Ten Ways to Kick-Start a User Community – how ActiveGrid boosted. Every software vendor dreams of having a vibrant user community to provide input, buzz and maybe even someday help make money! When I joined ActiveGrid six months ago, the user community on SourceForge was dead, with one to two posting per day. Now the community has over 15 posts a day, a more than ten-fold increase in less than six months. This describes the steps we took to go from zero to somebody in the enterprise tools forum world. ActiveGrid is a visual tool for building web apps, sort of an MS Access for the Web. 1.
Taking care of the community had been an ad hoc activity at ActiveGrid. The most important step we took to kick-start our community was to assign a full-time employee to manage the health and well-being of the community. 2. For historical reasons, ActiveGrid had several different forums. 3. We found that the ActiveGrid SourceForge forums were hard to navigate and didn’t allow attachments. 4. 5. 6. In a new community, one active poster is worth 1,000 lurkers. 7. 8. 9. How To Kick Start A Community –an Ongoing List « Web Strategy by. One of the top 10 questions in social media marketing asked is “How do we kick start our community?”
This post aims at providing some resources for brands that are preparing their community strategy. The old adage of the field of dreams isn’t true -if you build it–they won’t neccesarily come. Brands must have a kick start plan to be successful with their community. Below, I’ll list out some practices I’ve heard from companies that have had successful communities, and I’d ask you chime in and add more ways, let’s get started, I’ll be as specific and actionable as possible. How to Kick Start A Community Create compelling content on a recurring basis. I’ve also signaled to some of the vendors in the community platform space to chime in –giving them the chance to strut their knowledge. How to kick start a Community. How to Launch Your Community Website with a Bang « ShoutEm. Whether you’re starting a forum, web group or launching a microblogging network on Shout’Em, the launch can make or break it. While working hard on getting your community a success is a continuous effort, why not get your launch right?
Here are a couple of ways to do so… Pick the right domain name Your domain name is your brand on the web. Test the site With dozens of different web browsers (Firefox, Internet explorer, …) testing your website on the most popular ones is really important. Get your team ready for launch When you launch your community, be sure to give yourself enough time to dedicate to it. Launch early in the week, early in the morning Why? Introduce yourself People want the backstory, they want to know who’s behind it all.
Aim, Fire, Launch! Get ready for the press Journalists and bloggers love new stuff. Be available – have a contact page! Bloggers aren’t the only ones who would like to contact you. Get the conversation started Help them participate Community 2 community. Online Community Examples | FreshNetworks Blog.