community platform - Cultivating Community2024-03-19T04:31:07Zhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/feed/tag/community+platformBefore You Spend $500K On A Community Platform...https://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/before-you-spend-500k-on-a-community-platform2014-07-09T16:50:00.000Z2014-07-09T16:50:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282100?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282100?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"></a>Before you spend a lot of money on a community platform here are some things to think about:</p>
<p><b>1) Do you have an audience ready to use it?</b> This should be the priority. Build the community before you spend heavily on a platform. Why would you launch a platform for a community that doesn't yet exist? That's a huge gamble. Use something simple to get started and invest more as your community grows.</p>
<p><b>2) Is there a better use for the budget?</b> Most of the time, it's far better to spend the money on more/better community managers than a platform. It's not the platform that determines the community's success, it's the community manager. I've seen communities thrive on terrible platforms and fail on terrific platforms, but I haven't seen many succeed with terrible community managers. Nine times out of ten, your budget is better invested in community managers that <i>do things</i> on the platform.</p>
<p><b>3) Does it have the right, few, features?</b> This is a typical situation, an organization lists every feature it wants the audience to be able to do then looks for a platform that has those features. You can see the problem: the audience won't use those features. You won't know what features the community needs until you have an active community. In most communities, only 2 - 3 features are used. You don't need a platform that offers as many features as possible, you want a platform that does specific features really well. The minutia of the discussion boards should be of great interest to you. The fewer features you use, the more concentrated your activity (LINK) is. That's a good thing. </p>
<p><b>4) Can you easily change the platform?</b> You might think an organization wouldn't invest $500k on a platform without realizing it will need continue maintenance/changes, but then you would be surprised. This isn't a single cost, you need to be able to change and adapt the platform to suit the community. These costs can rise extravagantly. </p>
<p><b>5) Does it feature activity above everything else?</b> Don't create a content site as a community site. If it's a content site, feature activity for people to read. If it's a community site, feature activities which people to participate in. </p>
<p><b>6) Do you have a HIGHLY trained staff for it?</b> I threw this one in there at the last minute. Last week I spoke to an intern managing a community that uses an enterprise platform. Even she agreed it was madness for her to be responsible for such a huge investment. </p>
<p>Don't spend the majority of your budget on the community platform. Start simple, grow slowly, invest more as the community grows. Gradually you learn what the community needs and you can add those features. </p>
<p></p>
<p><em>(Image via The Noun Project)</em></p></div>8 Overlooked Elements Every Online Community Should Havehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/8-overlooked-elements-every-online-community-should-have2014-06-25T16:30:00.000Z2014-06-25T16:30:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282083?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282083?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"></a>Most communities overlook a number of elements that would increase engagement and participation. Here are, by far, the 8 biggest elements every online community should have.</p>
<ol>
<li><b>An epic community history.</b> Your community should have a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/11/epichistory.html">written epic history</a> which all members can read. This history should be easy to find on your page.</li>
<li><b>A 'who’s who'</b><b>of members.</b> You should feature prominent members in your who’s who of members. This will create interest and desire to be featured in this list. You can have a selection criteria.</li>
<li><b>A list of upcoming events.</b> Every online community should have a list of upcoming events/activities taking place. They can be hosted by your community or, more broadly, events about the community’s topic matter. Don’t have any? Start some.</li>
<li><b>The big issues page.</b> What are the big issues in your online community at the moment? You should have a page or box dedicated to the big issues in your community along with an invitation to give an opinion on the issue.</li>
<li><b>Plans for the future.</b> When members join a community they’re investing their time to be a co-owner of a better future. You need to outline what the future for your community looks like.</li>
<li><b>A useful FAQ.</b> Most new members usually ask very similar questions (they might have joined solely to ask the question). So put together an FAQ solely about these questions. On <a href="http://commania.ning.com/">Commania</a> this would have included: “<i>How much should I charge for community building work?”</i> and “<i>What platform should I use to create a community”</i>. Compile these questions and link them to where they have been answered.</li>
<li><b>Be more involved page.</b> Every online community should offer ways members can <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2008/12/get-more-involved.html">be more involved</a>.</li>
