Monday, September 22, 2008

How to make a business online community succeed when most fail

Deloitte carried out a study of 100 corporate online communities. 35% had fewer than 100 members, and only 25% had more than 1,000. Many businesses, and that includes non-profits find the allure of an online community for customers or members irresistible, but they actually rarely succeed.

They usually do not fail because of a failure of technology, but a failure of genuine community. If there is no community in the first place, it will not get better just because there is an online mechanism. However, if there is a strong community, whether a Remedy User Group or the Marketing Executives Networking Group, then technology can play to reinforce the existing characteristics of the group.

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