Tag Archives: Online Communities

Is Social Media Dead In 2024? The Future of Social Media

Posted on by

Is social media as we know it dead? The signs of trouble are certainly getting more and more common.

Since 2021, Twitter has seen an exodus of users, advertisers pulling back, and even the end of its famous bird logo.

Facebook’s strategic effort to diversify into the metaverse has failed. As a result, Facebook has reverted to launching Threads, a platform widely seen as a Twitter clone.

Even TikTok, Gen Z’s favorite social media platform, has faced challenges within the U.S.

Meanwhile, government bodies are getting increasingly aggressive in responding to online services, including social media platforms.

Each of these individual social media companies’ struggles prompts the question: is social media dead? Let’s explore the current scenario and understand the alternatives for the future of social media.

‍

‍

The Decline And Fall Of Social Media

Social media platforms have been declining for years, depending on who you ask and which platform you prefer. It’s difficult to generalize about the fate of social media because there are so many different networks to choose from. One estimate shows that there are over 100 active social media services today. Even more significantly, Forbes reports that there are 4.9 billion social media users globally (i.e., about 62% of the population) as of 2023.

One way to answer “will social media marketing die” is to look at the numbers.

Yet only a handful of platforms have achieved significant success with over 500 million users. As of 2023, only 12 platforms have over 500 million monthly active users. The list includes well-known platforms like Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, TikTok, and Instagram, as well as others like WeChat, Snapchat, and Qzone. These large platforms have achieved outsized success and influence in the social media industry.

AI: Threats And Opportunities To The Future of Social Media

The rise of generative AI tools, especially large language models like chatGPT, also poses questions for social media. Some commentators like Jonathan Haidt and Eric Schmidt see only a downside with articles like “AI is About to Make Social Media (Much) More Toxic.” Such fears are one reason why governments are increasingly pursuing AI safety rules.

Generative AI, like social media itself, is in the eye of the beholder. It can also be used as a practical tool to increase engagement responsibly. Smart brands and agencies are already using it to lift efficiency. For more ideas on how to add AI to your workflow, see our post: 5 Use Cases for Generative AI in Publishing.

Twitter and Meta: The Decline of Giants

The social media platforms founded in the 2000s are encountering multiple challenges with growth.

To illustrate the challenge, we looked at a few recent developments at some of the largest social media companies.

Twitter: Struggling With Turmoil, Brand Changes, And Revenue Challenges

In 2021, Twitter earned 88% of its revenue from advertising. Following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company, chaotic layoffs, rebranding to X, and booming hate speech have advertisers heading for the doors. In November 2022, Omnicom Media Group recommended that its clients pause advertising spending on the platform due to brand safety concerns. Large companies, including General Motors and Volkswagen, are also pulling back from the platform.

The answer to “is social media marketing dead?” depends partly on how you’ve used your resources. If you’ve put all your resources into Twitter, you’re probably very worried about the future of your social media marketing efforts.

Pre-Tax Income Falls During The Pandemic

While the chaos following Elon Musk’s takeover has grabbed the headlines, the business’s fundamentals have suffered for years. The company reported a negative $50 million pretax income in 2020 and a negative pretax income of $411 million in 2021, and that’s before all the Elon Musk drama and the departure of nearly half of their advertisers.

We don’t know if Twitter will recover after suffering many blows, including losing thousands of employees. According to a December 2022 survey, Twitter is forecast to lose millions of users in 2023 and 2024. With declining users and concerned advertisers, Twitter’s future is uncertain. It’s time to find alternative platforms and channels to meet our online growth goals.

Bans and Restrictions

More recently, in August 2024, the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered the suspension of X in the country after the platform missed a deadline to appoint a legal representative in Brazil.

The conflict originated in April when the court mandated the suspension of numerous accounts for spreading false information—an action that Musk criticized as censorship.

The ruling affects over 20,000 internet providers, requiring them to block the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X. Additionally, a daily fine of R$50,000 (£6,800) is imposed on individuals and companies attempting to bypass the block using VPNs. 

Meta’s User Growth Slows While Metaverse Spending Hurts The Bottom Line

With over one billion users, Facebook is still regarded as one of the most powerful social media platforms. However, The early years of dramatic growth in users and revenue are slowing due to a few developments.

Facebook’s growth, while still significant, is falling substantially. From 2020 to 2023, the platform grew monthly active users from 2.6 billion to 2.9 billion, according to Statista. Adding 300 million users over three years sounds impressive until you compare it to the platform’s past. From 2015 to 2017, the platform grew from 1.4 billion to 2.1 billion users (i.e., 700 million users).

Metaverse Spending Spiraling Out Of Control

The Information reports that Facebook has spent over $36 billion on the metaverse since 2019. That’s greater than the company’s entire operating expenses for 2019 – $33.9 billion! This level of spending is starting to approach “bet the company’s future” territory.  So far, this initiative has delivered little to the company’s bottom line.

If this spending continues, Google’s experience may be instructive. Like Facebook, Google has historically earned most of its revenue from advertising. Over the years, Google has spent heavily on high-risk “moonshot” projects that lost over $800 million by 2016. It’s true that these investments might pay off at some point. All we know for certain is most of these efforts have made minimal contributions to the company’s performance.

Competition Driven Innovation

Aside from its metaverse initiatives, Facebook’s innovation in its core social media platforms is limited. Recent changes seem to be driven by a desire to compete with TikTok. As Bloomberg reported, Facebook assumes its users want a “TikTok clone.” Changes to the Facebook experience and Instagram have been attributed to the company’s desire to compete with TikTok.

