There is a theory that states in any online community, 90% lurk, 9% participate and 1% create. There are different ways you can treat this theory…
You can treat it as a huge opportunity. Most community managers are doing a bad job if only 10% of members are engaging. You can step in and save the day.
You can treat it as a benchmark. Anything below is bad, anything above is good. Clients like benchmarks.
You can treat it as a warning. Online communities are overrated and no-body really wants to get involved.
You can treat it as a strategy. You need to focus on finding the participating 10% and growing that number.
You can treat it as a tactic. If you kick out members that don’t contribute you’ve got 0-0-100% participation. Guaranteed.
You can treat it as a multiplier. If you need at least 20 people creating content, you need to attract 2000 members. That’s a target.
You can treat it as irrelevant. It’s an aging theory based upon communities that are nothing like yours.
How do you treat it?