Miamacs - 11:29 pm on May 12, 2008 (gmt 0)

no, please don't go on telling people they need to build yet more 'corporate/business' communities... don't want to run into those anymore. *heh*

...

ok, hear my argument...

I don't think Amazon and eBay are communities in the sense I'd call
webmaster world a community. I don't think that a software support forum is a community... in a sense as sourceforge is. NOTHING that gets moderated out of corporate bias can ever become a community. you must moderate, but must NOT toy with people's sense of reality. they'll notice.

for really successful online communities the main and key element is: free. Free free free. Freedom of opinion. free flow of information, and...

Free information ( fan-, hobby-, caritative-, collaborative groups ). Information ABOUT free stuff ( SEO *grin* yeah I know, it isn't free ). Free information ABOUT free stuff. or just free stuff ( to see, hear, download ... you see where I'm getting at )

Free has to be in there somewhere.

a community built around

- purchase the following widget
- ( otherwise you most likely will have nothing to say/ask )

...is a support forum / idea bin. it's exclusive.

Which is also a community of course... well... in a way.
But it's way too small to reach critical mass and generate the gravity that'd work as (automated) marketing and draw in anyone NEW. There's no word of mouth about 'hey they promised I'd get support and it wasn't a lie!' ( the opposite will work, as far as getting you known *pfft* )

Also if/when the product'd go dead, it's all over.

By contrast, if a site is shut down, a community built around something general(ly free), will simply migrate to the next similar domain.

...

* is a support forum/idea bin necessary for your business?
well... no, it's not necessary. sometimes it could even backfire.
When you will be asked about why you keep f...messing up.
where the new and improved stuff you promised is. why isn't your widget blue instead of red? and then why did you go blue instead of keeping red? if both is available, where's the black and white variation? why is this product/service so full of errors and mistakes? etc.
and you'll either spend a lot of effort on well balanced moderation or stop communicating or become downright hostile. and piss off the remaining few fans of your product. ( great example is Google, where you won't get a decent answer no matter how you ask )

* is a real/generic community **necessary** for your business?
no... it's not 'necessary'. there's no relation other than relevant traffic. it's **very** cool to have one ( like you have a DIY forum that's 'sponsored by' your hammers'r'us store, have hints for using hammers instead of teakettles w/o mentioning the only company that makes hammers... subtly form opinion... etc. )... but the success of your non-community business will originate ( if ever ) from the sheer number of people who've seen your 'ad'. They won't be talking about hammers'r'us, and some will not even like you. (try to force them and they'll abandon the community) they'll buy from your competitor if their product is better/cheaper. BUT, if you keep it separate, you'll have a high traffic, on topic site, yours for all the free advertising you want. and no, you can't start all answers with 'first buy hammers'r'us Item No. #nnnnn', neither can edit out negative reviews. exactly because it's supposedly a community... and not your support forum.

...

but building a community for your home improvement store?
there's got to be a better place for all that time, money and effort.
and there's got to be a more efficient way to get all these people to know you.

...

using the already available communities.
study them. study their behaviour, their reactions, aim your marketing at their wishes and become the secret mystic santa claus ninja of 'hammers' without them noticing a thing.
get your offers in front of them just as sublty as if it was your own forum, and let them do the talk.

...

the 'we don't need another corporate community' lobby ends here. and I haven't even mentioned web 2.0. SO here it is. WEB 2.0