Developing new features solely to compete with rivals has merit. Yet, it may also suggest a lack of creativity in the platform’s ideas. These efforts to copy features haven’t been a success with the platform’s users. The “Make Instagram Instagram Again” petition on Change.org has attracted over 335,000 signatures. The petition demands the return of chronological timelines, an algorithm that favors photos, and greater responsiveness to Instagram users. This type of negative feedback signals significant discontent.

The End of Organic Reach

Brands, organizations, and creators using Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram face declining organic reach, with only 5.2% of followers typically seeing unpaid content on Facebook. On Instagram, posts without paid boosts are similarly overshadowed by ads. Nearly 83% of marketers plan to increase social media ad spending, further diminishing organic visibility.

The pay-per-engagement model also overwhelms users with excessive ads. Recently, the European Commission accused Meta of violating EU laws by charging users for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram, forcing them to either pay or consent to data collection, in breach of the Digital Markets Act.

The Main Drivers Of Social Media Decline

While Facebook and Twitter’s problems have dominated the headlines recently, the problems in social media go beyond these companies. Several significant trends negatively impact large, established social media platforms. Increased competition and regulatory environment changes are fundamentally altering social media conditions.

Factor 1: Losing Competition For Attention

 

Without highly engaged users, social media companies cannot thrive. Unfortunately, older established social media companies need help to innovate. The most significant competition has come from TikTok in the past years.

Founded in 2016, the social media app has experienced dramatic growth through the pandemic years. At the end of 2019, the video-sharing platform had an estimated 500 million users. By late 2022, the Business of Apps estimated the platform has over 1.5 billion users. The platform is currently dominated by users under 30, who represent 63% of users.

Mastodon, a social platform based in Germany, has also experienced significant growth in 2022, mainly at the expense of Twitter. By March 2023, the platform had 10 million users (up from 2.5 million in November 2022). Established in 2016, Mastodon’s relatively decentralized format and lack of advertising features distinguish it from other social platforms.

Discord is another platform that’s successfully creating engaging digital communities. The text and audio interaction app has become popular in the gamer community. The Business of Apps estimates Discord had 13.5 million active servers in 2021, up from 4.4 million in 2018. While small, Discord is an interesting example of a platform growing with niche audiences.

The growing popularity of alternative social websites and apps suggests new possibilities for brands and publishers. Running a Discord server may help you to appeal to more Gen Z users. These competing community experiences also demonstrate an appetite for more curated content and experiences.

Learning the ins and outs of new digital platforms can be worthwhile. Yet, don’t overlook how resource-intensive it can be to start a new community in ideal conditions. The social strategies that work on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram will not fully apply to Discord, TikTok, or Mastodon. However, your understanding of your audience’s interests and preferences is transferable, regardless of the platform you use.

Factor 2: Government Pressure Hurts Social Media’s Business Model

Government agencies and elected officials are scrutinizing social media apps more and more closely. Ten years ago, social media was typically viewed as a fun experience and a way to connect with friends and family. In recent years, governments have become seriously concerned about the ill effects of social media.

Government pressure and interest in social media platforms and other technologies has recently increased. In 2018, Facebook improperly shared the data of over 87 million users with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, leading to a major scandal that brought Mark Zuckerberg before the U.S. Congress. More recently, in July 2023, the U.S. government and several states filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of deliberately designing addictive platforms that prioritize profits while causing serious mental health issues.

Also in 2023, CNBC reported that Congress is investigating Threads, the new social media platform created by Meta, specifically looking at content moderation.

Concerns about the adverse effects of social media is an international phenomenon. The European Parliament published an in-depth analysis of the critical social media risks to democracy in 2021. As research continues, traditional social media companies may come under additional pressure. These concerns are not the only threat to traditional social media platforms.

The following regulatory changes have put pressure on the largest social media companies. In 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect. While not targeted exclusively at social media, the regulations require greater protection of personal data, which is the stock in trade of social media. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) has raised the bar further in the US. These new expectations impose costs for non-compliance as well. In 2022, the California Attorney General announced a $1.2 million settlement with a major retailer relating to the CCPA.

Most social media companies earn the lion’s share of their revenue from advertising. That advertising revenue largely depends on user data. As regulations tighten on privacy and consumer data, other companies are seeing opportunities. Apple’s increased emphasis on privacy measures may cost Facebook social media companies an estimated $10 billion in lost revenue.

Social Media Is Dead…What is the Future of Social Media?

The death or decline of a few of the largest social media companies is the most significant change to digital marketing in a decade. Many marketers have built their entire careers around social media expertise. As a result, it’s no surprise many marketers are anxiously asking is social media marketing dead?

The answer to that question depends on where you focus your efforts.

One option is building a presence on smaller or newer social media platforms like Discord, Mastodon, or Reddit. If there is a large potential audience for your brand on those sites, there is some value in building a presence there. However, moving from one social media platform to another has drawbacks. Fundamentally, brands do not set the rules on these platforms. It can be challenging to ensure brand safety in an environment where you have limited control, and minimal first-party data.

The Future Of Social Media Isn’t What You Would Expect

In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, depending solely on social media for audience engagement carries major risks. From algorithm changes to unexpected bans, brands are at the mercy of these platforms’ unpredictability. Building your own community platform gives you complete control, allowing for deeper, more sustainable audience connections.

