Online community management has become a crucial strategy for businesses and brands in today’s digital age. Despite being physically connected, many people feel isolated in our screen-dominated world. This is particularly evident in the relationships between organizations and their members, and brands and their customers.
An online community enables individuals to connect with an organization and like-minded people who share similar interests. Members can share experiences, resources, and engage in discussions about topics that matter to them. By creating online communities, businesses and organizations can meet their customers or members where they are already spending their time—online. This approach humanizes businesses, enhances customer or member engagement, and fosters loyalty.
However, having an online community is just the beginning; the next step is implementing a strong community management strategy to drive adoption and interaction.
What is an Online Community and What are its Origins?
Online communities, stemming from the innate human desire to connect, began evolving into their modern forms in the 1990s and early 2000s through online forums and social networks. As these communities grew, the need for community managers to ensure functionality, safety, and relevance became apparent.
Forward-thinking organizations and brands recognized the benefits of online communities and began creating their own branded communities where members, customers, or brand advocates could discuss industry trends, best practices, and products, or seek assistance and learn from each other. As more organizations witnessed the success of these communities, the adoption of online communities expanded.
Today, powerful software solutions like Higher Logic Thrive facilitate online community management, offering features that streamline engagement throughout the member or customer lifecycle.
How has Online Community Management Strategy Changed?
The fundamental principles of successful online community management—listening, empathy, and positive engagement—have remained largely unchanged over the past decade. However, advancements in technology have provided more sophisticated tools for managing online communities, enabling organizations to allocate more resources to community management and achieve better results.
What is the Role of an Online Community Manager?
An online community manager oversees the ownership and strategy of your online community. They select the appropriate online community platform, train the organization to participate, develop the community experience, and cultivate an environment where people want to engage.
Creating a Winning Online Community Management Strategy
- Choose the Right Platform: Selecting a suitable platform to manage your online community is critical. The platform should allow customization to reflect your brand, support moderation capabilities, control segmentation, and manage user flows effectively.
- Establish a Moderation Framework: Develop guidelines for moderating discussions and define community rules.
- Plan Your Launch: Develop a plan to launch your community effectively and generate initial engagement.
- Drive Engagement: Implement strategies to encourage member interaction and participation.
- Involve Other Employees: Encouraging other employees to participate in community activities is crucial for broader engagement.
Measuring Community Success
Online communities provide rich data that can be utilized not only for key performance indicator (KPI) tracking and reporting but also to understand evolving customer or member needs and improve service delivery. Monitoring metrics such as new user acquisition, login frequency, post/reply volumes, and connection requests helps gauge community growth and engagement.
Planning for the Future
As your online community management strategy evolves, segmentation based on user activity and engagement will likely require refinement. Highly engaged community members should receive differentiated treatment compared to new or sporadically engaged members. Special incentives for loyal members can encourage advocacy and enhance community growth.
Developing and optimizing your online community management strategy may involve complex processes and coordination among various stakeholders. However, when executed effectively, online communities offer unparalleled opportunities to connect with your organization’s members or customers, build deeper relationships, and achieve organizational goals.
