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How to build and maintain online communities.
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Online Communities
Hello! My name is Bart.
This is my daughter Merel.
I’m passionate about coffee.
I’m passionate about coffee.I live and work in Ghent.
@netlash
Online communitiesSanoma Mediaparade, 21/6/2012
‣ What is an online community?
Online community
=
A virtual place where people with similar
characteristics meet on a regular basis.
Definition
You can’t create an online community.
(Those days are over.)
Communities already exist.
Create a platform to uncover communities of interest,
and to facilitate them. An online community might
emerge.
Online vs. offline
Communities already exist and the question you should ask is how you can help them to do what they want to do.
Zuckerberg's prescription is "elegant organisation".
Mark Zuckerberg:
Elegant Organisation
Social surroundings separate from the two usual
environments of home and work.
Third place
Social surroundings separate from the two usual
environments of home and work.
“sense of place”
Third place
Gathered around common interests.
Internet... not bound by location.
Third place
By finding common interests that were previously
not connected because of physical limitations.
Create an online community
‣ profile based
‣ object based
(often a mix)
2 main classes
‣ Netlog
‣ Path
‣ ...
Profile based
‣ YouTube (video)
‣ Instagram (photo)
‣ Pinterest (visual)
‣ Quora (question)
‣ ...
Object based
‣ Why?
‣ strengthen your brand (connection)
‣ CRM
‣ SEO
‣ ads
‣ because it’s hip...
Why?
‣ Success?
success
=
number of members
x
content (interaction)
Success of an online community
‣ visit & read
‣ register
‣ react
‣ contribute
‣ share
Funnels
‣ visit
‣ SEO
‣ technical
‣ structure
‣ content
‣ use SEA if needed (boost)
Show up in search results
‣ pains
‣ solutions
‣ questions
‣ products
‣ high in buying cycle
‣ site structure!
Show up in search results
‣ facilitate sharing
‣ built-in triggers
‣ assign status
‣ “frictionless sharing” ?
Show up in social streams
‣ most people organise their online behaviour
around their mailbox
‣ revisit
‣ invitations (status)
‣ don’t spam - add value
Show up in the inbox
‣ hack e-mail (“invite your mailbox”)
‣ hack e-mail (“you’ve been tagged”)
‣ hack social (“invite your friends”)
‣ hack social (“pay with a tweet”)
‣ don’t spam - add value
Hacks
‣ register
‣ benchmark ( 5 % )
‣ measure
‣ A/B testing
‣ usability
Conversion
‣ MVP
‣ use FaceBook
‣ “what’s in it for me”
Register
The value of a network is proportional to the square
of the number of users connected.
Metcalfe’s Law
Use these network effects.
‣ ICQ
‣ Dropbox
‣ Delicious
‣ ...
Metcalfe’s Law
Facebook’s already built...
Why build your own site?
Play on someone else’s terrain, play by their rules.
Why build your own site?
‣ react & contribute
Small steps.
‣ use micro-interactions
‣ “consistency”
Gradual engagement
1
10
100
1000
Piramid
Creators
Reactors & sharers
Lurkers
Strangers
1
10
100
1000
Piramid
Creators
Reactors & sharers
Lurkers
Strangers
(Actually: 80% - 15% - 5%)
Piramid
Piramid
Creators: numbers!
Reactors: acknowledgement
Sharers: aggregation tools
Lurkers: activating content
Strangers: search & social
‣ people like to help -> questions
‣ people like to share -> facilitate sharing
‣ people like to belong -> discovery of likeminded
‣ people like to be acknowledged -> status
Build in engagement
Use micro-interactions to evoke
gradual engagement.
‣ simple
‣ easy to understand the implications (feedback loop)
‣ safe
‣ revokable
Micro-interactions
Gamification
‣ reward wanted behaviour
‣ sharing, contributing, commenting
‣ micro-interactions
‣ leaderboards
Gamification
‣ reciprocity
‣ consistency
‣ social validation
‣ authority
‣ scarcity
Persuasion techniques
‣ discovery (search & serendipity)
‣ random rewards
‣ short feedback loops
‣ social pressure
‘addiction’ techniques
‣ meme
‣ jargon
‣ choose an enemy
Shared history & rituals
‣ best practices
‣ involve influencers
‣ get user feedback early
‣ prime with content
Launch in beta
Empty bar syndrome
‣ set the tone of voice
‣ acknowledge wanted behaviour
‣ root out unwanted behaviour
‣ define rituals
‣ create a shared history
First months are crucial
Silbermann said he personally wrote to the site's first 5,000 users offering his personal phone number and even meeting
with some of its users.
Ben Silbermann
Caterina Fake said the success of Flickr depended on the premise that “you have to greet the first 10,000 users personally”.
Caterina Fake
Flickr
‣ ‘safe & sure’: guidelines and policies
‣ own content
‣ provoke
‣ ask questions
‣ promote leaders
Maintain
‣ “build it and they will come”
‣ pre-moderation & censorship
‣ hardcore vs. newbies
‣ bad usability & complexity
‣ neglect
Watch out!
‣ metrics
‣ quantity, quality, efficiëncy
‣ conversion choke points
‣ inactive members
‣ content & engagement
‣ business metrics
Define the right metrics
‣ visits to registration ratio
‣ returning login ratio
‣ login to post/comment ratio
‣ creation to reaction ratio
‣ sharing ratio
Define the right metrics
‣ sales
‣ leads
‣ brand awareness
‣ sentiment
‣ sharing
Business metrics
Building & maintaining a community
requires hard work. Measure the
business metrics.
‣ automate where possible
‣ empower the community where possible
‣ human management is necessary
Hard work
The Soylent Green moment.
The web is people
Communities are populated by people.
Real people, not ‘users’.
People with children.
People with passions.
So, treat them as people.
Conversation
Questions?
Bart De Waele
@netlash+32 9 335 22 80bart@wijs.be
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