If you create a great product, communities will inevitably form, with or without your help. However, building a community around a mediocre product will be very difficult.

Create something worth building a community around

Most people are oblivious to communities forming around their product. If you have a great product, you have to find self-appointed evangelists and ask them to help you. If you can't find them, you may not have a great product.

Identify and recruit your thunderlizards

A community needs an identifiable hero and inspiration from within the company. Many employees would like to build a community, but one person needs to prioritise this task. Therefore, hire a person to be a community champion.

Assign one person the task of building a community

Your product should be "customisable," "extensible," and "malleable." Consider Adobe Photoshop. Without the company's plug-in architecture, a community might not have developed quickly. But giving them something to chew on means your engineers did not create the perfect product. This will engage and grow the community.

Give people something concrete to chew on

There are two requirements of an open system. <ol><li>The Software Development Kit (SDK) is documentation and tools to supplement and tweak a product.</li><li>The Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) is information on how to access the various functions of a product.</li></ol> A non-tech example is an open system school that enables parents to teach courses and provides a manual for parents on how to teach.

Create an open system

Companies often feel great if their communities continue to say nice things and buy their products, but if the community says anything negative, the company will retract their community efforts. This is not good for a long-term relationship. However, if a company welcomes or celebrates criticism, it will cause stronger bonds to form with its community.

Welcome criticism

Discourse or verbal exchange should be encouraged. Any company that fosters community building should participate in exchanging ideas and opinions. Your website should provide a community forum where customers and employees can engage with one another. This will help you to listen to what they say.

Foster discourse

I admit it: I’m a user-group junkie. I got my first taste of user groups when I worked for Apple—speaking at their meetings was one of my great pleasures. Their members were unpaid, raging, inexorable thunderlizard evangelists for Macintosh and Apple II.These folks sustained Apple by supporting its customers when Apple couldn’t—or didn’t want to—support them itself. Now that Apple is the homecoming queen again, there are lots of people receiving, taking, and claiming credit for its success. The Apple user-group community deserves a high-five tribute too.Now that I gotten that off my chest; I can move on to the topic of this entry: how to create a kick-ass community. I anticipate many comments to this entry, so I am warning you in advance that I am going to modify and supplement this entry frequently. RSS readers beware! :-)<OL><LI>Create something worth building a community around. This is a repeated theme in my writing: the key to evangelism, sales, demoing, and building a community is a great product. Frankly, if you create a great product, you may not be able to stop a community from forming even if you tried. By contrast, it’s hard to build a community around mundane and mediocre crap no matter how hard you try.</LI><LI>Identify and recruit your thunderlizards—immediately! Most companies are stupid: they go for months and then are surprised: “Never heard of them. You mean there are groups of people forming around our products?” If you have a great product, then pro-act: find the thunderlizards and ask them to build a community. (Indeed, if you cannot find self-appointed evangelists for your product, you may not have created a great product.) If it is a great product, however, just the act of asking these customers to help you is so astoundingly flattering that they’ll help you.</LI><LI>Assign one person the task of building a community. Sure, many employees would like to build a community, but who wakes up every day with this task at the top of her list of priorities? Another way to look at this is, “Who’s going to get fired if she doesn’t build a community?” A community needs a champion—an identifiable hero and inspiration—from within the company to carry the flag for the community. Therefore, hire one less MBA and allocate this headcount to a community champion. This is a twofer: one less MBA and one great community.</LI><LI>Give people something concrete to chew on. Communities can’t just sit around composing love letters to your CEO about how great she is. This means your product has to be “customizable,” “extensible,” and “malleable.” Think about Adobe Photoshop: if it weren’t for the company’s plug-in architecture, do you think its community would have developed so quickly? However, giving people something to chew on requires killing corporate hubris and admitting that your engineers did not create the perfect product. Nevertheless, the payoff is huge because once you get people chewing on a product, it’s hard to wrest it away from them.</LI><LI>Create an open system. There are two requirements of an open system first, a “SDK” (software development kit). This is software-weenie talk for documentation and tools to supplement a product; second, APIs (application programming interfaces). This is more software-weenie talk for an explanation of how to access the various functions of a product, and it’s typically part of a good SDK. I’m using software terminology here, but the point is that you need to provide people with the tools and information to tweak your product whether it is Photoshop, an iPod, or a Harley-Davidson. Here’s a non-tech example: An open system school would enable parents to teach courses and provide a manual (SDK) for parents to understand how to do so.</LI><LI>Welcome criticism. Most companies feel warm and fuzzy towards their communities as long as these communities toe the line by continuing to say nice things, buying their products, and never complaining. The minute that the community says anything negative, however, companies freak out and pull back their community efforts. This is a dumb-ass thing to do. A company cannot control its community. This is a long-term relationship, so the company shouldn’t file for divorce at the first sign of possible infidelity. Indeed, the more a company welcomes—even celebrates criticism—the stronger its bonds to its community.</LI><LI>Foster discourse. The definition of “discourse” is a verbal exchange. The key word here is “exchange.” Any company that fosters community building should also participate in the exchange of ideas and opinions. At the basic level of community building, your website should provide a forum where customers can engage in discourse with one another as well as with the company’s employees. At the bleeding edge of community building, your CEO participates in community events too. This doesn’t mean that you let the community run your company, but you should listen to what they have to say.</LI><LI>Publiciz 
</LI></OL>

Stashed ideas

I admit it: I’m a user-group junkie. I got my first taste of user groups when I worked for Apple—speaking at their meetings was one of my great pleasures. Their members were unpaid, raging, inexorable thunderlizard evangelists for Macintosh and Apple II.

