Brett Morris - Optimizing your online community

You don't want to be yet another online community, do you? Well, pull up a chair, dust off your keyboard and get creative. Or at the very least don't fall asleep.

If you have ever wondered about the best way to optimize your online community, it can be very difficult to find good information that has been tried and true. In interviews with some of the top online community administrators, we have put together a list that touches on some of the most important things that you can use to optimize your online community.

I didn't want to be cliche and call it a TOP TEN. So I added one.

(Not listed in order of importance)

1) Make contacts
It's not what you know but who you know. One of the fastest ways that you can generate traffic for your community is to make contacts. Recently I was working with a firm that is doing audience research by placing a survey on one of their forums. 1 month after posting this survey they only had 500 results. The administrator was understandably frustrated. It was suggested that they network through some of our contacts and after this was done, within 1 week they had 10,000 survey results. This really does work. Nothing moves faster than by word of mouth. No, not even a 2006 700hp Dodge Viper. I mentioned in another post, some of the benefits for finding sites that will post your link.

2) Know your audience
"People will tell you the most amazing things about themselves—if you ask them," says Walter Thames, an executive with Revnet. Surveys are one of the most popular and time effective ways to find out about your audience. How would you like to know if new products are failing, if your advertising is effective, why your customers buy from competition? These are a few of the things that you can find out if you just ask. In the long run, the more you know about your audience the more your sales will increase.

3) Advertise
This is where knowing your audience comes in handy. How do you advertise without knowing your audience? You can’t. Advertising affects everything in your business. It can be the difference between 500 hits a month and 10,000 hits a week. Whether you use Google, Yahoo or WebWise, build an online community and get it in front of people.

4) Find your Purpose
What is the purpose of your online community? Are you selling a product? Are you sharing information? Find your purpose and use your online community to convey it. Use your forums, newsletters, surveys and every other tool that your online community offers to reach your customer.

5) Interaction
Whether you do this through Newsletters, Discussion boards, Forums, Blogs, Activities, Questions, Surveys or anything else, get your audience involved. Audience participation can give you a wealth of information. In order to understand how your customers are responding to your purpose, get them involved.

6) Personalize
You may be surprised at a users reaction when you send them a personalized thank you note when they post a great comment on a forum. When you personally get involved, your customers will give you a bigger and better response than you could ever get through a survey or ad campaign.

7) Identify the leaders
There are always natural leaders. They are the ones that always contribute and drive the community. Find out who they are and involve them as much as possible. Without people taking this role in your community, it will never reach its full potential. I will be sharing with you later, some of the roles that an individual can play in an online community.

8) Content, Content, Content
I can't emphasize this enough, so I’ll say it again. Content. Add lots of content before you start. Add lots of content after you start. Always add lots of content. This is important for a number of reasons including customer response, site indexing and site traffic. The more information you have on your community the more information you are empowering your customers with to make educated decisions.

9) Pick the correct corporate community software
You can only go as far as the software that you are using lets you. Pick OSN software that will enable you to reach your potential and then grow more. Obviously I am partial to the WebWise solution, but only because they give you a full solution that allows you to customize, contact, and grow.

10) Rewards
We all love rewards. From the allowance that your parents gave you when you did your chores, to the bonus that you get now, when your company hits the quarterly goal. The psychological effect of a reward is astounding. You can use contests, games, surveys, forums, or any interactive activity on your online community to give a reward. Whether it is a point system, or you give away a free IPOD. You can use rewards to get your customers excited!

11) Get creative
I have to admit, that I saved the best for last. Creativity is the most important thing that you can use to optimize your online community. Often it takes a paradigm shift to come up with the ideas that will have the furthest reaching effect. I would highly recommend you read Susan Salgy's, article "Using Creativity Principles in Web Communities".

There is no magic word or miracle secret that you can use to create a successful online community, however when you start to use these tools, don't be surprised if your customer base grows, you get more hits, your profits increase or your customers are happier. After all, that is our goal.

Now, check your vitals and if you are still awake, I want to know what your opinion is. What questions do you have about online communities? What do you think are the most important tools on an online community?