There are various reasons to start a community, but generally it's
important to focus on a specific topic. Having a particular focus means
less time explaining the community’s purpose, and quickly finding like-minded
people to contribute their thoughts and content to the community. Compelling
content is more important than you may think. The most well-defined group
purpose, with lots of motivated members, will go nowhere unless there is
something to draw everyone together and get people contributing. This rule
could go for any site really, but it's important to have the best possible
writing, design, photography, etc. that a community can, and update as often
as possible. It's sort of a Catch-22, but once a community gets a group of
members creating good content, it creates a strong positive feedback loop
that leads to growth, popularity and quality.
The biggest misconception is that a community revolves around its forums. Having
a place for members to communicate is equally important as the many other aspects of
an online community. If members are contributing press releases, then it is wise to
incorporate a news section in the community. This goes for events, photo albums,
browsing members, internal/private member messages, and even uploading and sharing
files. This goes far past message boards and forums. Case and point, MySpace.com in
its entirety is a community, and forums are just one aspect of the overall community.
iCubator Labs understands how to develop a well-knit community focused on a theme or
specific topic that will encourage members to register and participate, become popular,
and mature properly with valuable content. iCubator Labs community development services
come in either a consultative or physical development approach. These services will focus on:
- Development of a solid and concentrated community theme
- Deployment of content in organized sections that users can easily find
- Painless membership registration process and community participation
- Providing thorough profile management data entry screens
- Establishment of general guidelines and rules for the community
- Creation of roles to moderate activities and quelling trouble before it starts
- Implementation of workflows that allow administrators to approve added content
Developing an online community is not an easy task. For the community to be
successful, many steps have to be accounted for and implemented. Let iCubator Labs
expertise take care of the responsibility for you.
