When is a Community Successful?
Every online community wants to be successful. But what determines a forum is successful or not? When can you confidently declare your community is successful?
What are online communities?
An online community is a virtual place where people can gather together online to share opinions, thoughts and an opportunity to engage in discussions. Online communities can be in a variety of forms, including: forums, social networks, blogs and chatrooms.
Community Success factors.
There are a number of ways an online community can be judged to be successful. Here are a few ideas:
- The number of registered members.
- The amount of interaction.
- The amount of revenue being generated.
- The value of the relationship within the community.
- The amount of traffic the community is attracting.
Only a number of points will be judged to determine the success level of a community. It is important to know that different forum owners judge on different factors.
What are your individual goals?
As a forum owner you must set yourself goals and targets. With out them, it will be difficult to declare your forum is successful or achived success. Only you can determine if your forum is successful. Why? Only you know when your forum has achived a goal/target. A great example are Niche forums, then even if you only have ten members you can justifiably call your community a success.
A big brand looking to develop a positive relationship with its customers may have 100,000 members and a million posts, but if the content is full of negativity about the brand and its products, the community is a failure.
Remember to not compare your community with others. Every other community has different aims and goals. Their targets are different and every your very own forum is unique. Know what you want, what you want to achieve and strive towards it. Nothing controls the success level of a community, except you!
Share your Thoughts.
Is your community successful? Have you reached your goals/targets? If so, share your experiences.
