How To Build An Online Community: The Ultimate List Of Resources (2012)

This is a collection of my favourite and most popular posts from the last five years. It should give you a great overview about both the strategy and the process of creating an online community from scratch.

The Online Community Basics

1. A Primer About Successful Online Communities
2. The 11 Fundamental Laws of Online Communities
3. Building An Online Community: How You Start With 0 Members
4. How Do You Build An Online Community?
5. 7 Contrary Truths About Online Communities
6. Don’t Start A Community For Any Of These Reasons
7. Basics Community Building Principles
8. What Is An Online Community?
9. Different Types Of Communities
10. The 4 Fundamental Things A Community Provides Its Members

Strategy & Planning

1. The Map: A Proven Process For Developing Successful Online Communities
2. How To Develop Your Community Management Strategy
3. How To Write A Practical Online Community Plan
4. Setting Objectives For Your Online Community
5. Settings Targets For Your Online Community
6. Starting An Online Community? First Get The Concept Right
7. Planning For A Big Online Community?
8. How Big Should Your Community Be?
9. The Online Community Ecosystem
10. Which Communities Tend To Succeed?
11. Big Launch Syndrome: Don’t Faill Victim To This
12. Why Will People Participate In Your Online Community?
13. Getting The Appeal Right
14. A Simple Formula For A Successful Online Community
15. Audience Analysis In Online Communities
16. Base Your Online Community Around Real People
17. How To Position Your Online Community
18. The Importance Of Developing A Strong Community Identity
19. Don’t Target The Wrong People
20. How To Make An Accurate Membership Projection
21. Naming Your Online Community
22. 12 Ways To Doom Your Community Before You Launch
23. A 3-month Pre-Launch Strategy
24. The Assets Businesses Need To Develop Successful Communities
25. Don’t Dilute The Community Identity

Building An Online Community Website

1. Test Before You Invest
2. How To Design Your Online Community
3. 20 Things That Should Be Included In Every Online Community Website
4. The Perfect Landing Page
5. 8 Overlooked Elements Every Online Community Should Have
6. A Radical Change In Our Approach To Community Platforms
7. Developing Forum Communities
8. Easy Ways To Add Value To Your Online Community
9. The Toolbox Of Community Reputation Systems
10. A Simple Reputation System
11. Pick An Online Community Platform That Works
12. Stopping Human Spammers
13. 7 Things A Community Can Live Without
14. The Problems With Incentives
15. A Basic Online Community Wireframe
16. Essential Elements Of Community Platforms
17. The Notification Cycle
18. The Case Against Facebook As A Community Platform
19. Using Your Real Estate: A Quick Case Study
20. Easy -vs- Difficult -vs- Impossible: Exporting Community Data
21. Refine or Develop?
22. Social Density In Online Communities

Launching An Online Community

1. 5 Things Every New Online Community Should Focus On
2. 20 Ways To Start An Online Community
3. Never Wait For The Website To Be Ready
4. Seeding Your Online Community
5. Who Are You Trying To Reach?
6. Who Do You Need At The Beginning?
7. How To Find Your Community’s First Members
8. The Founder Role In Starting A New Community
9. Create An Easy Reason To Take A Small Step
10. How Small Businesses can Launch Successful Online Communities
11. Simple Steps To Creating An Online Community

Converting Newcomers Into Regulars

1. How To Convert Newcomers Into Regular Members Of Your Online Community
2. The Ultimate Welcome For Your Online Community’s Newcomers
3. How To Keep Newcomers Hooked For 21 days
4. Awesome Questions To Ask New Members Of Your Online Community
5. Which Visitors Are Most Likely To Become Regulars?
6. Create A Welcome Pack
7. The Online Community Joining Process
8. Optimize That First Contribution
9. How To Help Members Overcome Their Fear Of Initiating Discussions

