You may have heard the term “tribes” which Seth Godin coined in his book of the same name. He speaks of Tribal Management and mentions, “What people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company or cause because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.” This is the essence of an online community.

What Is An Online Community?

An online community is similar to the tribe concept as it is a place for a group of people with similar interests to congregate, share and learn from one another, but especially to grow as a result of the community. It is a place where a brand can connect with their existing clients, build relationships and brand loyalty. It can also be an engaging platform to introduce prospects to your business products and services. Or a community designed by a business for employee training and updating on company developments and giving employees a voice in various discussion forums. Another use could be for non-profits to enliven a community and organize grassroots activities. A musician could leverage a community to nurture their fan base and share exclusive songs and videos for members only. As you can see the list of possibilities is as endless as one’s imagination.

Elements of a Effective Online Community

A robust online community should include:

•   a blogging platform

•   email marketing

•   discussion forums

•   online meetings and webinars

•   media and document sharing (such as eBooks, white papers, video, photos, podcasts and archived webinars)

•   branding and functionality options

•   robust analytics of website activity

•   social dashboard to manage social networks in one place

•   search optimization

An Online Community -vs- Facebook and Twitter

Many may wonder, why an online community? Isn’t Facebook and Twitter sufficient?

In an online community, you have complete control over the content and your brand takes center stage. You aren’t competing with a busy feed of friend updates or tweets. You also have full branding capabilities and can determine the functionality of the community. As described above, the functions of an online social community far outweigh the limitations of a social network like Twitter and Facebook.

More Benefits of An Online Community

*Serves as a content aggregator-allowing people to digest your content in one location

*Social network management-from one location

*Create a sense of exclusivity, build brand evangelism-reward members with exclusive offers only for them or early previews of new products and services

*Empower your customers (or employees)-give them a stronger voice via discussion forums, learn and understand their needs

*Build a database of emails and demographic information-to build deeper relationships

*Provide a resource hub of media and document sharing-create training videos for employees or upload product demonstration videos for employees

*Establish credibility and brand awareness via blogging-add value

*Cost effectiveness-Combining email marketing, blogging and webinars is much more cost effective than paying for individual marketing platforms

*Save time-by not having to access multiple marketing platforms. One password for one online community marketing platform

Ready to Build Tribal Influence?

Seth Godin goes on to say, “The real asset most organizations should build is not an amorphous brand but is in fact the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them”.

If you are interested in learning more about a social community for your business, test drive Boomity’s branded community platform. It is free for 30 days (no credit card required) and will give you ample time to test the online community waters and see for yourself the many benefits for growing and enhancing your business via community engagement.

What are some of the community benefits your brand could benefit from a branded online community?

Please share with your social networks if you found value in this content.