Online Community Best Practices
With the constantly evolving nature of online communities, it seems like every time I read about best practices someone has something drastically different to say or absolutely nothing new at all. Visiting Forrester’s website today I came across a new report that was released last week titled, “Online Community Best Practices.” The report is only available to those that pay (like all of Forresters briefs), but it sounds very interesting.
The executive summary reads, ““An online community is an interactive group of people joined together by a common interest. It’s also one of the most powerful tools a marketer can deploy for customer retention, word of mouth, and customer insight. To host a successful community, think of it as you would product development: Start by focusing on objectives, chart a road map, assemble the right team, and plan to be flexible. Then build your success by launching the community with the backing of your most enthusiastic customers and staying engaged as the community grows. Above all, remember that control is in the hands of the members, so put their needs first, build trust, and become an active part of the community.”
The study was authored by, Jeremiah K. Owyang. In Jeremiah’s blog post he eludes to one of his findings. The finding won’t be much of a surprise to those familiar with the space, but here it is. When companies try and control their users to tightly, they find it difficult to find success. The companies that let go of this control and act more like a host, rather than policemen, says Owyang are the most successful. How many times have we all seen campaigns that are highly interactive and look great, but are heavily policed, it’s the internet people and the more users interact (for better or worse) the better.
The report takes into account 17 companies that were interviewed including, MySpace.com, Avenue A | Razorfish and Cnet TechRepublic to name a few. Readers interested in web strategy should check out Jeremiah’s site for more useful insight.
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