Have you visited a forum and noticed empty sections for redundant or non-existant groups? This is the result of a top-down strategy. The community manager created these forums before they were needed, and they're still not needed.
Many community managers make this mistake. They create separate groups/forums/pages within their community in advance. This usually results in 2 - 3 overused forums and 10 underused forums.
Take a bottom up approach instead.
The best communities are often filled with forums and groups with names and topics that make no sense to newcomers. “The 3am insomniacs club”, “Mike and Joe’s freeze-flower forum". “No shoes in here”.
This happens when you recognise growing topics/friendship groups in your community and creating a place for them. The members sets the name, they get to control it, they get to moderate it. This is a bottom up strategy and it's by far the best approach. You create a new forum when your community needs one.
Develop a strategy to recognise when friendship groups are forming. Have an approach ready for these groups. Then offer to create a place just for them within the community. You should never have an unused section of your forum.
I like this approach a lot. However, I think you need to take a half/half approach. Delete useless groups and promote new ones as they come along. This way you can utilize the best of both worlds.
Posted by: Stuart Foster | Monday, 01 June 2009 at 17:55
Rich, great stuff man! As always.
Perfect timing too. We're getting ready to launch a groups tool for the Brazen Community. I'm busy thinking about the best ways to encourage engagement. I'm excited to see how it all plays out.
Let me know if you have any other good advice.
-RP
Posted by: Ryan Paugh | Tuesday, 02 June 2009 at 02:13