How to Launch an Online Community on the Right Foot

”A prevalent, engaged brand community is the ultimate asset. Research has shown that branded communities not only drive greater reach, but also

add value at other points of the user journey such as encouraging conversations, or improving existing

customer relationships.” HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

Success hinges on how actively you’re engaging the community early on.

• 90% of users will be lurkers,

• 9% will comment occasionally,

• 1% will be power users.

The Rule of Community Engagement

Seed the community with compelling content. • Research what topics will spur

discussion, controversy, or only require

quick responses.

• Spend time on Reddit or other web

communities similar to your audience.

• Look at Facebook & LinkedIn groups for

inspiration on conversation threads.

Queue up conversation threads in a spreadsheet. • During the first weeks of your

community launch, have seed users drip

these out throughout the day.

• 10 threads per day at minimum.

Avoid having the community become a ghost town.

The right early users will have a disproportionate impact on the success of your community.

What are good places to look for seed users?

1. Influencers, SMEs

2. Customer or member database

3. Events and meetups

4. Online directories and networks

5. Social media fans

6. Other organization’s newsletters

7. Internal team members

How to set seed users up for success.

• Respond to new threads fast.

• Post content regularly.

• Welcome new members.

• Introduce people.

• Use hashtags on every post.

• Invite others on social media.

Set Expectations.

• Update seed users on how the community is thriving.

• Encourage them to keep answering questions quickly.

• Incentivize by weekly number of questions answered

with monetary compensation/gift cards.

• Create a seed user leaderboard.

Communicate on a regular basis.

• Send them a direct message or email welcoming

them to the community.

• Say “thank you” to users that contribute thoughtful

content.

• Introduce users to other members in the community

that can answer their questions.

Reach out to new users right away.

Keep the community healthy.

• What are things you want to see in the community?

• What are things you want to avoid in the community?

• Create a list of community guidelines.

Be intentional.

• Hold posts in moderation for every new

user.

• Moderate posts with images or links.

• Have seed users and community

managers use hashtags to keep the

community on track.

Community Moderation.

Download our free guide on how to create the go-to community for your industry. http://socialqnect.com/download-your-guide/

Get more great tips on community management for affinity groups

http://socialqnect.com/blog/

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