Engaging with Web 2.0
New Web 2.0 technologies are have made connecting people together significantly easier but getting community members to engage with your organisation is not an easy task. Jonathan Hall, CEO The Virtual Works, says that there are twelve key factors that any organisation about to deploy a community engagement programme needs to consider.
Recognise – when setting up a community, it’s imperative that you can recognise people individually, from both a process and systems perspective, to ensure that interactions are personalised.
Relevant – one size won’t fit all when it comes to the content and value you are going to create, so make sure the content your are pushing out is relevant by segmenting your audience into sub-sections and groups.
Route – your community will also want to "pull" out information for themselves, so make sure it is easy for them to navigate around the community site and find precise information quickly.
Right Now – the internet is an immediate media, so actively try and make sure there are the least number of barriers to providing community members with what they need when they need it.
Return – develop tactics to get members to return to your community (making sure you recognise them when they do). Remind them why it’s a good idea to come back, promote the services and information available and tantalise them with new offerings.
Relationship – plan to learn more about your visitors over time and to use this information to continually improve the level of personalised value you offer.
Real – avoid hype and provide honest information that’s easy to understand. The mutual benefits of a community will only be realised if the required level of trust has been built between you and other community members.
Refresh – keep the community content up-to-date with current information and news to ensure members benefit from real value each time they visit.
Refer – link your community to search engines and other relevant community sites to improve your visibility and traffic.
Respond – ensure your site supports interaction and that it alerts you to respond promptly when customers engage.
Rank – make sure you are doing what needs to be done to get ranked ahead of the competition by search engines.
Refine – install site analytics to show you how your community is being used and performing, making sure you use this information to continuously improve and evolve your site.
"Communities form naturally," says Hall. "Individuals like to join groups around common interests for mutual gain. Traditional, offline communities already exist within your industry and the ease and convenience of the new generation of online communication and collaboration tools make it inevitable that these will migrate online."
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