Allow your audience to interact with you and meet people who have the same interests and values, while increasing retention and website monetization. With Arena Community, you can launch your online community inside your website in a few minutes, with several features that increase engagement, like group chat, live blog, polls, Q&As and much more. Learn more about Arena Community and how you can revolutionize audience engagement.  

Gen Z Wants Something Different From Social Media

Posted on by

Gen Z’s passion for social media is well documented, so much so they’re often referred to as “Social Natives,” but a recent development is challenging our understanding of this generation.

Gen Z (born 1997 to 2012) is increasingly moving away from traditional feed-based social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. According to Impero research, 65% of Gen Z users feel more confident using community-focused social media apps like Twitch and Discord. This shift in focus is a return to the pre-social media Internet communities like bulletin boards.

What We Know About Gen Z’s Online Habits

‍

To put the shift in Gen Z online behavior into context, it’s helpful to look at a few numbers.

  • Facebook: 49% of Gen Z use Facebook according to a 2022 survey, making it the 4th most popular social platform. In contrast, 69% of Millennials prefer Facebook over other social media platforms.
  • Twitter. 47% of Gen Z say they use the micro-blogging platform in 2022. Once again, Millennials are a larger share of the Twitter user base. One estimate pegged Millennials at 80% of Twitter (source).
  • Discord. While much smaller in absolute terms, Discord has attracted significant Gen Z engagement. Insider Intelligence estimates that 35% of all Gen Z are on Discord. Gen Z is an influential audience for a platform with approximately 140 million monthly active users in 2021.

Of course, there are exceptions to this pattern, like TikTok, which has a similar feed-based experience. Nonetheless, the increasing popularity of smaller online communities tells us something important about the evolution of Gen Z in the digital age.‍

The Problem With Big Platform Feeds‍

‍

Imperso’s research Gen Z’s top concerns in the online world includes seeing themselves as unique, a sense of community, voice, and privacy considerations. The Pew Research Center also points out that “Gen Zers are progressive and pro-government, most see the country’s growing racial and ethnic diversity as a good thing.”

Large social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are not well-positioned to meet Gen Z expectations.

Gen Z’s concerns over the big social platforms are unlikely to be fully satisfied soon. Take privacy as an example. Facebook’s history of privacy scandals is well documented, of large fines, legal problems, and more. Under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter has reduced its safeguards that discouraged misinformation, a move that alarmed many and caused advertising spend to plunge 89% since before his takeover in October.

Curated Communities Are Winning

Discord offers an interesting case study showing how to create more focused communities. While Twitter primarily operates as a fully public platform, Discord offers more curated experiences. To understand Discord’s appeal, briefly covering a few critical details about the platform is helpful.

Established in 2015, Discord first rose to prominence in gamer communities. The text and audio-based platform offered an easy way for gaming enthusiasts to gather and enjoy games together. Each Discord server comprises multiple channels, some open to all (e.g., general chat) while others are restricted (e.g., announcements or rules).

While video game-related interests remain the most popular on Discord, the platform is evolving. There are Discord servers for book enthusiasts, education (e.g., communities focused on learning a language and science), cars, and sports.

In contrast to other platforms, Discord servers have a few points in common. They are focused on a specific topic. These communities also offer the kinds of social functions that Gen Z has come to expect, like social reactions, private messaging, friend requests, emojis, and more.

In contrast to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other larger platforms, Discord does not have advertising in the traditional sense. The lack of powerful advertising tools may discourage some brands from pursuing platforms like Discord, but building a focused online community revolving around your online brand is worth the effort, even if that specific platform is not for you.

Why Relying On Social Media Platforms To Engage Gen Z Is Risky

Maintaining an active presence on social media platforms is still essential. Gen Z is still very active on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. At the same time, those platforms are noisy, with many different kinds of content. It can be tough to build an engaged community when there are so many distractions one click away.

Putting all your community-building efforts into social media also comes at a significant cost. It means you are depending on another company to access your community. They can change the rules (and pricing) suddenly. Apart from that concern, you’re very limited in how much data you can gather. Building your online community on your website is vital, with third-party cookies set to disappear soon.

3 Ways To Make Your Website More Engaging For Gen Z

Attracting and keeping Gen Z audiences engaged on your website is easier when you use the following best practices.

Mobile Optimized

Smartphone ownership and use in Gen Z is very high. Approximately 85% of the US population owns a smartphone, while 98% of Gen Z has a smartphone. Therefore, your website must look great and respond fast to mobile devices. Gen Z also loves video content – as shown by their heavy use of TikTok – so make sure your videos look great on mobile.

Social Media Style Functionality

Gen Z will not spend all their time browsing product pages or other forms of static content. They expect to have a social experience. Fortunately, Arena Live Chat offers an easy way to offer this experience on any digital platform you manage.

Brand-safe Community Experiences

Deloitte research found that diversity is crucial to Gen Z. Also, Deloitte found that Gen Z judges companies based on their “ethics, practices and social impact” along with the quality of their products. Running your online community in a socially responsible manner is one way to show you understand Gen Z needs.

Offering a brand-safe experience through moderation is also important given the age of Gen Z. Many in Gen Z are not yet adults, so a reasonable level of moderation is essential.

Grow Your Online Community For Gen Z

Gen Z is the future, so it’s time to prepare for them. Find out how Arena can help you build an online community on your website.