<li><b>Your contact number.</b> This is your job, your members are your customers, they should be able to reach you by phone to resolve issues. Talking by phone also builds a stronger connection than by e-mail. Buy a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/onlinenumber/">SkypeIn number</a> if you have to – but offer a number members can call.</li>
</ol>
<p>You will notice nearly all of these elements provide members with ways to learn more about the community or become more involved with the community in the future. This is how it should be and where you should always be focusing your efforts.</p>
<p><em>(Image via The NounProject)</em></p></div>A Basic Online Community Wireframehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/a-basic-online-community-wireframe2014-06-11T16:50:00.000Z2014-06-11T16:50:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>The design of most online community sites is terrible.</p>
<p>Aesthetics is put before function. It's not clear to visitor's what's new in the community. You're not sure what's popular at any given moment. The best communities show this information, and they show it well. </p>
<p>I recommend a simple community design. A basic wireframe might look similar to the design below:</p>
<p> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282115?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282115?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750" class="align-full"></a></p>
<p>There are other variations of course. The key point is every visitor can see, in a heartbeat, what's new and popular in your community.</p></div>20 Things That Should Be Included In Your Online Community Websitehttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/20-things-that-should-be-included-in-your-online-community2014-05-27T15:30:00.000Z2014-05-27T15:30:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Designing an online community spec can be difficult, there are some elements I think should be included in nearly every online community. These are:</p>
<ol>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2010/07/12.html">It’s own domain name</a>.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282161?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282161?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"></a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/04/the-application-form.html">An application form</a> to join the community.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/05/connect-with.html">Facebook Connect/OpenID linked</a> profiles.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/04/hompages.html">Latest activity</a> from members on the front-page.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/06/start-the-news-page-for-a-new-online-community.html">A news page</a> for content about the community (Should be the landing page.)</li>
<li>A forum for members to communicate.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/05/gamemechanics.html">Game mechanics embedded</a> deep within activity.</li>
<li>Sections named after people and/or community jargon.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/08/addvalue.html">These value-added pages</a>.</li>
<li>These <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/04/8-overlooked-elements-every-online-community-should-have.html">8 overlooked elements</a> too.</li>
<li>The ability for members to create their own sub-groups.</li>
<li>Commenting enabled for stories that appear on the news page.</li>
<li>The option to Tweet/Facebook-share any comment/story with friends/followers in two clicks.</li>
<li>Use Facebook plugins to show which of your friends are already members of the community.</li>
<li>The ability for visitors to read all community content (which isn’t private), but have to log in to participate.</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/01/a-good-policy-to-introduce.html">Deactivation of accounts which are inactive</a> for 6 months.</li>
<li>The option for the admin to give increasing levels of access to community members to moderate comments, write content etc…</li>
<li>Every new member is prompted to answer a question which appears on a forum thread – hence prompting further responses and <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2009/07/secondvisit.html">converting the newcomer into an instant regular</a>.</li>
<li>Members receive notifications when someone comments on their profile or responds to their forum thread (and these can be turned off).</li>
<li>A Twitter sidebar which shows tweets by members in the community and allows members to respond (with an automatic hashtag) that shows up on the side of the bar. It’s like a mini chat-room, but promotes you and encourages <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/08/encourage-activity-elsewhere.html">off-website activity</a>.</li>
</ol>
<p>What other elements would you include?</p>
<p><em>Image via GraphicStock</em></p></div>How To Optimize An Online Community Platformhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-optimize-an-online-community-platform2014-05-16T12:40:00.000Z2014-05-16T12:40:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Optimizing the platform (the user experience) is part of the community manager's role which tends to get overlooked. Once it's developed, most people leave it. </p>
<p>It should be an ongoing process. The goal is to increase the number of interactions which take place in the platform. This is a process which can be continually refined. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282212?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282212?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"></a>There are some guiding principles for this:</p>
<p> <b>Guiding principles for optimizing the user experience</b></p>
<ol>
