Passions That Pay

photo credit: David Boyle

After the show with Lynn Terry from Clicknewz.com last Friday, I have been thinking about online communities. So here is the summation of Lynn’s tips and some of my own thoughts.

1. First consider WHY you want to create an online community. You need to have actionable and measurable goals. Could you achieve these goals by being an active participant in existing communities who have a target market similar to yours? What do you have to offer as a community leader? How will you attract members to your community and what will tempt them to stay? Are there opportunities to leverage existing communities by offering complementary services to the members?

2. Do you have the time to devote to creating a community? It takes an awful lot of time to be a community leader so do not even consider it if you are already pushed for time.

3. What platform will you build your community around? Here are some possible options:

a) a blog

b) a forum

c) a Yahoo/Google group

d) an ezine

e) a Skype room/chatroom

f) regular webinars/teleconferences

g) a membership site

Most community leaders have at least 2 of these.

4. What social media will you employ to communicate with your existing community and to draw more members to you? Popular avenues include:

a) Twitter

b) Facebook

c) Ning

d) blog commenting

e) polls and surveys.

f) Internet radio show

g) email signatures

5. Are the benefits to joining your community clear and are they on-going? Lynn recommends asking yourself the question do you have something to say that you can continue talking about for five or more years?

6. Are you able to grow with your community or would it be a case of having to find new people to replace those who have outgrown you? The latter is not necessarily a bad thing but it will then need you to find new blood all the time.

7. What will encourage your community members to become fans and help spread the word?

8. What type of person do you want to attract to your community?

9 How will you deal with those who do not fit or are deliberately disruptive?

10. What kind (if any) of barrier to entry will you have? Although it is very tempting to have an open door policy, will this best serve both you and your community? Examples of barriers could be surveys or interviews or nomination by existing members. This will help you keep out the spammers and the undesirables but is not by any means fool-proof.

11. Will you have others, either paid or volunteer help you to run your community? This could include moderators on forums and Yahoo groups, hosts on Skype rooms and guest bloggers. Although it really helps to have others help you in this way, they will impart their own personality on your community and will change things. Sometimes helpers can attempt to overshadow the community leader or even try to take over the whole shebang.

There are definite advantages to building up a loyal community - done correctly,the members will become your most ardent supporters, your customers, your affiliates. They will give you important feedback which will improve your products and services. They will volunteer to be guinea pigs for new products, they will support you in your endeavors and quickly come to your defense if you are attacked. They also can be critical and demanding of your time. Some communities can turn on you quickly if you fail to live up to their expectations. It is a time-consuming business and can be a double-edged sword.

But for all this, I love leading my small community that has arisen from my blog, my Skype room and my radio show. I love the sense of connectedness, mutual support and the exchange of information - I have easily learnt as much if not more from my community as I have taught. At the moment I fly solo, though I have so much support behind the scenes so I never feel alone. As my community gets bigger, I may well have to rethink this but for now I enjoy my role.

Lynn Terry is herself a masterful community leader because she is extremely generous with her time, exhibits a genuine desire to help people and is clear and honest with her members. Her following is immense loyal and I have never heard a bad word spoken about her. She is very much a role model for me. She cautions though that community building is not appropriate to many business model and can be exhausting but for her is ultimately rewarding.

Think careful before you decide whether to build a community. Build it carefully and thoughtfully and constantly monitor it to make sure it is serving your needs and you are serving your community’s needs. Above all,make sure it is something you have fun doing and that you fill your community with people you want to spend time with - because you will be spending a lot of time with them!

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