Growing Your Online Community

1. Why People Aren’t Joining Your Online Community
2. Create A Criteria
3. Types Of Community Growth
4. How To Get More People To Join Your Online Community
5. Basic Tactics To Grow Your Online Community Without Any Promotion
6. Target Clusters Of People At A Time
7. How To Get Members To Invite Their Friends
8. 3 Perfectly Acceptable Ways To Invite Someone To Join Your Online Community
9. Growing From A Social Media Following To Small Groups
10. How To Persuade Your Employees To Join Your Online Community
11. How To Get The Best People To Join Your Online Community
12. The Right And Wrong Way To Grow A Forum
13. The Problem With Asking Members To Invite Friends
14. A Free Invite With Every Purchase
15. How To Convert Existing Contacts Into Active Community Members

Increasing Participation

1. Why People Join And Participate In Online Communities
2. A Brief Guide To Reaching Unbelievably High Levels Of Participation In Your Online Community
3. Increasing Activity And Participation In A Community
4. Creating A Sense Of Community
5. Sustaining Long Term Participation In An Online Community
6. The Basics Of Increasing Interactions In Any Online Community
7. Why Members Participate: Fame, Money, Sex, Power
8. A Few Quick And Simple Tips To Boost Activity In Your Online Community
9. 4 Types Of Contributions You Want Your Members To Make
10. The Only Way To Keep Everyone Active
11. 20 Questions which Will Stimulate Activity In Your Online Community
12. 7 Kinds Of Conversations That Always Stimulate Activity
13. Concentrate Activity
14. How To Find New Discussion Ideas For Your Online Community
15. Simple Tactics To Encourage Your Members To Talk More
16. 10 Simple Ideas To Increase Activity In Your Community
17. 9 Ideas To Revive Your Stale Online Community
18. Sense Of Ownership
19. When You Have Lots Of Members But No Activity
20. Epic Events
21. How To Find Major Issues To Boost Activity And Unite Your Community
22. Why People Stay In Your Online Community
23. Create A Guide To Be A Top Member
24. Trade Control For Participation
25. What You Can Do To Make Your Community More Fun
26. 8 Ways To Encourage Individual Contributions In Your Community
27. The Benefits Of Off-Topic Conversations
28. Open -vs- Closed Questions
29. A Simple Way To Stimulate Interesting Discussions
30. How To Make Your Online Community More Responsive

Managing an Online Community

1. The 10 Principles Of Professional Community Management
2. Building An Online Community Team: The 5 Roles You Must Fill
3. High Value Community Management
4. What Tasks Should Online Community Managers Prioritize?
5. Community Management: Planning The Week
6. Moderation Strategy
7. Interact With Your Community Like A Human Being
8. Attaining Power And Influence
9. Hierarchy Of Communicating With Your Members
10. Uniting Your Online Community: Creating Strong Ties
11. The Art Of Forging Strong Friendships
12. How To Subtly Influence Members Of Your Online Community
13. How Many People Can You Really Look After?
14. Creating Momentum
15. The Personality Of Community Managers: A Few Tips
16. A Brief Guide To Building Relationships With Your Top Members
17. 10 Excellent Rewards You Can Offer Members
18. Creating Titles For Members
19. How To Use Transferrable Elements To Develop A Strong Sense of Community
20. The Unlimited Supply Of Important Work You Need To Do
21. The Small Simple Processes Which Make The Biggest Difference To Your Community
22. How To Handle Troublemakers
23. Finding Inspiration In Other Communities
24. Reorganizing Your Forum
25. Allocating Your Time As The Community Grows
26. The Status Dilemma: Don’t Bite The Hook
27. 11 Processes For Scaling Online Communities
28. Huge Online Communities: What Do You Work On Next?
29. Resolving Problems
30. Building Strong Relationships Between Members: A Few Practical Steps
31. Removing A Provocating Member
32. Why Fights Are So Important
33. A Guide To Rewarding Members Of Your Community
34. Never Reward Your Volunteers
35. Community Guidelines
36. The 24-Hour Response Rule
37. 14 Events You Can Organize And Celebrate In Your Online Community
38. What Would A Passionate Community Manager Do?
39. Link Your Community Management Activities
40. Member Lifetime Value