<li><b>Refine the most used features</b>. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/01/newfeatures.html">Don't spent too much time</a> developing features members wont use. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2011/10/refine-the-most-used-features.html">Refine the most used features</a>. Small refinements on discussion boards, notifications, layout/design, and profiles yield better results than adding new features.</li>
<li><b>Look for things to remove, not things to add</b>. It's usually better to remove things (text, elements that aren't used, pages with low traffic). If you begin with the goal of figuring what to add, you'll never optimize the site (and waste a lot of time/money). Keep a <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2011/04/social-density.html">high social density</a>. </li>
<li><b>Highlight the popular stuff</b>. Rank things by popularity. Put the most popular forum discussions first. List the most popular pages nearer the top. Shine attention on the most popular things. The more you can highlight what's popular, the more activity you will get. </li>
<li><b>Respond to what members do, not what they say</b>. Members say many crazy things. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/05/getting-feedback-on-productsservices.html">Much of which can be ignored</a>. Focus upon what they do. If they don't like something, they wont use it. If you ask members what they want, use it for inspiration - don't let them vote. </li>
<li><b>Test & measure</b>. This is a process. You wont get it right first time. You will get it right over time. Benchmark, change, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/05/getting-feedback-on-productsservices.html">and measure</a>. The more data points you collect, the more accurate you will be. So comparing one day against the previous day isn't good. Comparing the same day one week against a similar day the next. But it's better to compare weeks and months against each other. Just be careful. November will trump December. Summer months are usually a little less active. Just be sure to measure like for like.</li>
</ol>
<p><b>A few practical ideas for optimizing the user experience</b></p>
<p>Within these principles, what can you do? Quite a lot. </p>
<ul>
<li><b>Notifications. </b><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2011/12/the-notification-cycle.html">Tweak the notifications</a>. These affect every member. Shorten the message, change the text, tweak the subject line, change the 'from' field. Try provoking curiosity. Test, measure and assess. Over a period of time you should be able to optimize these. </li>
<li><b>Landing page</b>. Ensure the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/09/creating-the-perfect-landing-page-for-your-online-community.html">latest activity is above the fold</a>. Tweak what you use. Typically 'latest activity' is filled with friend requests, comments on profiles and other boring information. Try <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/01/latest-activity.html">displaying the latest discussions instead</a>. Ensure upcoming events are listed above the fold.</li>
<li><b>Tone of copy</b>. Try tinkering with the copy. Remove out the redundant words. Use shorter sentences. Remove entire paragraphs when the information is easier conveyed in other ways. Also try changing the tone, make it more/less formal, more/less funny, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2012/02/personalityproblem.html">add more personality</a>.</li>
<li><b>Remove blogging</b>. This isn’t true for every site but many would benefit from removing the blogging feature for members (groups too). In most communities, few people use it. Disable as many features as possible to concentrate activity.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282302?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282302?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"></a></li>
<li><b>Change the colours/design</b>. Make <a rel="nofollow" href="http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-3-final">small</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2977-behind-the-scenes-highrise-marketing-site-ab-testing-part-1">tiny</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2983-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-2-how-we-test">tweaks</a> in the colour and design of the platform. Try using a smaller number of colours. Ensure you follow consistent design principles.</li>
<li><b>Show unanswered posts</b>. Have an option to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/12/getting-responses-to-unanswered-posts.html">show the unanswered posts</a> on the community-landing page. Encourage members to answer these especially tough questions. Make it a challenge.</li>
<li><b>Reduce the information requited to register</b>. Reduce the information required at sign-up to just a single page (ideally asking for the e-mail and password. Members can fill in the rest of the information later. Try using an <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/04/the-application-form.html">application form</a> instead.</li>
<li><b>Remove threading (or add single-threading)</b>. Classic example of a small, potentially important, optimization; change how the discussions appear in the community. Consider removing deep-threaded discussions (or removing it to one-thread deep).</li>
<li><b>Integration</b>. Improve the integration with social media platforms. Have popular discussions posted to followers on FB/Twitter/G+ with a question and a link to where they can participate. Ensure tweets mentioning the topic appear on the community site.</li>
<li><b>Automation</b>. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/01/a-good-policy-to-introduce.html">Automatically deactivate inactive member accounts</a> (with a reminder), welcome new members with a responsive series of e-mails that reflects their action {after your 5th post we recommend you …}. Improve the feature to retrieve lost passwords. Congratulation members on milestones achieved. Close old discussions after 3 months.</li>
