Communities

How can your organisation create an online community around its products and services?

This is one of the most important questions an organisation can ask itself. Why? Because the Internet has become social. It has made each of us a movie director, a writer, a critic, a musician, a publisher and radio show host. We are free to express our views and publish our creativity via a global and democratic platform of online services. We can make rich connections with others who share our interests, regardless of how specialised, and regardless of where we live.

To summarise, the Internet today is about people, the connections between them, and their creativity. It's all about community. This is what makes it important for every organisation, regardless of size, to engage its customers/partners/employees on a social level by establishing meaningful relationships with them.

The unprecedented audience of the Internet/Intranet/extranet, and its infinite diversity, means that there are people who are truly passionate about the product or service your organisation provides. They have strong opinions, have great ideas, and they want to see you succeed as a company. I wonder, do you know who they are? Have you established a connection with them? Are you helping them find each other? Are you helping them connect with others who share the same interest?

This is where community building start, the gathering together of those who love your product or service by providing them with a way to connect. To connect with you, and to connect with each other. It's about giving them with an open forum where they can express their views, share their ideas, and by doing so, contribute to the development of your product or service. It offers you the opportunity to build the most effective feedback loop imaginable by harnessing the collective creativity and intelligence of your most passionate customers/partners/employees.  

For example, have you plugged your brightest customers into your research and development teams? Have you engaged your most vocal and opinionated customers in long running and open conversation? How do you provide your most enthusiastic ambassadors with the information they need to help others benefit from your products or services?

These questions are just the beginning, and while the emergence of a number of new solutions has taken online collaboration to a new level, it has also resulted in a bewildering array of technologies and buzzwords. Developing a strategy that ensures the effective deployment of everything from Wikis, Podcasts, Twitter and Blogs to Social Networking and Virtual Worlds is a daunting task. But more important than the technology is an understanding and appreciation for online culture.

The most difficult part of building community is understanding the culture you're entering. In many ways it's like starting a business in a new country, with local customs and traditions that need to be respected. Before you arrive you need to make sure you have an experienced guide. Someone who understands the open and direct mode of communication, knows that people don't want to talk to the organisation but directly to those responsible for the decisions they care about. It’s a culture that demands involvement from everyone, from the very top, to the very bottom of an organisational chart.