2. Remove Roadblocks
Brands like AGL, Australia’s leading integrated energy company, understand that customers expect to interact digitally. They also want their questions, needs, and concerns addressed quickly. “Our goal has been simply to make it easier and quicker for our customers to find the information they need,” says AGL Digital Community Channel Manager Liam Woods. To achieve this goal, AGL transformed its digital customer experience in 2015 by creating a social destination where customers can find information and solutions more easily than ever before.
To provide a seamless pathway for customers to get support, AGL promotes their community across multiple customer touchpoints, ranging from homepage links to an integrated content and social media strategy. However, the most impressive way they remove roadblocks is through intelligent, contextual FAQ integration on their website. This peer-to-peer feature allows customers to quickly find answers to commonly asked questions at the right time, allowing them to share feedback and also contribute to the growing knowledge base.
"Our community works because it's a collaboration...between the company and our most enthusiastic customers." - Mark Hopkins, Social Media Project Manager and Community Manager for the Lenovo Community
3. Harness the Loyalty of Fans
International technology powerhouse Lenovo had a mission to build a collaborative hub that could connect customers to other customers, Lenovo engineers, and Lenovo partners to solve technical questions 24/7. But before the community was even launched, Lenovo reached out to existing active users in the social web to ask for their support. These experienced users acted as guides in the planning and implementation of a new social destination—The Lenovo Community. Post-launch, these users continue to share their time and knowledge by acting as moderators, writing articles, and providing technical support. “They act as nodes in a human network, expanding our collective awareness, understanding, and ultimately, influence into other spheres,” says community manager Mark Hopkins. In the first three years of operation, this group of approximately 30 members contributed 44% of the solutions in the community, and in less than one year helped grow the community knowledge base to over 1,200 articles. Now that’s successful collaboration.
4. Reward Your Members
Software alone is not enough to keep customers engaged and motivated to return to your community. A proven way to incentivize members to participate and keep coming back is to reward them through gamification. Barclays Travel Community uses miles to motivate members to participate. Registered members of the community can earn miles for activities such as completing a travel profile, posting a story with a photo, or having your story "kudoed" by other registered members. Members can then redeem miles for travel awards or e-certificates, and can earn profile badges like “City Slicker” or “Stately Explorer” specific to their past travels, making it easy to find fellow travelers with similar interests.
It’s time for brands to understand the current and potential value of online customer communities and develop an effective strategy for them. Learn how to leverage community to acquire and serve customers, and grow your existing customer base in the eBook The High Performing Community Handbook.