<li><b>Reputation</b>. If the community has been going for a while, consider <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2011/04/communityreputationsystems.html">embracing a reputation system</a>. A reputation system encourages people to actively share what they know to increase or maintain their reputation within the community. We cover this in great depth as part of the course.</li>
<li><b>Member profiles</b>. Ask <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.feverbee.com/2010/05/questions.html">more interesting questions in the profile page</a>. Where were you when you heard Michael Jackson died? (or something more relevant to the community topic. Ask questions that other members will be keen to click on the profile to find out the answer. Have a funny default image until members change it.</li>
<li><b>FAQ</b>. Add the most common questions in the FAQ. This doesn’t just have to be about the site, or the community’s history, but about the common questions people have about the topic. Make this an incredibly useful document that people want to read.</li>
<li><b>Go mobile, maybe</b>. You might also consider a mobile version of the site. Only consider a mobile version if it will increase the amount of activity on the platform from mobile users. If mobile users are still participating as much as regulars, this might not be the case.</li>
</ul>
<p>The best way to identify things that might work in your community, is to look at other top community platforms and see what they have done. However, be careful. Community platforms evolve. A community should launch with relatively few features and gradually expand from there. The community you’re imitating must be in the same stage of the lifecycle as you. Finally, remember that optimizing the platform is an on-going process, not a one-time event. Prioritize which elements you’re going to optimize (perhaps one a month), and gradually test to see what works best. Dedicate a certain amount of time to it (perhaps 5 hours a month?) and schedule when optimization will be undertaken (I like Friday afternoons). Some examples of platform I like include:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Student Rooms: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/">http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/</a></li>
<li>RockandRollTribe: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rockandrolltribe.com/">http://rockandrolltribe.com/</a></li>
<li>Lenova: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://forums.lenovo.com/">http://forums.lenovo.com/</a></li>
<li>Element14: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.element14.com/community/index.jspa">http://www.element14.com/community/index.jspa</a></li>
<li>Backyard Chickens: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.backyardchickens.com/">http://www.backyardchickens.com/</a></li>
</ul>
<p>These platforms aren't the prettiest, but they're very effective at facilitating interactions between members. This is the sole goal of community platforms. </p></div>A Simple, Effective, Community Platform Designhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/a-simple-effective-community-platform-design2014-03-20T16:00:00.000Z2014-03-20T16:00:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><p>Too many communities focus on content. They place the content at the top of the page and bury the community either beneath the fold or behind a community tab. This might look great, but it's not effective for building communities. </p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.plugincars.com/" target="_blank">Plugincars</a> is a notable exception. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282156?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282156?profile=original" width="500" class="align-full"></a></p>
<p> This site balances the content, with the community, with the current activity. If they removed the advert in the top right, it would be perfect. </p>
<p>There are five things I want to highlight here:</p>
<p><b>1) The content appears on the landing page on a regular basis</b>. Members always have a reason to come back and visit the community to see what's new.</p>
<p><b>2) The community appear highly active</b>. They choose to show the number of discussions, photos, fans etc...this gives the impression of momentum. </p>
<p><b>3) The latest discussions also appear on the right of the page</b>. This shows the latest activity that members can immediately click to participate in. </p>
<p><b>4) The community balances the social needs with the need for information</b>. In addition to the landing page, members can see guides that they can download. </p>
<p><b>5) The community also seperately lists the one key thing that members want to know:</b> where can they charge their car? What is the one key, major, thing the members in your community want to know? </p>
<p>Also note that within the guides themselves they have guides for people that are <i>new to the topic</i> and for those looking to purchase cars. Most communities neglect the people that are new to the topic, yet it's these people that will be the biggest source of growth for most mature communities. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282200?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282200?profile=original" width="500" class="align-full"></a></p>
<p>Plugincars also does a great job of highlighting the key contributors to the community. This is on the landing page of the community. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282285?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1282285?profile=original" width="299" class="align-full"></a></p>