Content

1. The Secret To Awesome Content
2. Converting Traditional Content Into Community Content
3. Information Needs And Why Content-Driven Community Strategies Are Flawed
4. The Problem With Great Content
5. Writing Content That Bonds Your Online Community
6. 20 Fantastic Content Ideas For Your Online Community
7. The Power Of Exclusives
8. Interviewing Members
9. Every Online Community Needs A Local Newspaper
10. An Online Community Newsletter Clinic

Measurement/ROI

1. Measuring An Online Community: Master Your Data To Gain An Unfair Advantage
2. Measuring The ROI Of Online Communities
3. Community Health Index
4. Ace The Community ROI Question
5. What Matters (and what doesn’t)
6. This Wasn’t Part Of The Plan
7. How To Check Your Community builder Is Doing As Promised
8. A Faith Challenge
9. Measuring DIY
10. Proving Benefits Of Building A Community
11. Me And You, Them And Us
12. How To Spot Your Community Is In Trouble: 8 Red Flags
13. The Huge ROI Of Small, Exclusive, B2B Communities

Monetizing

1. The Definitive Guide To Monetizing Your Community
2. Becoming A Community Intrapreneur
3. 40 Ways To Make Money From Your Online Community
4. The Pros And Cons Of Charging For Membership
5. Community Souvenirs
6. How To Give Sponsors Access To Your Online Community
7. Integrating Your Community With Your Business

Branded Online Communities

1. Never Let Your Company Start An Online Community
2. 10 Things Organizations Should Be Comfortable With When They Launch A Community
3. 12 Steps For Successful Online Communities
4. Brands Must Use Their Unfair Advantage To Build Successful Communities
5. A Case Study Of A Branded Onine Community
6. Why Most Online Communities Shouldn’t Try To Create A Community
7. Why Branded Communities Fail
8. 6 Huge Advantages Big Organizations Have Over Amateur Community Builders
9. A Requirement For Branded Online Communities
10. Brands: Get The Benefits You Want Without Upsetting Members
11. Common Branded Community Mistakes
12. The Choice Most Brands Don’t Know They Have
13. The 2 Most Common Reasons Why Branded Communities Fail
14. Decide Between These 2 Types Of Communities
15. How Do Online Communities Make Your Business Money?
16. Why Amateurs Build Better Online Communities Than Businesses
17. Failed Corporate Communities
18. Your Dream Online Community

Non-profits and Online Communities

1. Fundraising From Online Communities
2. What Non-Profits Need To Change

Examples

1. The Slow And Steady Evolution Of A Successful Online Community
2. 15 Examples Of Successful Online Communities
3. 15 Ideas You Can Steal From The UK’s Best Community
4. You Can Learn A Lot From This Wildly Successful Community
5. The Best Online Community You Can Begin Today
6. Case Study: How To Improve A Recently Launched Community
7. Perhaps The Best Online Community I’ve Seen
8. What Is A ‘Successful’ Community?
9. The Genius Of Kotex’s Community
10. 10 Examples Of Great Online Communities
11. A Great Example Of An Online Community
12. Never Hire A Marketing Agency To Build Your Online Community
13. A Great Example Of An Online Community
14. Hampton People
15. A Great Examples Of Game Mechanics In Online Communities
16. The Usual Errors From The Big Brands
17. Importants Lessons From A Failed Online Community
18. A Lesson In Successful Communities
19. The Evolution Of A Big Community Launch
20. Stories, Clicks, and Relationships: The Sad Story of MetroTwin

Resources

1. A Simple Example Of A Great Online Community
2. 8 Brilliant Posts About Online Communities
3. Essential Reading For Online Community Managers
4. Forrester Wave Report

Misc

1. How To Improve Any Online Community Without Spending A Penny
2. Great Findings From Social Sciences Applied To Online Communities
3. Creating A Community From Your Social Media Efforts
4. The One Essential Task For Newly Hired Community Managers
5. Rethinking How We Hire Community Managers
6. The 7 Most Likely Ways Your Online Community Will End
7. Struggling To Build An Online Community? Try This Easier Approach
8. The Easiest Solutions To Your Community’s Biggest Problems
9. 10 Steps To Building An Online Community In Your Spare Time
10. 8 Ways To Merge Your Online Community With The Real World
11. How To Revive Your Local Community
12. How To Create Exclusive Online Communities
13. 6 Social Psychology Hacks For Online Community Managers
14. 5 Features Of Really Strong Online Communities You Can Embrace
15. Searching For Online Communities
16. The One Book Every Community Manager Should Read
17. Rules For Growing A Group Of Insiders In Your Community
18. Community Awards 2010
19. Beyond Your Website
20. What’s Wrong With Community Management?

