building a successful online community

Building Successful Online

Communities

Ian Farmer : Social Media Practice Manager

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What is a Community?

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This isn’t

What is a Community?

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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

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1. Define the community purpose

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

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Purpose example

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http://www.wecansolveit.org

2. Audit current needs fulfillment

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Community Needs

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3. Know your audience

Who are your Stakeholders?

What are their specific needs?

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Example needs - Support

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Example Needs - Mobility

4. Provide Membership benefits

W I I F M

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Free hosting, contests, fame!

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Naturopath help line, book, duffle bag

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

First, Free, Share & Shape

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http://www.vibevillage.com

Make membership obvious and easy

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5. Use the right Tools and Software

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Community creation tools

1980 1990 2000 2008

Web 2

.0

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Replicating “real life”

Community conversations

Tools : Profiles

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Tools : Blogs

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Tools : Forums

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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

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http://www.yelp.com

Tools: Bookmarks

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Tools: RSS feeds

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Tools: Wikis

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http://pbwiki.com

http://www.wetpaint.com

Tools : Social networks

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http://www.ning.com

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

Tools versus Needs

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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

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

Seeding examples

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Content

People

Seeding examples

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Knowledge Experts

Discussion

7. Marketing of the community

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Emails, competitions

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Twitter

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http://www.twitter.com/ifarmer

Syndicate content

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Extending Reach

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Video

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Miro.com

Veoh.com

Joost.com

Magnify.net

Word of mouth

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Word of mouth example

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8. Define Rules, Roles and Profiles

Design for a range of ROLES

Develop a strong LEADERSHIP program

Encourage appropriate ETIQUETTE

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Secondlife – Help Island

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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

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Example Metrics - Language lessons

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Use Metrics

to refine

purpose

10. Rise and Divide of Niche

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Example – Rise and Divide of Niche

• Music

• Birth of new Genre

• Learn to play piano– Jazz pianist

• Food

• Recipes– Chilli club

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Example – Rise and Divide of Niche

• Healthy Living

• Fitness– Running Festival

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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

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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

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