What is an Online Community? – An Ultimate Guide

In this era, we all are somehow part of a community, be it online or in person. Virtual communities work on the same principles as real-life communities and are becoming an integral part of the digital age. 

We go along to learn from them, make connections with like-minded individuals, and network.

Moreover, Communities have advantages that go beyond their members. The brands and individuals who run them use these online communities to spread awareness and cultivate a devoted following. 

If you are new to online communities and want an in-depth understanding of how digital communities work, then this article is for you.

This article will shed light on the following topics: 

• What is an online community? 
• Private communities vs social media networks
• Examples of online communities 
• Benefits of online communities
• Online community engagement ideas
• How to grow your online community
• Online community moderation tips
• How to measure community engagement 

What is an Online Community? 

A group of people who communicate online over a common interest, problem, or objective is called an online community. Without physically meeting, people who share a sense of belonging utilize these communities to study, grow their networks, share knowledge, or discuss their interests.

Every community has its own set of norms and rules, depending on the objective of the community. 

What is a Branded Online Community?

A professional network that unites individuals around a common, organization-based experience to promote broad online collaboration and growth is known as a branded online community. Your company can link members, clients, staff, partners, and any other audience it wishes to reach with this kind of community.

Branded online communities are very important to your members’ experiences. To give greater value, they dismantle the conventional one-way information flow and open up communication.

Branded online communities come in a variety of forms; one of the primary distinctions between them is whether they are searchable and public, private (accessible only with an invite or login required), or hybrid – having some public components but requiring a login to access them all.

Online community vs social network

Difference between branded online community and social media groups

Usually, people confuse large social media networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn with online communities. Although both the types may have some similarities such as a common goal of connecting people online. 

However, the major difference lies in the core functionality and features of the strategies behind targeting the audience. 

For instance, branded online communities allow users to have more privacy thus, making them comfortable while discussing their queries regarding a specific topic. 

Reasons for Choosing private community over a social media network

I recommend using a private community for your business instead of social media networks for a number of reasons: 

Added Security

The privacy of the community and its members are the top priority of these private online community platforms. Social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn offer limited control over the privacy of both members and the community owners. 

Moreover, when you are part of any open source platform, you will have limited control over how the users’ or your own data is used. This may lead to various security concerns such as data hacking. 

One such example of a massive security breach is the famous Facebook data breach that occurred in 2021 where the personal information data of around 533 million Facebook users was leaked. 

Control over community 

Being a community owner at a social networking site, you are bound to follow the rules set by these networks. So, every time there is a new regulation, you will have no other choice but to follow the changes with no autonomy. 

Smooth community management with specified tools

Most of the community platforms, such as TribeCrafter, offer robust community management tools that further simplifies the hassle of managing your communities in an engaging way. Examples of such tools are gamification, leaderboard and community badges. 

Improved access to community data

Unlike social media communities, private community platforms allow you to have complete access to the community data. You can monitor this data with Google Analytics and track the overall performance of your community in terms of engagement. Hence, access to your community data helps you track the progress of your community towards the specified business goals. 

Open vs closed online communities

The number of people who may profit from the information is maximized in open communities because anyone can view the talks that take place. The membership and contribution requirements for these groups are typically somewhat loose.

Open communities are like the Public Subreddits which means group’s material is visible to everyone. Making a contribution is as easy as creating an account and selecting the appropriate community to join.

Although this slows down community growth, it makes it simpler for leaders to steer conversations in the right direction. Members of closed communities frequently derive great benefits from them.

Examples of branded online communities

Nike Run Club

With the Nike Run Club, running can now be more enjoyable. Members of the Nike online community can participate in various events to win medals and awards. Every fresh record you set earns you a reward. You get to boost your profile with every run. By giving amateurs the impression that they are sportsmen without actually being athletes, Nike won over the hearts of all of them. As a result, Nike’s online community has grown immensely over time.

Apple Support Community

One of the largest tech enterprises, Apple, needs no introduction. Its users can share their experiences and receive peer-to-peer support through its extensive discussion forum. The Apple Support Community includes a number of interactive features and lets them hang out electronically as well. Members of the community can receive unique incentives by participating in various events held there.

Buffer

This Slack sub-community was the first iteration of the social media management software. On their website, they do, however, now have a devoted branded online community due to their growing popularity. On Twitter, members participate in in-depth conversations, find new resources, pose questions, and more. Additionally, twice a year, Buffer gives its community members the opportunity to host on Slack. They can greet newcomers, initiate conversations, and more here. They are also able to take part in the monthly Zoom meetings.

