Building Successful Online

Communities

Ian Farmer : Social Media Practice Manager

1

What is a Community?

2

This isn’t

What is a Community?

3

This is

10 steps to a successful online community

1. Define the community purpose

2. Audit current needs fulfilment

3. Know your audience

4. Provide Membership benefits

5. Use the right Tools & Software

6. Seed with great content

7. Marketing of the community

8. Define Rules, Roles & Profiles

9. Measure and monitor

10. Manage the Rise and Divide of niche

4

1. Define the community purpose

Community: A group of people brought together by a common cause or objective

5

Purpose example

6

http://www.wecansolveit.org

2. Audit current needs fulfillment

7

Community Needs

8

3. Know your audience

Who are your Stakeholders?

What are their specific needs?

9

Example needs - Support

10

Example Needs - Mobility

4. Provide Membership benefits

W I I F M

12

Free hosting, contests, fame!

13

Naturopath help line, book, duffle bag

14http://www.blackmores.com.au

First, Free, Share & Shape

15

http://www.vibevillage.com

Make membership obvious and easy

16

5. Use the right Tools and Software

17

Community creation tools

1980 1990 2000 2008

Web 2

.0

18

Replicating “real life”

Community conversations

Tools : Profiles

19

Tools : Blogs

20

Tools : Forums

21

http://www.blackmores.com.au/Pregnancy/Discussion/Default.aspx?PageId=233

Tools: Maps

22http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/srchkey/sydney/country/14/region/4

Tools : Rate / Review

23

http://www.yelp.com

Tools: Bookmarks

24

Tools: RSS feeds

25

Tools: Wikis

26

http://pbwiki.com

http://www.wetpaint.com

Tools : Social networks

27

http://www.ning.com

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/

Tools versus Needs

28

Expressing

Identity

Status &

Self-esteem

Giving and

Getting

Help

Affiliation and

Belonging

Sense of

community

Blogs

Content sharing,

videos (you tube)

tagging

Self forming

groups (Yahoo,

Google)

Profile pages

(Myspace,

Facebook,

Linked In)

Rating / Reviews

(Trip Advisor,

Yelp)

Question &

Answer / Forums

(Yahoo answers)

Purpose driven

social network /

community

6. Seed with great content

29

“and get a few passionate needs stakeholders into the mix early”

Seeding examples

30

Content

People

Seeding examples

31

Knowledge Experts

Discussion

7. Marketing of the community

32

Emails, competitions

33

Twitter

34

http://www.twitter.com/ifarmer

Syndicate content

35

Extending Reach

36

Video

37

Miro.com

Veoh.com

Joost.com

Magnify.net

Word of mouth

38

Word of mouth example

39

8. Define Rules, Roles and Profiles

Design for a range of ROLES

Develop a strong LEADERSHIP program

Encourage appropriate ETIQUETTE

40

Secondlife – Help Island

41

42

IBM’s “BlueIQ” Ambassadors Program

Clinics

Lunch & Learn

Jumpstart Engagements

9. Measure and Monitor with metrics

• Link to purpose / needs

• E.g. # articles written, by who

• # articles consumed, reviewed, rated, etc

43

Example Metrics - Language lessons

44

45

Use Metrics

to refine

purpose

10. Rise and Divide of Niche

46

Example – Rise and Divide of Niche

• Music

• Birth of new Genre

• Learn to play piano– Jazz pianist

• Food

• Recipes– Chilli club

47

Example – Rise and Divide of Niche

• Healthy Living

• Fitness– Running Festival

48

10 steps to a successful online community

1. Define the community purpose

2. Audit current needs fulfilment

3. Know your audience

4. Provide Membership benefits

5. Use the right Tools & Software

6. Seed with great content

7. Marketing of the community

8. Define Rules, Roles & Profiles

9. Measure and monitor

10. Manage the Rise and Divide of niche

49

Thankyou

Ian Farmer

Ian.farmer@bullseye.com.au

Senior Brand Strategist 0417 460 518

http://frontiering.com.au/blog

http://blog.bullseye.com.au

http://www.twitter.com/ifarmer

50