Grow Revenue & Engagement With A Community Flywheel Strategy

Posted on by

Subscription businesses, whether offering software, products, or information, are poised for significant growth. According to research, the subscription economy, worth $650 billion in 2020, is projected to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025. However, this booming market comes with its challenges. On one hand, buyers are more open to subscription-based purchases, but on the other, we’re seeing signs of “subscription fatigue.” In a 2022 survey, two-thirds of consumers reported canceling at least one streaming service in the past year.

Economic pressures such as high inflation and supply chain disruptions further complicate the landscape for subscription businesses. For instance, US inflation rates in 2022 ranged from 6.5% to over 9%, impacting consumer spending. Additionally, supply chain issues have caused delays in product deliveries, eroding customer trust. Higher interest rates also limit consumer spending on high-priced items and make business financing more challenging.

Despite these obstacles, there is still a growth path. Building a flywheel for your online community is the key to unlocking sustainable success.

What Is A Community Flywheel?

A community flywheel is a way to lift growth, consisting of a community-centric approach to brand building, where a brand joins or creates a community that promotes awesome experiences for customers, increasing audience engagement and translating that into sales.

In simple terms, investing in a community flywheel means that your community members make your brand more valuable through their contributions and participation and bring others into your space. In other words, your community becomes central to your brand’s success and future growth.

Although it is a great strategy to deploy in your marketing department, there is a catch.

It takes an initial investment of time and resources to launch a community flywheel strategy. Getting the first 1,000 true fans (or more!) can be a long road. Once you have those fans in place, growth becomes far easier. It’s like investing in the stock market. It’s easier and faster to compound your returns when you start with a significant investment. That said, the magic of compound returns – for a community or investment – is still available to all who start.

Want to see community-based growth examples? Find out how Gymshark and Notion used online communities to grow.

How to Drive Growth With a Community Flywheel Strategy

Put these community flywheel strategies to work to get your community into operation. Your growth will take off as you put more of these methods into practice.

‍

‍

Lift Engagement With Online Community

Passing website visitors, who visit once and never return, do little for growth. Use these methods to spark engagement.

Build Anticipation And Cliffhangers

When your community members see a good reason to keep returning to your website, like experiencing a multi-day online event, it’s easier to grow engagement. For example, instead of delivering all of your best insights in a single webinar, look for ways to promote your content over a more extended period of time, driving more subscriptions. 

Recognize VIP Community Members

Almost everyone enjoys being recognized for their contributions. The principle holds for your online community building. Use community badges, gifts, and thank you messages to encourage your most engaged members to keep coming back.

After you implement those strategies to inspire greater participation in your online community, it’s time to turn to revenue.

Increasing Revenue With Your Online Community

The way you lift revenue with an online community flywheel depends on your business model. Let’s consider a publishing business with advertising and how online events can lift revenue.

Offer Exclusive Digital Events

Many publishers offer conferences, talks, and other offline events in traditional venues. The next way to grow revenue is to offer hybrid and virtual events so that more people can join. Online events have fewer costs than in-person events, so if you don’t have a big budget for them, choose to invest in the virtual format.

Additionally, you can use digital events to lift revenue. First, you can use subscriber-only events as a retention method to encourage subscribers to renew their subscriptions. In addition, you can offer current subscribers a discount or early registration access to your events.

Provide Enhanced Community Curation

From your audience’s perspective, there are a few reasons why event participation is appealing. First is the event’s content, like learning new insights. Second, there is the social and networking aspect of the event – connecting with people who share your interests. 

A thoughtfully curated community event is a powerful way to attract your audience. For example, you might invite Gen Z students interested in finance or technology with special guests in those industries. If Gen Z is an essential demographic for you, check out our post on 5 Ways Publishers Can Build Their Gen Z Audience And Earn First Party Data.

If you keep the event tightly focused, so will the public’s experience, and your audience will be more likely to make valuable connections.

Arena Makes Growing Online Communities Easier

Growing an online community takes a lot of heart, thoughtful content, and passion for connecting with others. Arena Community has resources to make online community building easier.

Use our virtual events checklist to plan, promote and run online events without the stress.

Arena also has you covered with technology solutions to build a thriving digital community right on your website. Find out more about building your online community with Arena.

7 Online Community Tactics and Tools For Growth

Posted on by

Building an online community is a smart way to accelerate your growth goals. Whether you’re after a larger audience to maximize advertising revenue or leads, there are several online community tactics and tools that can help you achieve success.

Use this post as a toolkit – picking the tools and tactics up as you need them.

Start With The End In Mind: KPI and ROI Goals

Community building takes resources and energy, so take the time to be strategic. Choosing the right mix of community tactics and goals is only possible when you have a clear objective. The following key performance indicators for most brands may be exactly what you need.

  • Engaged Visitors: Track the number of visitors engaged with your website, such as those who visit multiple pages. Alternatively, you might define engaged visitors by time on site or other metrics.
  • Average Time On Site: Generally speaking, higher time on site is desirable. Aim for at least 60 seconds on site as a starting goal. That’s enough time to make an initial connection with your audience.
  • First-Party Data: Gathering first-party data is vital to transforming an anonymous website visitor into an identified user. A good starting point is to track the number of people who sign up for your email list or agree to receive browser notifications.
  • Registered Community Members: Track the number of community members who have signed up by the week or the month.
  • Community Engagement Goal: The KPI mentioned above only tells you part of the story about the health of your community. It’s also vital to measure the quality of audience engagement. For example, you may also want to measure how many active members you have (i.e. members who post or comment at least once a month) or how many people attend virtual community events. Highly active community members may be good candidates to serve as ambassadors, community moderators, and other forms of community leadership in return for perks and other rewards.