Benefits of online communities 

Online communities can help your business expand in many ways. They boost member or customer loyalty and revenue in addition to helping organizations as a whole.

Furthermore, a lot of individuals have grown accustomed to expecting a contemporary, interesting online experience, notably organization members and the younger generation of buyers. You achieve this goal with an online community since it benefits you in the following ways:

Engagement and Support 

Getting in touch with customers, potential clients, target audiences, and many more is made simple with an online community. 

These discussion boards are becoming a crucial component of the marketing mix as well as the digital communications mix. It is simple to accomplish a two-way information exchange through an online community.

Improved lead generations

With these kinds of online groups, nurturing your prospects and generating leads become easy.

The kind of online community you build will determine how quickly you can persuade potential buyers to purchase your goods. Additionally, it might motivate current clients to make additional purchases.

Increased awareness of the brand

Establishing a digital community is a great method to reach your target market with your business. You may quickly expand your audience by posting interesting content and brand-related information on your forum. 

Therefore, it can also assist you in cutting back on expenses and promotional efforts.

Enhanced trust

Consumers who have more transparent relationships with firms are more likely to be trusted. In the current digital-first world, connecting and interacting with customers, prospects, and audiences has almost become a need for businesses. 

Businesses may pay attention to their community users in online communities and get insightful feedback, among other benefits. Customers are more likely to trust companies that have an excellent online presence.

Maximum awareness for future improvements 

You can make improvements to your offering by getting feedback from customers on how they’re using or their experience with your product, its extra features, and other aspects of it. It can assist you in increasing revenue and sales. 

Excellent information on the market, existing products, and your rivals can be found in internet communities. You can make business decisions in the future using this data and knowledge. 

Types of online communities 

Online communities may vary depending upon the type of business,their goals, structure or mode of moderation or management. While each type of community has its own key features, it is also worth noting that a specific community can come under more than one type of community. 

Following are some of the community types that should be considered important to discuss: 

• Branded Community
• Learning Community
• Social Community 
• Fan Community
• Membership Communities
• Networking Community
• Insight Community
• Community of Practice 
• Local Community
• Support Community
• Community of Action

If you want to explore more about the types of community, check out our blog about types of online communities. 

Online Community Engagement Ideas

Community engagement refers to the interaction and involvement of the members of your virtual community. This involves actionable steps to foster members’ activity and connections that encourage them to participate in the community.

Needless to say that the higher the community engagement the better. 

Before formulating a successful community engagement strategy, you should keep in mind that each strategy should align with the specific business goals. In other words, the engagement practices that you intend to apply for your customer community might not be suitable for someone with a non-profit community.

Following are some of the practical ideas that will help you boost your community engagement:

Encourage Freedom of expression

Always remember that the communities are more about the members than about you and you are the one who will make them feel this way. When members realize that they are on a platform where they can freely share their thoughts and their opinion is valued, they will start engaging more. 

This practice will also help the members cultivate new connections with the ones their experiences and emotions align. 

Ensure a smooth onboarding experience

Having a fantastic onboarding experience for new members is essential for many reasons. 

A satisfying onboarding process paves the path for a satisfying member experience. Along with a welcoming introduction to your community, your onboarding process should allow members to get involved and establish connections.

Plan engaging community events

Virtual events play a crucial role in keeping the members engaged. These events have played a major role for different brands and creators to build strong connection with their audience.  

There are many types of online events that you can organize for your community members to boost the engagement, such as webinars, conferences or summits, group discussions, and workshops, etc.

Encourage new members to engage through welcome posts

It’s a good idea to do welcome posts for new members regularly and encourage them to introduce themselves to the existing members.

This simple exercise will help foster connection among new and old members.

Focus on the content format

These days video content has proved to be more effective and engaging than other content types. 

Make sure the content you post on your community should not sound too promotional. Also, it’s a good idea to introduce a slightly humorous content to keep it fun. 

Gamification

Introduce game mechanics, aka gamification, to your online communities to boost engagement. 

Gamification really helps in improving the members’ activities through tools, such as leaderboard,badges and point scores. 

Different gamification rules can be introduced in the online community. For example, members may earn points by replying to questions, posting queries, etc. 