These folks sustained Apple by supporting its customers when Apple couldn’t—or didn’t want to—support them itself. Now that Apple is the homecoming queen again, there are lots of people receiving, taking, and claiming credit for its success. The Apple user-group community deserves a high-five tribute too.

Now that I gotten that off my chest; I can move on to the topic of this entry: how to create a kick-ass community. I anticipate many comments to this entry, so I am warning you in advance that I am going to modify and supplement this entry frequently. RSS readers beware! :-)

<ol><li>Create something worth building a community around . This is a repeated theme in my writing: the key to evangelism, sales, demoing, and building a community is a great product. Frankly, if you create a great product, you may not be able to stop a community from forming even if you tried. By contrast, it’s hard to build a community around mundane and mediocre crap no matter how hard you try. </li><li>Identify and recruit your thunderlizards—immediately! Most companies are stupid: they go for months and then are surprised: “Never heard of them. You mean there are groups of people forming around our products?” If you have a great product, then pro-act: find the thunderlizards and ask them to build a community. (Indeed, if you cannot find self-appointed evangelists for your product, you may not have created a great product.) If it is a great product, however, just the act of asking these customers to help you is so astoundingly flattering that they’ll help you. </li><li>Assign one person the task of building a community . Sure, many employees would like to build a community, but who wakes up every day with this task at the top of her list of priorities? Another way to look at this is, “Who’s going to get fired if she doesn’t build a community?” A community needs a champion—an identifiable hero and inspiration—from within the company to carry the flag for the community. Therefore, hire one less MBA and allocate this headcount to a community champion. This is a twofer: one less MBA and one great community. </li><li>Give people something concrete to chew on . Communities can’t just sit around composing love letters to your CEO about how great she is. This means your product has to be “customizable,” “extensible,” and “malleable.” Think about Adobe Photoshop: if it weren’t for the company’s plug-in architecture, do you think its community would have developed so quickly? However, giving people something to chew on requires killing corporate hubris and admitting that your engineers did not create the perfect product. Nevertheless, the payoff is huge because once you get people chewing on a product, it’s hard to wrest it away from them. </li><li>Create an open system . There are two requirements of an open system first, a “SDK” (software development kit). This is software-weenie talk for documentation and tools to supplement a product; second, APIs (application programming interfaces). This is more software-weenie talk for an explanation of how to access the various functions of a product, and it’s typically part of a good SDK. I’m using software terminology here, but the point is that you need to provide people with the tools and information to tweak your product whether it is Photoshop, an iPod, or a Harley-Davidson. Here’s a non-tech example: An open system school would enable parents to teach courses and provide a manual (SDK) for parents to understand how to do so. </li><li>Welcome criticism . Most companies feel warm and fuzzy towards their communities as long as these communities toe the line by continuing to say nice things, buying their products, and never complaining. The minute that the community says anything negative, however, companies freak out and pull back their community efforts. This is a dumb-ass thing to do. A company cannot control its community. This is a long-term relationship, so the company shouldn’t file for divorce at the first sign of possible infidelity. Indeed, the more a company welcomes—even celebrates criticism—the stronger its bonds to its community. </li><li>Foster discourse . The definition of “discourse” is a verbal exchange . The key word here is “exchange.” Any company that fosters community building should also participate in the exchange of ideas and opinions. At the basic level of community building, your website should provide a forum where customers can engage in discourse with one another as well as with the company’s employees. At the bleeding edge of community building, your CEO participates in community events too. This doesn’t mean that you let the community run your company, but you should listen to what they have to say. </li><li>Publiciz </li> </ol>

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

The Art of Creating a Community

Create something worth building a community around

Identify and recruit your thunderlizards

Assign one person the task of building a community

Give people something concrete to chew on

Create an open system

Welcome criticism

Foster discourse

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

The Art of Creating a Community

Community-as-a-Service: A Business Model for the 21st Century

How to Eat an Elephant, One Atomic Concept at a Time - kwokchain

It's time to

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A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

The Art of Creating a Community

Create something worth building a community around

Identify and recruit your thunderlizards

Assign one person the task of building a community

Give people something concrete to chew on

Create an open system

Welcome criticism

Foster discourse

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

The Art of Creating a Community

Community-as-a-Service: A Business Model for the 21st Century

How to Eat an Elephant, One Atomic Concept at a Time - kwokchain

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career