We didn’t include revenue-related goals in the list because revenue is a lagging indicator of success. That means you typically can’t work on improving revenue directly. Instead, you can only influence it indirectly by getting more leads and increasing your audience.

Community Building Tactics

Review these community-building techniques with your team. For even better results, get an outside perspective on your community, like a friend who has never used your website.

1) Make Your Online Community Easy To Find On Your Website

Modern websites are complex with many moving parts. When building an online community, ensure your site architecture makes it easy to find. For example, there should be an easy-to-read navigation to the community from the homepage. In addition, you may also want to set up specific calls to action for community events like product launches, events with influencer guests, and live chat experiences.

2) Set Up Your Online Community To Welcome New People

Almost everybody has had the experience of walking into a party and struggling to make a connection. In the online context, that sense of awkwardness translates into lost engagement opportunities. The solution is to make a deliberate effort to welcome new people. The art of being welcomed in an online community has several dimensions.

Post Community Welcome Message

Post a welcome message for new people interested in joining your community. This message should give a few tips on how to get started. For example, you may have a discussion board area where new people can introduce themselves. If so, direct them to post! Also, provide clear directions on how to join the community (e.g., click here to set up your community account).

To keep this welcome message relevant and useful, set a reminder to review it monthly or quarterly and update it as needed.

Set Expectations With Community Rules

Many of the most successful and enduring online communities have community rules. Posting these rules is an essential way of making people feel safe online. Beyond preventing unwanted behaviors, community rules can signal your expectations. For example, encourage community members to post reviews or ask questions about products.

Publish Community Badges

Awarding community badges like Community Builder (e.g., engaged with 5 or more other people), Conversation Starter (e.g., starting multiple discussion threads), and Welcome (i.e., a badge to hand out to brand new users) is a proven tactic to reward ongoing

participation in your community. Community badges may be symbolic, like an icon next to a person’s name. Or you may give special recognition and privileges to your top community members (e.g., invite them to be guests in your virtual event).

Community badges are common in enterprise settings (e.g., Microsoft MVP) and more casual settings (e.g., on Discord servers for gamers and other enthusiasts).

3) Offer Premium Content Exclusively For Community Members

Posting high-quality, helpful, and entertaining content is essential to creating an engaging community. The twist here is to reserve some of your best content for registered community members. Use the following tips to position premium content for your community.

Provide Early Access To Premium Content

Reward your community members with advanced access to your content, like seeing a new video or podcast episode a day or two before everyone else. In addition to engaging your community, you will also have the opportunity to get feedback on the content before it is widely circulated.

Community Exclusive Online Events

Exclusivity is a powerful way to sell people the value of your community. Exclusive content might include “fireside chats” where a dozen community members come together with a special guest.

Question And Answer Sessions With Leaders and Employees

Active community members are likely to be among your most passionate customers. Encourage this passion further by giving them access to your leadership. For example, a clothing company might offer a Q&A session about how the company implements sustainable clothing practices.

As your community thrives and grows, informally keeping the community focused may no longer work. Bringing on a community manager or moderators can make a big difference.

4) Appoint A Community Manager

Introducing a community manager is an advanced tactic that makes sense in certain situations. Typically, an online community manager is most valuable when your community has started to achieve significant scale. You’ll know you need a community manager if you start seeing problems like falling engagement or complaints about inappropriate behavior.

The specific duties of an online community manager depend on your goals. The most common job responsibilities include the following:

  • Moderation. A community manager will review potentially inappropriate content for deletion. In some cases, the community manager may also have to determine if a specific user should be suspended or banned for inappropriate behavior or violating community rules.
  • Directing Users For Help. When your community members post asking for help or have detailed product questions, the community manager can step in and direct the person on how to access support.
  • Oversee Your Social Media Communities. Your goal may be to grow your audience on your website. However, your customers may prefer Facebook or other platforms. Therefore, the community manager reviews these other platforms and responds to community members as needed.
  • Report On Community Trends. Regularly provide written and oral reports to others in the company about current trends. In this way, the community manager helps the rest of the company understand what’s working well with the community.

What if your organization doesn’t have the budget to hire a full-time community manager? There are other options. In the previous section, you learned about community badges to recognize your top community participants. You can take that process a step further by asking your top community members to take on the role of a volunteer moderator.

Community Building Tools

Building an online community also takes the right mix of technologies. It is best to focus your community-building efforts on your website. When users are on your website, it’s easier to track their actions and gather data.

5) Use Live Chat To Build Audience Engagement.

Using Arena live chat is a powerful way to transform your website into an interactive experience. Arena has content moderation features that make it easier to keep discussions focused and enforce your standards. And the best part? It can be embedded into your existing digital properties so your community remains a part of your core brand experience, always. Learn more about Arena Live Chat.

Arena also helps brands and organizations run engaging, brand-safe community experiences with a few key capabilities.

Growing Engagement

Creating an engaging experience starts with good ideas and excellent content. However, online attention spans tend to be short. One way to keep your audience members engaged is to give them easy ways to engage. Arena has polls and Q&A features so you can ask quick questions and gather feedback at every event.

Maintaining A Brand Safe Experience

Inviting dozens, hundreds, or thousands of community members to an online event is exciting! There’s also a greater chance of some community members forgetting your ground rules. Arena’s AI content moderation is equipped to detect and block the most common profanity. Also, you can use manual moderation (e.g., review and approve each post or question) for an added level of brand safety in your most important events.

