Success in the virtual community business hinges not on technology-driven differentiation but on strategies designed to accelerate member acquisition and to create deep understanding of the needs of those members.
This accurate comment comes from Net gain; expanding markets through virtual communities. Arguments for greater engagement with political groups around the world have appeared in Watching America among many other places and exist alongside the vogue for the development of broadly defined networks that has appeared in the study and practice of public diplomacy. In this vein I want to take lessons from John Hagel’s work on new technology and building Virtual Communities.
The specifics of virtual communities and social networks are an issue I will return to another day, for today a very useful perspective on engaging with Virtual Communities was produced by John Hagel for Community 2.0 in Las Vegas.
For today I want to focus on a particular aspect of engagement, specifically to suggest a vital part of developing networks is recognising the ‘cost per member added’ to a network as one metric to use when analysing and planning networked engagement.
This will encourage the development of thought about:
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Efficiency
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High value targets
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Clarity about retention and ongoing communication.
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Efficiency; producing a basic calculation of the number of people added to a network and the cost will demonstrate simply how efficient various methods are in developing networks, in terms of size. Clearly size must be considered along side value, as some members of the network will have higher value than others. However, starting with cost per member provides a means to start the discussion about value.
High value targets; Demonstrating that some people required high cost methods to attract to a network because of their value to the network poses the question why are they so valuable? Value may be considered in any number of ways for example;
Persuasion value – their ability to persuade others of a specific point, issue or promote a message. Print journalists, bloggers, or public speakers may fall into this category.
Decision value – Their ability to actually make a decision which changes or influences policy within a country. Attracting them to the network may provide a means to influence policy or for the individual to find greater support for a policy which they already wish to enact.
Network value – The individual on traditional measurements offers neither persuasion nor decision value, however, they have the ability to act as a gatekeeper to a large number of potential network members. In effect they are a new node within the network through which to contact an array of new members.
In each of these cases incurring greater cost to attract the member could be justified on the basis of their value to the network or the initiative.
Clarity about retention or communication; the purpose and particularly the intended longevity of the network is also drawn into focus by analysing the cost per member added.
If the network is being constructed for a specific short term goal, perhaps to influence a specific policy position then the cost of the network is weighed against the value of this particular success. However, if this is to be a long term network, for the purpose of relationship building or to stimulate a virtual community, longevity of engagement is a key factor. Cost per member added and retained becomes an important point for analysis. Retention rate over a certain period is important to understand when considering the success of the network.
A low retention rate would pose certain questions, for example;
Does the issue on which the network is based resonate with the target group, or at least do the terms in which it is expressed need modification?
Is there a competing and possibly more effective group with which an partnership rather than competition would be more fruitful?
Is coordination function having an impact; are people expecting to find or contact their peers through an alternative means (or on an alternative platform) from the one on which the network is based. Edward Castronova’s work on the online games – EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot provides a good account of the impact of coordination effects.
Retention rate within a network also leads to the question of waste at the end of the life of a network building exercise. If the purpose of the exercise was to create a self-sustaining network or Virtual Community to function separately from the organisation, the continuing development of the network on its own terms is not waste but success.
However, networks developed by an organisation that have not become self-sustaining will collapse when organisational funding / stimulus is cut. Allowing these people to drift away may be considered waste, and doubly so if they are then going to be re-recruited later to another network. Equally after developing enthusiasm and encouraging them to give up their time to be involved just cutting the programme is likely to generate a degree of negative feeling. At its worst this will result in a negative rather than positive impact from the programme.
Knowing how much it cost to attract someone to a network is likely to emphasise the importance of continuing an individual’s engagement. This can be done either by directing them toward another initiative / network being run by the organisation or toward a self-sustaining network that was originally set up by the organisation. This continues their journey and maintains engagement with issues of importance to the organisation. In many cases losing contact with members of a network will be considered a resource wasted.
There are a few exceptions to this logic, particularly those programmes that create a high impact engagement with individuals early in their career on the basis of their likely career path. An investment that may pay off 10 years in the future, for example some exchange programmes, may actually argue for a lack of contact over that 10 year period to emphasise that contact is only made on really important initiatives. This would avoid the possibility of a form of engagement fatigue – typified by the sentiment – what do they want this time?
For engagement to be successful, it must consider
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The most efficient methods of attracting members,
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The relative value of different members of the network,
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How ongoing engagement is to be achieved.