7.3.1 | Blogs
August 27, 2007 | Building Online Communities - The New Oklahoma Land Rush?
By Mark Ouyang
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Recently, I met with several Clickability customers about their interest in our social media tool kit. I was struck by two co-existing and somewhat opposite attitudes – cautiousness and urgency. There is a general awareness they need to provide these capabilities sooner rather than later, but also much trepidation. The goals are the same: increase viewership and total time spent online by making their website a “destination” site. But instead of having just passive readers, the goal is to build an online community of avid and loyal participants. The hesitancy, I believe, is how to go about doing this.
It’s understandable. Converting a passive reader into an active participant requires a step up in viewer commitment and effort. If one percent is the typical click through rate for using simple content interactivity tools like Email This or Print This, how are you going to increase participation rates when greater effort is required? Will implementing the right set of social media tools and rewards raise this number? Making these tools attractive, easy to use, and functional favors planning and caution.
On the other hand, the urgency to act now is reflected in the possibility a 1% participation rate is the most you can realistically expect from any target audience. If that is the case, you might be better off implementing these tools now to capture the mind share and behaviors of those precious 1% of individuals before someone else does. It is like the Oklahoma land rush of 1889, except that instead of staking out a physical piece of turf, you are in a race to win the hearts and minds of those few individuals inclined to actively participate in an online community. In this case, urgency is favored. After all, wouldn’t you rather be at the front of the line when the gun goes off rather than 500 yards back?
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Posted by James | 09 August 2008 at 12:07AM