6) Use A Live Blog To Provide Updates On Breaking News

Breaking news stories offer an exciting way to build community engagement. Journalists and news organizations have used live blog technology for years to cover breaking stories. Whether you’re covering an election, tournament, criminal trial, or conference, a live blog is a speedy way to provide live updates. Learn more about Arena Live Blog.

7) Post Video Content To Lift Community Engagement

Including video in your online community is wise because Generation Z and Millennials love consuming video content. Post video shorts on social media to promote the premium content experiences on your website. Once you have users on your website, package your video experiences as events to drive engagement further.

E-commerce companies, where customers can buy through your website, have an even more significant opportunity: live shopping. Crafting a live shopping experience takes planning, so check out our guide on the best way to make live shopping successful.

How To Take Back Control of Your Community From Social Media

For years, social media has been a powerful force in building online communities. People have forged connections with new friends and developed relationships that couldn’t have happened otherwise. At the same time, social media in the 2020s faces major problems for brands seeking growth.

Over the past few years, social media platforms have faced a growing list of challenges. TikTok has faced potential government bans. Recent changes at Twitter have caused many brands to pause advertising. Facebook and Instagram have struggled with multiple scandals that have undermined their reputation. For brands dependent on social platforms, these problems all represent headwinds to growth.

The good news is that you don’t have to sit back and hope that the big social media platforms improve. You can engage your community directly on your website. Arena Community offers many of the most popular social media features like chat and social reactions.

Learn why hosting community interactions directly on your website enables growth.

How Successful B2C and B2B Brands Build Online Communities

Posted on by

An online community is an important way to drive leads, engagement, and sales. While powerful, it can be challenging to design a thriving community without examples. To help you broaden your horizons and see all the possibilities around, we’ve reviewed a combined B2C and B2B online communities. These communities have been active for years and show sustained engagement.

Thriving Online Communities: 3 B2C Examples

A growing number of consumer-focused brands have created thriving communities. These efforts usually involve a combination of community building on social media and the brand’s website. There are lessons to model in each case, even if you don’t have the same product. For example, a cosmetics brand might share the audience profile as your clothing brand. Let’s examine how three different consumer companies have created digital communities hubs.

1) Glow Recipe

Founded in 2014, Glow Recipe is a skincare beauty brand. The business started by importing Korean beauty products into the United States. After a few years, the business launched its own products. By 2021, CNBC reports that the company has an “estimated $100 million in sales.”

The Glow Recipe approach to forming a digital community involves content and a rewards program.

Glow Recipe’s Content

The skincare company has a significant amount of video content and blog content to attract customers. With over 85,000 subscribers, the Glow Recipe YouTube channel includes tutorials, product videos, and media appearances. The brand’s blog is notable for its themed interview series “Boss Babes,” featuring successful women entrepreneurs and creative professionals.

Loyalty Program

The company’s content helps to attract customers, but what about inspiring repeat business? That’s where the company’s loyalty program, “Glow Rewards,” comes in. For each dollar spent with the brand, customers earn points that can be redeemed for products.

In addition, Glow Recipe’s founders had a fresh idea to bring Korean skincare products to the US market. The Glow Recipe approach is largely focused on the online world exclusively. Let’s see how Lululemon integrates digital and offline experiences to build its community.

2) Lululemon Athletica 

Based in Canada, Lululemon is best known for its yoga apparel and related products. The premium brand has attracted a significant following. The company’s focus on community building is a key driver for its success.

Events

Many stores sell athletic and leisure apparel, but few have created event experiences like Lululemon. The company’s Flatiron store in New York alone has hosted over 30 events, including fitness instruction (e.g., kettlebell basics) and offline and virtual community events with guests (e.g., the mindful creative series and book release events).

Customer Stories

Lululemon has a significant selection of inspiring customer stories called the Sweat Collection. This content includes interviews and instructional content on desk stretches and yoga routines from coaches, personal trainers, athletes and other fitness professionals. The company’s stories are brilliantly illustrated with high-quality photos and videos.

Premium Content

Ever thought about starting your own streaming service? Take inspiration from Lululemon Studio. The service includes more than 10,000 workouts. In addition, Lululemon Studio app users get a discount at Studio Partners’ locations. The paid version of the plan is currently priced at $39 per month with a twelve-month commitment

Lululemon’s success with community building shows that brands can build events, group experiences, and more around physical products.

3) Playstation

Sony’s Playstation has transformed into a thriving digital community. According to Statista, there are over 100 million monthly active users on the Playstation network as of September 2022, up from 50 million in 2014.

Designing A Shared Experience Into The Product

A key reason for Sony’s success is the shared gaming experience. By building a networked experience, players can find other people to play with worldwide. Social features and experiences are quickly becoming an everyday experience.

The Rise and Fall of The PS4 Community

While successful in many respects, Playstation offers a cautionary tale. In 2021, Sony announced it was shutting down the Playstation 4 communities. Accessible via the Playstation and a mobile app, this community feature gave players an interactive message board. ArsTechnica points out that unmoderated communities became a problem. At the same time, it’s clear that many Playstation enthusiasts are disappointed by the company’s decision.

Learn from Sony’s experience as you build brand communities. Moderation and oversight are important to maintaining the quality of community experiences. The continuing rise of online hate speech and other inappropriate content means that brand communities must remain vigilant.

Successful Online Communities: 3 B2B Examples

Building a community around a B2B audience is often considered more difficult than building a consumer community. It’s typically easy to find consumers who fit a broad profile, like men under 30 who love fitness. With B2B audiences, it can be more difficult to tap into.

