Lee Lefever writes about online communities.
"In the best situations," he says in a posting this week, "businesses are able to create an online home for their customers to feel connected to one another and the company. Often, this might include product support discussions, user-to-user discussion, polls, etc. These communities can and do yield significant value. But, there is often value that is not realized because the community is separated from the business."
How true. Lee shows how aligning the community with the organization's goals creates a situation where the community enriches the organization and vice versa. He offers some examples, but I have one of my own.
I regularly visit an online computer store out of Vancouver that does just that with their online discussion forums. NCIX.com has great selection and great prices, but what brings people back again and again is the depth of product information, advice and entertaining commentary in their forums.
I haven't been on much lately (not doing as much computer building and troubleshooting these days), but as Prairie Eric, I've been part of the community there for over a year.
What the customers get out of the forum is a place to chat, a place to learn about computers, and a place to get quick advice about the best way to approach a technical problem. NCIX for their part, gets a devoted following that offer immediate feedback (positive and negative) about the products, prices and service. Everyone benefits.
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