How to grow your online community

Understand who your target audience is

While creating an online community for your organization, it is mandatory to have a set of goals in your mind that you want to achieve with the community. This way you know which kind of people you want in your community. In other words, you’re more likely to grasp how to reach prospective members when you have a clear idea of who your audience is.

Pay special attention to selecting community moderators

We always put emphasis on community members while discussing the success of any online community. However, there are a few other people too who are equally important for building and maintaining the community, which are the community moderators. 

With the right community managers team, you can make it thrive effectively.

You can either hire a new team or select from the existing ones. Make sure to hire someone who has a knack for social media or running online communities and has in-depth knowledge of your brand’s vision. 

Take inspiration from the competitors

Taking inspiration from your competitors and their growth strategy is a great way to effectively run and grow your online community. This method will broaden your perspective and give you a new understanding of how to grow your community. 

You can incorporate those ideas into your own plans and see if they equally work great for you too.

Plan an effective engagement strategy

There is no point in having a virtual community, if there is zero or minimum community interaction. 

In order to productively grow your community, you should set up an excellent community engagement strategy. 

I have already discussed some of the community engagement ideas above, but if you want to read more about them, check my article here. 

Online Community Moderation Tips

Community moderators are the people who make sure that the community rules are implemented and followed by the members. Their key role is to go through all content posted on the community to ensure that it aligns with the community guidelines and regulations. 

If any community rule is broken, then it is the moderators’ job to take the necessary actions. These actions may include practices such as removing the content, muting the member or in some cases permanently removing him from the community. 

Apart from monitoring the activities of existing members, moderators also take care of who can join the community. 

Community moderation is a skill that requires you to strike a balance between maintaining order and providing the members a freedom to freely express themselves. 

Use following tips to moderate your virtual community effectively: 

Set up discrete community guidelines

Communication moderation can only be made successful if there are clear community guidelines and standards. 

First you need to decide how you expect the community members to behave and then on the basis of that you can set the regulations. These regulations will encourage the members to maintain such behavior. 

If you are unclear about what to include in your community guidelines, you can consult the criteria of your preferred community or any of your competitors. 

Display rules at the most accessible spot

Once you have set the community rules, it’s time to publish them. Make sure that you publish the rules to a place easily accessible to everyone. 

For instance, you can add the rules in the ‘Announcements’ section of your community homepage. 

Also, I highly recommend adding the community guidelines in the onboarding process too. This will help new members to know the code of conduct of the community while joining it. 

Clearly define the aftermath if the rules are not followed

While displaying the rules, it must be mentioned as well that what will happen if the members don’t follow them. 

However, these consequential actions may vary from case to case. For instance, if a person asks an irrelevant question, only the post will get deleted but in serious cases may lead to removal of members from the community. 

Be communicative with your members

It’s not a good idea to just shut down a conversation that is going against the community standards. Instead, reach out to people personally and assure them that you are trying your level best to solve the problem. Be vocal with your community members, this will cultivate a healthy bond among the moderators and the folks. 

How to measure community engagement

There are tons of matrices that you can measure in your community. However, there are only a few that are truly responsible for impacting the KPIs of the community. This is because only a small number of engagement measures will enable you to determine whether the objectives of your particular community are being reached.

What is community engagement rate 

We are aware of the fact that effective community engagement leads to the overall success of an online community by cultivating relationships among the community members. 

But the question arises, how do we exactly measure community engagement? 

The answer lies in the matrix known as Community Engagement Rate (CER).

The community engagement rate tells us the percentage of community members that have interacted with others in any way. 

Community engagement rate is calculated by dividing the number of community members engaged with the total number of community members. 

Community engagement matrices

Active members and contributing users: As the name suggests, active members refer to the number of people actively participating in the community. You can monitor daily active users (DAU), weekly active users (WAU) and monthly active users (MAU). 

Just like active users, it is crucial to monitor contributing users. You may get a glimpse of how many members of your community are participating (and how many aren’t) by comparing the number of active users with the number of contributing users. 

Member growth: Member growth is the amount of new members added to your community in a specific period of time. 

Your community’s membership growth rate also tells you about the popularity of your virtual community. 

Key takeaways

Online communities are the easiest way to promote communication with your intended market, customers, stakeholders, etc. Online communities can be launched as private, branded communities or on social media networks. 

While private online communities offer greater advantages in terms of management, moderating, and forum control, social media platforms are still suitable for novice users. Virtual communities have a number of noteworthy advantages and can provide you with valuable customer data. It is an excellent way to interact with your audience directly and it makes business growth simple.