, then they won't.
Skittles recently made waves when it changed its home page to pull content from its social-media presences on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. The move initially created a lot of buzz on Twitter and other social sites, but many questioned what the value was from this move. Was this move made to create value for Skittles customers or just a ploy to create short-term buzz? A few weeks after the switch was made, it seems this was just a stunt to create buzz—so far Skittles hasn't leveraged.
How to fix it: Make sure that members can quickly and easily identify the value that your site creates for them. Figure out what value you are creating for your members, and make sure that your value proposition is easily communicated to others.
3. You think that the community will come to you
You can have a wonderful site full of amazing and valuable content, and it still will be a bust if no one knows about it. No successful community site is an island, so don't view your community as being in a silo.
The Stonyfield Farms Bovine Bugle is an example of a good blog with very little feedback from readers or interaction. The blog's chief blogger explained here that the company simply didn't have time to visit other blogs and interact with its readers. Many blogging companies will face time concerns. But it's ultimately not about what you have time for, but what you make time for.
How to fix it: Make an effort to get the word out about your community site, especially when it's first launched. Think about the people whom you would like to see on your site, and interact with them wherever they now are —on their blogs, on Twitter, on Facebook. The point is, interact with these people in their space, and that will give them an incentive to visit yours. Leave thoughtful comments on their blogs, talk to them on Twitter, interact with them on Facebook. Don't be spammy; thoughtfully let them know what you are creating, and that will encourage them to check out your efforts.
4. You don't give members the ability to share/promote content
As your community grows, people will want to tell others about your efforts. Many companies don't put much thought into making their content easy to share from their sites/blogs.
How to fix it: Offer members the ability to bookmark your site and quickly and easily share your content on social sites such as Digg and Twitter. MarketingProfs, for example, has created a widget for its Daily Fix blog that can be added to your site/blog, and has links to new posts. Always be thinking about how you can help your members share content on their sites, because it's a great way to extend the reach of your online community.
5. You ignore your evangelists and the people growing your community
As your community-building efforts begin to take hold, some members will "buy in" to what you want to create and will help push your efforts forward. Maybe they will help promote you to others, or maybe they will take a lead in helping organize and share information within the group.
At any rate, one of the biggest ways to stunt your online community's growth is to ignore those people. Think about it, they are effectively doing your job for you. They are policing, promoting, and contributing to your online community.
How to fix it: Thank them. Go out of your way to put the spotlight on the leaders in your online community, and show them that you appreciate their efforts. This isn't rocket science: A simple thank-you email works wonders. Don't ignore them; treat them as if they were royalty, because as far as your online-community-building efforts are concerned, that's exactly what they are.
Look at the Open Salon site. It clearly identifies the people who are writing the most popular content and the ones who are commenting and rating posts. In other words, the people who are contributing to the larger community are acknowledged.
6. You don't care at all about the people you are trying to reach
This one explains itself, but at the end of the day you have to actually care about the people whom you want in your online community. If you view these people as "eyeballs" and "hits" to be "monetized," then your efforts are doomed from the start.
Notice what Big Lots does with its Twitter presence. It only tweets specials at its stores, never replies to anyone, and follows no one. Now if you are interested in hearing only about deals at Big Lots, this might not be an issue. But if you want Big Lots to follow you or reply to your tweets, then it appears that you are out of luck. Big Lots is using its Twitter page purely as a promotional opportunity, not as a communication channel. If its competitors start using Twitter to communicate with and respond to customers, then Big Lots will have a problem.
How to fix it: You have to understand from the beginning that your community efforts won't work unless you actually consider what the community would want. You have to take their needs, wants, and opinions into account. You have to care about the people you are trying to reach; otherwise, they have no reason to care about you.
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If you want your online-community-building efforts to succeed, consider your intended membership and what they are looking for. Create something that they can find value in, and give them the tools to promote that valuable content to others. And, finally, appreciate and thank them when they contribute to your community and promote your efforts.
Looking at your community through the eyes of its members is a great way to ensure its initial, and continued, success.
Check out Whether and How to Build a Branded Customer Community and How Branded Social Communities Help Sony Increase Consumer Engagement, Loyalty... and Sales! for practical information on community building. As a Premium Member, you have free access to these resources and hundreds of other Premium articles, case studies, templates, SmartTools, research, and how-to guides to help you rapidly build effective marketing programs.