1) Salesforce

Salesforce has grown into one of the most successful business software companies. The business started by tightly focused on software for sales teams. The company has recently developed products for marketing, field service, and other teams. Throughout that growth, the Salesforce focus on community has been a constant.

Salesforce Events

The Salesforce annual conference, known as Dreamforce, has become one of the largest technology conferences in the world. In 2022, the event attracted over 40,000 attendees to San Francisco. To extend the conference experience, Salesforce has made recordings of many sessions available online via Salesforce+.

The company doesn’t put all of its event eggs in the Dreamforce basket either. The business has also run a series of regional events through its Trailhead program, with gatherings planned in Phoenix, Austin, Portland, Minneapolis, and beyond in 2023. This regional approach is a smart way to reach more people unable or unwilling to travel to the Dreamforce event.

Salesforce Ecosystem of Partners and Certifications

Salesforce software is complex, with many different settings and customization options. This is a common challenge facing many business software companies. Salesforce solved this issue by leveraging its community in two ways. Rather than building up an extensive professional services division, the business has focused on developing a network of consultants. To demonstrate their expertise to clients, consultants also have the option to earn Salesforce certifications.

As of late 2022, Salesforce offers certifications for several career roles, including administrators, developers, architects, marketers, and consultants. These programs have become so popular that an industry of authors, trainers, and other experts has emerged to help people earn their certifications.

Salesforce Content Marketing

Salesforce is no stranger to content marketing either. The company currently has podcasts dedicated to marketing trends, trends in the professional world, and IT. Further, the Salesforce YouTube channel has more than 240,000 YouTube subscribers. The company’s videos include interviews, how-to content, and company news.

The Salesforce approach to content includes significant training resources for its users. The company’s Trailhead website offers in-demand videos, networking opportunities, and social media-style experiences.

The Salesforce approach to creating a highly engaged community has paid dividends. In 2022, it is estimated that nearly 100,000 people have earned Salesforce certifications. Whether you look at the company’s events or digital experiences, Salesforce has achieved tremendous engagement with its online community platforms.

2) DBT Community

Where should you go if you have a passion for analytics and engineering? The DBT Community has used several strategies to build community engagement for their technical users.

DBT Website

The centerpiece of the DBT community, which is organized around several themes: help, show and tell, and in-depth discussions. The B2B community provides immediate value by allowing users to post code and questions.

Slack

In addition to the discussion board on the DBT website, the company also offers community Slack. To keep discussions focused, the Slack has multiple channels like #leading-data-teams, #jobs (to post job postings or job hunt for people knowledgeable in dbt), and #analytics-craft.

Open Source Participation

The technology business also participates in the open source movement. The DBT-labs GitHub page has plugins, scripts, and other documentation. Choosing to offer open-source participation may not fit with every company’s goals. However, it’s wise to look for opportunities to collaborate with technical users to make your product more valuable.

3) Stripe and Indie Hackers

Stripe, a major payment software provider, has taken a different path to online community building. In 2017, Indie Hackers was acquired by Stripe. The Indie Hackers brand includes a very active discussion forum, interview-style podcasts, and rich data. Cortland Allen, the founder of Indie Hackers, explained his decision to sell the company by discussing the burden of running the business:

“However, filling ad inventory every month has come at a cost. It was starting to occupy a large chunk of my time, and I found myself spending less and less time producing great content for the interviews, the podcast, and the forum — the very reasons I created the site in the first place.” – Acquired by Stripe.

The Stripe approach to buying an online community is significant in two ways. First, it shows that organizations don’t always have to create digital communities from scratch. Second, it shows the power of thinking more broadly about your customer base and community. Indie Hackers isn’t focused on payments – the core business of Stripe. That said, Stripe realized that online entrepreneurs need to get paid and can use Stripe to meet that goal.

Create Your Online Community Today

Whether you are selling to consumers or large businesses, an online community is a powerful strategy to generate leads, increase sales and sustain growth. These examples show different ways of using content, events, and other tactics to foster community growth. It’s also important to have the right technology for your online community. Learn more about building your digital community with Arena.

5 Essential Tips for Online Community Safety

Posted on by

The online world has a problem: harmful content and interactions are growing. At its worst, harmful content and communications are used to incite physical violence, but receiving negative comments online can also be extremely damaging to one’s mental health, sense of self-worth, and overall safety.

That is why, when brands build online communities of their own, guaranteeing your online community safety should be a top priority.

The High Cost Of Harmful Online Content

Harmful online content has countless other impacts. As mentioned above, mental health can suffer when people are exposed to negative content and, in the majority of the cases, this harmful content is targeted at women and minorities. For example, platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube all struggle with harmful content despite their significant efforts to counter these trends. Let’s look at a few statistics that illustrate the depth of this challenge.

Social Media Platforms Spend Billions On Content Moderation

In 2021, CNBC reported that Facebook alone is spending billions of dollars on content moderation efforts. Those costs will likely increase because moderators complain about mental health problems and inadequate pay.

The $78 Billion Impact of Fake News

A 2019 report from CHEQ estimated the financial cost of fake news at $78 billion. The report defines fake news as “The deliberate creation and sharing of false and/or manipulated information that is intended to deceive and mislead audiences, either for the purposes of causing harm or for political, personal or financial gain.” Such efforts are hurting democratic governance, eroding trust, and making it more difficult to create positive online communities.

