Web Communities and Social Media: There’s More to Life than Facebook

By Pete Contardo

Without a question, social media and web communities are becoming increasingly important to businesses looking to engage and connect with their target audiences. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networking sites allow companies to join the conversations forming around their products, services and brands. They can attract new customers, reinforce marketing efforts, build brands and even find new ways to generate revenue.

However, as Krishna Kumar writes in 10 things CEO's should know about social media and online communities, navigating the social media space where 99% of content is irrelevant can be a daunting task. And finding and creating appropriate web communities requires dedication of time as well as sufficient human and financial resources. It’s much more than just putting up a Facebook profile and seeing what happens.

Now don’t get me wrong, Facebook and other social networks can be critically important to your business…but they are not necessarily the only way to leverage the power of social media. This is where building your own web community comes in. Why not create your own online community where your potential and existing customers can interact with each other and your brand? By doing so, you’ll be able to engage with your audience in an environment that you can easily monitor, control and manage according to your business goals. You will also build relationships with your community members that extend far beyond a product or service. Just remember that with social media you cannot, and don’t want to, control the conversation. You can only facilitate the environment in which it takes place.

But before you jump into planning your branded web community, check out Mack Collier’s blog post in which he gives six reasons why online communities fail. In this post, Collier writes that heavy emphasis on monetization, insufficient value creation and lack of engagement on the community owner’s part are the main factors why business-sponsored online communities tend to fizzle out before they get a chance to grow. So, based on Collier’s analysis, here are some things you must address to increase the likelihood that your web community will be a success.

1. Focus on establishing a following of dedicated fans. Monetization may be part of your overall strategy, but the primary purpose of your web community is to connect people and provide a user-friendly social environment that facilitates conversations. How you ultimately monetize should come naturally, after the community has already formed.
2. Offer something of value. Provide your community members with an abundance of interactive tools, encourage content creation through forums, blogs and comments or start a user-generated contest. Online video is another great way to add value to your web community. From weekly announcements from the company’s CEO and insightful industry overviews, to a fun web series featuring your products, to educational ‘how-tos’ and user-generated uploads, online video content will engage your community members and keep them coming back for more. 
3. Become an active community member. Participate in forum discussions, comment on your members’ blog posts, create content, respond to your members’ concerns and treat each of your community members with equal respect.
4. Make it easy for members to promote your community and content. As people enjoy participating in your community, give them the tools they need to share their enthusiasm with family, friends and co-workers. For example, allow users to email and link to your video content or embed it on their personal websites and blogs.

Good luck on your new web community! And, as always, let us know if Endavo Media can help.