While most brand communities would say they exist “To help our customers”, or potential customers, they probably fall into one of two camps: first resort or last resort.

We talked previously about how to onboard and integrate new members into your community. The main focus was on making them comfortable:

Developing your online community takes a lot of hard work. You’ll make mistakes and learn lessons, but hopefully have a blast bringing it all together and watching it grow. But to help you avoid a few common stumbling blocks, we’ve put together this quick-fire list of mistakes and pitfalls we’ve seen through years of building…

We’ve written before about how to identify and define your community’s purpose—but what if you decide to change course or head in a new direction? 

Handled correctly, user-generated content is one of the holy grails of online communities. With the community manager putting out fires almost 24-7, imagine having your extremely qualified, expert members creating posts and content on their own, and generating huge engagement in the process? The strategy can be hugely powerful and has worked for major brands…

It is generally accepted that there are 3 categories of users within online communities:  The 1%—Extremely active users who contribute the vast majority of content, answers, and activity.  The 9%—All other casual or occasional contributors.  The 90%—The ‘lurkers’ who only consume content (or don’t log in at all) and never contribute directly. 

On the surface, having a closed online community might seem the obvious route. You get to vet and filter new members and don’t have to deal with trolls and Karens slamming your content every day. However, there are serious risks associated with growth and sustainability of closed groups, so we encourage you to weigh up…