Cater To The Hardcore Fans

It's better to cater to the most hardcore fans of the topic.

Some people worry about this. They worry that if the discussions are too technical, too geeky, too wierd, too extreme, they will lose the less committed.

This is rarely the case.

It's the most committed fans of the topic that attract the less committed. By encouraging and facilitating the geekiest, hardcore, technical and weirdest discussions, you get the people you want. 

Your audience see the geeky discussions as a signifier. This is the community for them. This is a place that accepts and embraces their wonderful wierdness. This is the place where they can be themselves and talk about the topics they can't talk about anywehre else. It helps develop a stronger sense of community.

You shouldn't worry about the discussions being too technical. You should worry that they're not technical enough.

Comments

[Wingland]

Richard - great post, thank you! I've been saying (and seeing) this for years. I've participated in and led Motorcycle forums since email list days. Couple examples I called out on the Google Plus post from this - Yamaha FJR: Unknown bike at launch, but the Iron Butt riders adopted and created a serious passionate enthusast forum for it, driving sales and adoption among the interested, followers and 'wannabe' crowd. Same with ADVRider, driving sales and interest in adventure style motorcycles.

I'd love to drive more tech-connected hard-core geek traffic to the Sprint Community; your post will be very valuable in driving our content and tone strategy in the future. I'll be walking this one around the VP level.

Thanks again!

Will