Community building is a long and resource intensive task. Before you embark on an expensive project, make sure you can answer the following questions:
1. What is the value for the community members and for the company?
You must have a clear view of what the users will gain by being a part of your community. The value can be extremely varied - from awards like frequent flyer miles to ego boosts, but it must always be foremost in your mind. The second part of the value equation is what you are getting from the community - from eyeballs on banners to branding and increased sales.
2. Why should somebody register with your community?
What can you offer the user that he can’t get via a Google search or a portal?
3. Why should she be back regularly?
In other words - do you really need a community of your own? Can your needs be served by attaching to an existing community or community platform?
4. Why will a possible competitor be unable to simply copy our project in 12 months?
The value of a network (and a community) exponentially increases with size. How will you harness network effects to make it harder on your competition?
5. What social tools is your target group using?
Get to know the users before you start designing the platform. This will enable you to customize the platform to their wants and needs. Not everybody wants to post blogs!
