Online communities are virtual spaces people can gather and bond over a shared interest. Online communities have a range of purposes, target audiences, and features. These groups also have their norms, regulations, and guidelines.
You’ve probably tapped into a community group based on your hobby or industry. You don’t have to limit yourself to existing communities. If you have a special interest or need to grow your audience for your channel, you can create an online community of your own.
Benefits of an Online Community
Communities tend to attract open-minded people willing to create bonds with other people. For this reason, virtual communities are a great way of pooling resources and information together.
If you create a community around your own interests, you can tap into this rich knowledge source to improve your skills or advertise your channel. Running an online community also gives you complete control over what your audience sees and limits the competitors’ influence on your ideal audience.
You can build an online community in several different formats:
Forums
Online forums are messaging-based groups that center around a specific topic. Discussions are asynchronous. Members respond to posts on their own time. This allows for in-depth discussions that can continue for extended periods.
Before opening an online forum, consider the topic carefully. If you want to attract people who could become your audience, choose a related interest. You can open a forum on a third-party site like Reddit or use a forum site creator to set up your own private platform.
One of the disadvantages of forums is the risk of conflict. Some people intentionally enter forums to start arguments or insult members. You will need to set rules regarding discussion topics and member interactions. Forums require ongoing moderation to ensure that all members are following the rules.
If you do not have time to moderate the forums yourself, you can nominate several active members to do the job for you. Moderators must monitor the forum and remove members who disrupt the community.
Groups
Virtual groups function in a very similar way to in-person groups. Members join due to their interest or affiliation with the topic. One of the simplest ways to start a group is on Facebook, which has a dedicated Groups feature.
One advantage of a group is the ability to share diverse types of content. For example, members can post messages or share images and videos. As a group administrator, you can set limitations on the content of member posts. For example, if your group serves as a funnel to your channel, you can ask that members not advertise their services in your group.
Facebook groups can be set to public or private. While public groups are searchable and tend to have more members, this setting can make members less likely to post, as interactions are visible to non-group members.
Private groups are better for creating a sense of community. However, in order to grow your membership, you will have to advertise it on your social media or other platforms.
An advantage of a private group is that you can share exclusive content and host video calls with your audience directly within the group. Unfortunately, Facebook group video calls only allow one-way communication.
If you want to have more engagement with your community, you can advertise a virtual event in your group and then launch the actual meeting on a platform with audience response software.
Courses
Online courses can double as an online community if students are able to interact and connect with one another. Some online course platforms have built-in community features that allow you to create a forum for students and alumni to communicate.
You can also create a private Facebook group solely for students. In some cases, you do not have to be the course creator to open up an online community for the group. For example, many students of Google’s certificate courses have created their own online study groups.
Members may initially join online courses to learn a skill but remain connected with the community even after the class is over. This is because members build relationships while studying together and often turn to the community for advice about their next steps or projects.
Listservs
Listservs are an email-based community that is similar to an email list with one key difference. Email lists are compiled by one person to send out the same message to multiple people. On a Listserv, anyone on the list can email a message to the entire community.
While listservs are an older way of building online communities, they remain a popular way to connect to others.
One of the benefits of listservs is that they are highly monitored. You can set requirements for being added to the list, such as a social media profile, to avoid trolls. You can also require that all new additions must have references from current members. These controls make listservs a great place to share industry knowledge, including job opportunities or special events.