It’s tough to make your community idea happen for your company. Too many people get involved. Your concept becomes diluted, distorted or altogether rewritten before it gets approved.
Before you begin, make a list of the key things your community needs. This is the really critical stuff. If these aren’t approved, your community will fail. If these aren’t approved, you abandon the project
These may include:
- The tool/platform to use
- Allowing and responding to comments
- Letting members control elements of the website
- Accepting both positive and negative opinions in the community.
- Inclusion of game mechanics elements
- One full-time community manager
As Ben says, put the stuff you really care about into a little box. Be flexible about everything else. Your web design might get changed, the name may get altered and the tone/language might not be perfect. These are fixable things with time. If you make one of these errors though, you’re doomed.
Keep what you put into the box extremely small. If your company doesn’t approve every one of these, your project will fail. You can quit now.
Fight for the things that are critical, be flexible on everything else.
