Successfully conducting online communities requires a shift in the research paradigm, moving from simply 'asking' questions, to active community 'listening' to uncover insights.
The development of online communities or MROCs (Market Research Online Communities) is a relatively recent innovation in market research to quickly taping into a consumer group to gather insights. The motivation for creating this methodology came from the desire to replicate the information generated on social networks and topic bulletin boards, but with more structure and better data gathering and analysis tools.
Online communities offer a number of significant benefits to researchers and marketers, including:
Before embarking on building an online community, it is important to think through the economics, process, and the suitability of the community topic/subject matter. Economic feasibility depends on a number of factors, most notably community use. In general, if at least one larger-scale research project isn’t conducted monthly, an online community may not make financial sense.
Another consideration is process. It takes a significant amount of work to build and maintain an online community, not to mention the planning and conducting of actual research. It is important to think realistically about how the community will be used and managed. This is where early and on-going senior management support is crucial to success.
Finally, there is the topic/subject matter. The most successful online communities are focused around brands or categories where there are high enthusiasm and interest – think Apple, Nike, and Audi or categories like golf, motorcycles, and parenting. That isn’t to say successful panels cannot be set-up among comparatively low-interest categories like office supplies or insurance. Just know that recruiting will likely be more difficult and participation rates lower. That being said, lower incidence categories (e.g., certain professions or low participation activities) often do make economic sense since individual studies can be very expensive.
Once the decision is made to build an online community, here are key industry best practices to help guide the process.
Set-up:
Usage:
Ongoing Management:
In many ways, building a successful online community mirrors the process of developing a solid research study: engage stakeholders early in the process, focus on objectives, create a plan and – most importantly – stay flexible!