7 Myths About Building a Successful Online Community

Posted June 15th, 2010 / By Brandon Cox in Misc

“Community” is admittedly a buzz word, but it’s one we can’t avoid using in connection with building great blogs. It’s one of the essential elements of a total web presence for any person or organization.

The word community has to do with “sharing in common.” It’s a principle much older than the internet and dates back to the dawn of human civilization. Our work as bloggers and community managers isn’t to invent the concept of community, but to understand the social principles of community and apply them to our online villages.

Community isn’t as easy to understand as we might think. Human relationships are complex and often fragile, and building a successful online community requires more effort that many bloggers are willing to invest.

Here are seven myths about building online communities, and some correct alternative conclusions…

If You Build It, They Will Come

At one time, we operated under the assumption that an online community was built out of a good domain, hosting, and a sweet design. But there are plenty of well designed websites collecting dust because no one knows they exist. For a community to grow, it needs publicity, which comes in various forms. Our community can be found in organic search results. We can advertise and promote it. We can paste the url on billboards across the land, but as far as community is concerned, we need to realize the power of the invitation.

Inviting someone into a community is powerful. Facebook knows this and it’s why they want you to share everything you like with your friends. People long to belong and have an insatiable need for acceptance. Churches know this. So do gangs. And the sooner bloggers figure it out, the better. Invite people.

Great Content Is All You Need

I’ve said before that content is the currency of social media, and I stand by that truth. Content is the core of a great blog. It can be wrapped in a slick design and marketed via multiple channels, but if the content stinks, all incentive is lost for potential community members.

However, great content does not create community. Word on a page, no matter how eloquent, do not foster interpersonal connections between people. People do. Beyond content, a community demands and thrives on interaction. While interaction can be fostered by multiple mediums, it must be nurtured by a community manager. If you’re a blogger, that’s you. You’re not just a writer if you’re a blogger – you’re a people connector.

Offer Every Possible Feature

I grew up in a small community. We had a store, a fire station with a ballpark attached, and some churches. We didn’t have a mall or large supermarket. People who needed clothes and other essentials for life “went to town” to find them, but community happened there. That fire station became the location of an annual fair and everyone showed up. People stopped at the store to chat on their way home from work. It was a community without the bells and whistles.

Your blog or online community doesn’t need every possible feature. It may be that you add a discussion forum only to realize that your community would rather just comment on your posts. You might create a full-fledged social network only to realize your members would rather discuss your content on Twitter.

Just because features are possible doesn’t mean they are essential. Watch out for “feature creep.” Keep it simple. Think “relationships” instead of tools.

Comments Equal Community

Blogger Dave Lucas brought out an excellent point in his comment on the previous post about community:

Your post is dated June 8th… I’ve seen it displayed on other blogs and seen tweets about it… but you have two Lame comments (make that 3 with mine ;))… exactly what i come up against when I write “hit” posts!

Your “Community Theory” in real life on the net:

Yet I’ll see total BS crappily written posts get hundreds of comments! I won’t name any names, but after reading one of these I asked myself “what are these people smoking?” There were comments, links, kudos, tweets about a post written about getting blog traffic, a post so poorly-written that it bordered on idiocy! Yet it was tweeted and re-tweeted and blogged about by people who should know better! SOMETHING is wrong with this picture!

Your post here is well thought out and constructed. But it’s not attracting comments. I don’t understand why.

Dave highlights what I think is a growing trend of separation between comments and conversation. Blogs often reward commenters with backlinks, link love, and sometimes even “do follow” link juice. What inevitably happens is that people game the system for personal benefit. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. These features can be nice and it can create some reciprocal benefits. The side effect, however, is that real conversation gives way to quick bursts like “nice post.” That isn’t really community.

Should you drop commenting from your blog? Absolutely not. Comments allow a platform for conversation whether it genuinely happens or not. Comments extend the content and offer a chance for critical thinking and response. But don’t assume that the number of comments received equals the real size of a community.

Community Only Happens On Your Site

Our understanding of this concept is rapidly changing as social networking continues to explode in popularity. Essentially, a blogger needs to understand that the conversation surrounding a piece of content takes place all over the web. Backtype, along with other similar tools, will take a url and trace its impact around the web, even showing top influencers who spread the content to begin with.

This principle has enormous advantages. Your community is now a band of evangelists helping to spread your brand around on the web.

You’re In Control At All Times

We are, by nature, control addicts, but control and community are not such good friends. Communities have a tendency to take on lives of their own. As a blogger, you have the advantage of framing discussions with your content and facilitating connections as an administrator, but your readers will still determine your success or failure in reaction to what you say and do. You can’t control people, and when you try, you destroy community.

Everyone Will Be As Devoted As You

The inevitable result of assuming every member of your community will be as devoted as you is frustration. I’ve witnessed plenty of melt downs and rants by bloggers who attempt to guilt their community members into being more faithful adherents and promoters. It never works.

Your blog is your baby, and you should have an attitude of gratefulness for every contribution to it. I’d rather have someone’s casual readership than to not have them at all, even if they never speak up. There are exceptions. There are communities that need greater accountability, but specific to blogging is the principle that the blogger is chief brand evangelist, communicator, facilitator, and community manager.

Your passion will drive the success of your online community. Your face will be the strand that connects others in relationship with each other. Your words will set the tone for discussion. It’s your community, make the very best of it.

The bottom line is that community never happens on accident. You need to define the nature of the community you want to build and then implement strategies to see its success.

Comments, Fuel community?

In addition to serving as Editor of Fuel Your Blogging, Brandon is also a Pastor at Saddleback Church and Online Community Coordinator for Pastors.com. He’s also a web designer, blogger, and church communications consultant. Catch him on his own blog or on Twitter.