Online communities are hugely beneficial to all kinds of businesses because they create value for the members in the community.

• 86% of Fortune 500 companies report communities provide insight into customer needs.
• 80% of consumers say that authenticity of content will influence them to follow a brand.

Building an online community is a very effective way to create a positive feedback loop amongst both existing and new members.

Some of the top ways of building a successful online community are –

1)Allow Social Sign In

An increasingly popular sign-in option that has heightened user registration is the use of Social Sign In capability. This is when users can use their existing social logins to create an account on other sites. The most common social sign in options being used today are Facebook and Gmail. This new feature has rocketed conversions in registrations for 2 reasons:

1. This option lowers the barrier of entry that arises out of needing to take at least 2 more steps for a unique registration.
2. This feature, being linked to their existing accounts, offers user demographic information that helps companies better pinpoint who their target user is – and from there better enhance the experience for that user.

2)Work with the Active Members in the Community

This means rewarding the top contributors and making sure that they get more responsibility in the community. The most successful examples of this are the Wikipedia community and the stack overflow community wherein the best contributors are essentially promoted to becoming de facto managers of the community. Also the feedback of your online community should be heard and responded to in a timely fashion. Members need know that their concerns will be addressed.

3) Allow Members to Collaborate

96% of companies see the value that customer collaboration presents for the marketing department. Collaboration is especially valuable in B2B scenarios where business expertise on either end can be built upon by sharing knowledge. An online community should have support for Blogs, Message Boards, Mail, Wikis etc. These tools make working together seamless. They will also allow members to achieve shared goals by working together.

4)Appeal to your Audience’s Interests and Passions

Interest and passion about your subject matter is your best to draw community members and boost active participation. Next, it’s important to recognize and satisfy the needs of your community. Once you achieve these two goals, you have created a symbiotic relationship between the users and your organization.

 

One other benefit of a thriving online community is that a business or organization could create products to cater to their demands and needs. The members could also be clustered into groups of people with similar interests or workflows. These user groups could then be sent targeted content which would be especially relevant to them.

Regardless of the size of your organization investing in building a thriving online community is worth the effort. If you would like more information on how your organization and customers may benefit from building a strong community, contact our experts at info@dunnsolutions.com.