Believe it or not, online communities are just as hard to develop as real-live human people neighborhoods. You begin by researching who might live in your houses and what they might like to look at every day. Would a centrally-located pool bring everyone together with like-minded goals? What about security concerns? Can my children roam safely without supervision? What about uniformity and pretty trees and clean porches?
Behind every avatar and profile picture is a living breathing person who expects the same attention from an online community manager that they would find from a Homeowners' Association or Neighborhood Watch program.
Here's the first installment of a long list of my top tips for developing your online neighborhood:
1. KNOW YOUR MEMBERS: Before you can meet your members’ needs, you have to know what they are. Research your visitors’ advertising tolerances, preferred platforms and other favorites. Try tools like Survey Money, online polls or plain and simple discussion forums. If you want to know what your customers want, it never hurts to ask, right?
2. LISTEN: If you have a brand– people are talking about it. Find out what they’re saying on sites like Blogpulse, Technorati, Delicious, Google Blog Search, Twitter Search or Ice Rocket. Study things like brand mentions, hot topics and big talkers. Who is the most vocal about your company and why?
If you’re introducing a new brand to the market, take the time to learn what people are saying about your competitors. By understanding consumers’ likes and dislikes, you can better communicate what makes your product unique.
3. FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION: I don’t mean jump on any ole bandwagon that comes along. Find out where your consumers are online and join in their conversation, rather than trying to dictate your own tête-à-tête.
For example, the 2010 Social Media Report announced that 69% of online shoppers regularly use social media sites. 50% of those consumers use Facebook regularly (anything clicking in your head?) 50 percent is a huge market share to be reaching with your targeted advertisements.
4. MAKE CONTENT VIRAL: No flu-mask necessary. I’m talking about valuable content – anything from laugh-out-loud home videos to inspirational short stories. Social media is making content sharing easier than ever. Your clever 30-second spot or short animation is just a click away from being “shared” between millions of users. To make your content worthy of being passed along, you have to understand what makes it viral.
5. INFLUENCE YOUR INFLUENCERS: Now that we all live in online communities, we have to have new theories just to understand ourselves (and each other). The online community theory suggests that people who participate online are ultimately motivated by anticipated reciprocity, recognition, and a sense of efficacy and community.
Obviously some people are more motivated to participate than others. Those people are called influencers. If you think that sounds creepy, those who are listening but aren’t speaking up are called “lurkers.” Shudder. And to think, you’ve probably lurked at least ONCE today already. You are probably doing it RIGHT now.
According to the Pareto principle, approximately 80 percent of online activity is supplied by 20 percent of participants. The easiest way to reach the lurkers is to identify and influence those who are doing all the talking. No one can speak better about your brand than your own satisfied customers.
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