Reports & eBooks

1. The 2011 State of Community Management Report
2. Howard Reingold – The Virtual Community
3. The State of Online Branded Communities
4. The ROI of online customer service communities
5. The Forrester Wave Report
6. eModeration White Paper – Communities of Purpose
7. Deloitte – 2009 Tribalization of Business Study
8. Lithium – Community Health Index
9. Radian6 – Building & Sustaining Brand Communities
10. Jono Bacon – The Art of The Community
11. Forrester – The ROI Online Support Communities

Websites & Assocations

1. The Community Backchannel
2. The Community Roundtable
3. The OC Report
4. e-Mint
5. Facebook Community Manager Group
6. Community Builders
7. The Community Manager
8. Online Community Managers
9. The Community Management Group

Blogs

1. Alison Michalk
2. Amy Sample Ward
3. Angela Connor
4. Blaise Grimes-Viort
5. Community Roundtable
6. Connie Benson
7. Dawn Foster
8. Dave Cayem
9. Debra Askanase
10. eModeration
11. Eric Foster
12. Holly Seddon
13. Jake Mckee
14. Jeremiah Owyang
15. Jono Bacon
16. Judi Huck
17. Kirsten Wagenaar
18. Laurel Papworth
19. Lauren Klein
20. Mario Ogneva
21. Martin Reed
22. Matt Rhodes
23. Michael Norton
24. Patrick O’Keefe
25. Phil Wride
26. Rachael Happe
27. Sue on the web
28. Ted & Rosie O’Neil
29. UX Booth
30. Vanessa Dimauro
31. Vanessa Paech

Academic articles

1. McMillan and Chavis (1985) Sense of Community
2. Robin Hamman (1997)- Introduction to Virtual Communities Research and Cybersociology Magazine Issue Two
3. Moore and Serva (2007) Understanding Member Motivation for Contributing to Different Types of Virtual Communities: A Proposed Framework,
4. Williams and Cothrel (2004), Four smart ways to run online communities (Sloan Management Review, 2000)
5. Bughin & Zeisser, (2001) The Marketing Scale Effectiveness of Virtual Communities
6. Iriberri and Leroy (2009) A Life-Cycle Perspective on Online Community Success
7. Ridings and Gefen (2004) Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online, JCMC 10 (1), Article 4
8. Ardichvili, Page and Wentling (2003) Motivation and barriers to participation in Virtual knowledge-sharing communities of practice, Journal of Knowledge Management, 2003; 7,1
9. Wang and Fesenmaier (2003) Understanding the Motivation of Contribution in Online Communities: An Empirical Investigation of an Online Travel Community, Electronic Markets, Vol 13, No 1.
10. Sugiyama and Rothaermel (2001) Virtual internet communities and commercial success: individual and community-level theory grounded in the atypical case of TimeZone.com, Journal of Management 27
11. Sangwan , S (2005) Virtual community success: A uses and gratifications perspective
12. Andrews, D.C (2002) Audience-specific online community design, Communications of the ACM, Vol 45, N. 4
13. Barab, S.A, MaKinster, J.G, Scheckler, R. (xxxx) Designing System Dualities: Characterizing An Online Professional Development Community
14. Baym, N.K. (2007) The new shape of online community: The example of Swedish independent music fandom, First Monday, Volume 12, Number 8 – 6
15. Stanoevska-Slabeva, K. (2002) Towards a Community-Orientated Design of Internet Platforms
16. Arnold, Y. Leimeister, J.L, Krcmar, H. (2003) CoPEP: A Development Process Model for Community Platforms for Cancer Patients, Community platform engineering process
17. Porter, C.E. (2004) A Typology of Virtual Communities: A Multi-Disciplinary Foundation for Future Research, Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, Vol, 10. No. 1.