I want to call this one early. This online community will fail. But it will make a great case study in what not to do.
It will fail because:
- It’s competing against Mumsnet. The same community that has an enormous market share, has interviewed two prime ministers, is trusted and known by almost all parents who don’t need another community to participate in. There is no unique positioning for this community.
- The website will feature editorial, e-mail newsletters and social media integration. None of which you need for a community. It overloops interactions between members.
- It’s got a terrible name. Mumsnet is easy and symbolic. MyFamilyClub is lazy for using both ‘My’ and ‘Club’. This is symbolic of bads community practice.
- The aims of the community is to alleviate the financial pressures and challenges that come with having children and will offer mothers a range of benefits and savings. This isn’t conducive to developing communities.
- They issued a press release to launch the community. They are aiming for a big promotional push to get the community going. This almost never works.
If you’re about to launch a community, it’s worth avoiding all these mistakes.
