How do you run a healthy community?
It’s one of the questions I’m asked most often as the Chief Branding Officer of an Internet marketing company. Once you get people on your site, how do you show them it’s a safe place to engage? How do you encourage them to interact with one another? How do you grow this “community” thing, anyway?
While your process for community building will change depending on your site and your goals, there are a few questions I always ask myself when evaluating a potential client’s site. There are a few key areas that, if focused on, can really increase the “socialness” of a small business Website. You may want to ask yourself the same questions when evaluating your own site.
Do You Have Comment/Site Guidelines?
This is the page on your site that tells people how they should act/behave while they are there. While just having it doesn’t mean people will adhere to it, this is your chance to state, in public, what kind of a community you’re looking to grow. By laying out the actions you will and will not tolerate, you show people what you’re about and the rules they need to adhere to in order to play. It also gives you a leg to stand on when trying to enforce order and boot someone out. (Not that you want to do that.)
To read the full, original article click on this link: Are You Nurturing a Healthy Community? | Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends
Author: Lisa Barone