<p> Finally in the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.plugincars.com/cars">cars section</a> of the community, they give an instant overview of the topic. They provide a list of rechargable cars, upcoming cars, and the basic details of each car. This provides members with a glance of most of what they want to know about the topic.</p>
<p>If you're looking for what essential elements build a great community, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.plugincars.com/">Plugincars</a> is a good place to start. </p></div>White Paper: 5 Questions for Selecting an Online Community Platformhttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/platform-selection-white-paper2014-02-21T22:00:00.000Z2014-02-21T22:00:00.000ZCrystalhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/CrystalC<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208341?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><link href="//cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-081711.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" ></link>
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<p>Today, we're proud to announce a project that's been in the works for a while: A collaboration with Community Pioneer F. Randall Farmer to produce this exclusive white paper - "Five Questions for Selecting an Online Community Platform." </p>
<p>Randy is co-host of the <a href="http://socialmediaclarity.net"><i>Social Media Clarity</i></a> podcast, a <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/frandallfarmer#profile-patents">prolific social media innovator</a>, and <em>literally</em> co-wrote the book on <i><a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596159801.do?cmp=af-code-book-product_cj_9781449382568_7085710">Building Web Reputation Systems</a>.</i> We were very excited to bring him on board for this much needed project. While there are numerous books, blogs, and white papers out there to help Community Managers grow and manage their communities, there's no true guide to how to pick the right kind of platform for your community. </p>
<p>In this white paper, Randy has developed five key questions that can help determine what platform suits your community best. This platform agnostic guide covers top level content permissions, contributor identity, community size, costs, and infrastructure. It truly is the first guide of its kind and we're delighted to share it with you.</p>
<p>To download "Five Questions for Selecting an Online Community Platform," simply fill out the form below and you'll be taken to a download page. Be sure to come back here and let us know your thoughts and comments on Randy's theories. </p>
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</div>How To Use A Community Platform With Social Media Platformshttps://cultivate.ning.com/ning-blog/how-to-use-a-community-platform-with-social-media-platforms2013-04-17T15:50:00.000Z2013-04-17T15:50:00.000ZRichard Millingtonhttps://cultivate.ning.com/community/RichardMillington<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2208217?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><span class="font-size-3">Your community platform is your home. </span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">It’s the destination you want your target audience to reach so you can cultivate a community. In this central base, you can control the newcomer to regular journey, facilitate interactions between members, create great content, and form a powerful group identity.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn are bad platforms on which to build communities. You don’t have the control you need and you can only reach a tiny percentage of your audience.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">However, you can use these social media platforms in two very useful ways:</span></p><ul><li><span class="font-size-3">Bring in new members. You can use social media platforms to find people interested in your topic and invite them to join the community. Following you on a social media account can be the first step to being a regular community member.</span></li></ul><ul><li><span class="font-size-3">Increase activity from existing members. It takes time for visiting the community to become a habit. You can use social media platforms to let members know what is happening in the community. You can get members to visit more frequently through the platforms they are used to visiting.</span></li></ul><p><span class="font-size-3">For most communities, it makes sense to have both a Twitter and Facebook account. Invite members in the community to follow you on these accounts. Then use them to let people know what’s going on in the community.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">For example, if there is a popular discussion taking place, write you can publish updates about it. If you have a great member-contribution to the community, you can update people on social media accounts about that too.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">You can go beyond this. You can create a community hashtag on Twitter and let members share thoughts via this hashtag which are then pulled in to the community. You can arrange live discussions via Twitter and report on what was discussed in the community.</span></p><p><span class="font-size-3">If you like, you can use it to share interesting facts or the best pieces of advice being shared in the community. The more interesting/useful, the more people will visit.</span></p><p></p><p><span class="font-size-3"><em><span class="font-size-2">Lead <a rel="nofollow" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bagolino_village.jpg" target="_blank">image</a> courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and <span class="font-size-3"><em><span class="font-size-2">remixed</span></em></span> under <a rel="nofollow" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC Share Alike 3.0</a></span></em> <br/></span></p></div>