Increasing Government Attention

In the early days, the growth of the Internet was supported by minimal regulation. The impact of harmful online content and increasing concerns about privacy protection are already changing the online landscape. Marketers have already had to adapt their practices in light of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

New proposals from the British and Canadian governments further demand regulation of harmful online content. So far, these efforts to target and reduce harmful online content are targeted at a small number of large technology companies. Eventually, those expectations may apply to other businesses like yours.

It’s clear that harmful content is a significant problem. While the problem may be at its worst on large, publicly available social media sites, it is still a concern for other businesses. For example, your company may offer virtual events and virtual conferences to engage your audience, and such events are typically intended to be many people. Therefore, you risk harmful or damaging content undermining your online community safety efforts.

That’s the bad news…. The good news is that the situation is far from hopeless. There are specific steps you can take to engage your audience without risking your online community’s safety.

The Two Main Types of Online Communities

Creating a thriving online community means taking risks. Some of those risks – like new content ideas not connecting with your audience – are worth taking. Other risks, such as your event derailed by harmful content, are different.

Fostering a positively engaged audience takes a variety of strategies. The methods you choose will depend on how you run your online community. For simplicity, let’s consider two examples: a public and a closed community. It is nice to note that an organization may have both kinds of communities for different purposes (i.e., a public community for lead generation vs. a closed community for customers).

  • A public online community is a situation where you throw the doors wide open and anybody can enter your event/community. For example, a media brand offering a live chat experience during an election or a championship sporting event might prefer a public event to maximize attendance numbers and potential advertising revenue. The fully open nature of this type of community means a heightened risk of inappropriate content.
  • A closed online community is limited in some fashion. This limitation can take a variety of forms. For example, you might charge an admission fee to join your event. Alternatively, your community might be invitation-based (i.e., only your top 100 customers are invited to an exclusive ‘customer council’ community). In contrast to a publicly accessible community, a closed online community will usually have far fewer attendees. The advantages of a closed community include a lower likelihood of disruptive people (i.e., “trolls”) and more common ground between participants.

Growing a Thriving Online Community: Essential Tools for Online Community Safety

Fostering a thriving and safe online community requires multiple strategies. Here are some effective and straightforward strategies to help you achieve it.

Leverage Technology To Filter Inappropriate Content

To eliminate the need for manually blocking and excluding harmful comments and messages, consider using a profanity filter. Basically, you’ll create a directory of forbidden words and expressions, that will be automatically blocked whenever they pop up in your community.

Arena offers a profanity filter that makes it easy to prevent the most common forms of inappropriate communication. Using this capability makes it much easier to create an environment safe for your audience. We’ll explore this capability in further detail below.

Establish Simple Community Guidelines

Aside from straightforward situations like using profanity, there is some disagreement about what counts as appropriate vs. inappropriate in the online world. For example, some communities love to debate and be passionate about sharing their opinions – which can be either wonderful or hurtful! Another approach is to create and use simple rules and ask all community participants to follow them.

For example, your online community might take inspiration from Reddit communities that often use rules such as: don’t be a jerk, promote self-promotion, keep discussions on topic, and moderators reserve the right to intervene.

Add Barriers To Entry For Your Community

Adding barriers to entry, such as requiring a user to register for an account or pay an admission fee, are an effective way to discourage disruptive behavior. Alternatively, your barrier to entry might be based on limited awareness – like only inviting people on your email list to join the event.

Optional: Role Play With Your Event Staff

For organizations planning to host events with a large number of attendees or a large number of events, additional training through role play is helpful. In this case, ask two to three employees to serve as event staff and ask 5-10 employees to take the role of participants. Secretly ask a few of the employee-participant to act disruptive and notice how this situation is handled.

Training your employees and encouraging positive behavior in your audience are some of the most powerful ways to maintain a safe community. Unfortunately, these strategies take time to develop. They are worth developing, but it is also vital to offer your community a certain baseline level of safety. That’s where Arena’s content moderation capabilities make a big difference.

Five Ways To Build A Safe Online Community with Arena

By using Arena Live Chat, you have several options to build a safe community. Each organization will use these options differ depending on its values and community needs. For the best results, invite your moderation team to become familiar with these tools.

1) Use The Profanity Filter

Reducing profanity is a key quick win to creating a safer online community. There is a built-in profanity list of commonly banned words. You can review, edit and update this list based on your needs. Once the filter detects a banned word, you can choose whether to replace the word with a series of asterisks (***) or block the user. Blocking users who use profanity may be wise in situations where the live chat includes children or controversial topics.

2) Review Reported Users

Arena Live Chat lets chat users report another user for inappropriate activities (e.g. inappropriate direct messages etc). During the live chat, review the reported users every few minutes and do a quick investigation. If the infraction is minor, you may decide to send a warning message to the user and delete their message. For more serious violations, see the next option.

3) Ban User and Delete Message

In some environments – especially public live chats with a large number of users – you may encounter highly inappropriate content (e.g. sexist, racist, or other violations of your policies). If these violations are ignored, it can embolden disruptive users. That’s why it is helpful to use the “Ban user and delete message” capability. Arena saves banned users in the organization’s dashboard so there’s less chance of suffering disruption in the future.

4) Delete Message

This moderation feature is a good choice for borderline inappropriate content. For example, you might choose to delete a message (rather than banning the user) if some users engage in self-promotion assuming your guidelines discourage that activity. Likewise, the delete message capability might also be useful when you see a rise in off-topic discussions.

What if you end up deleting a significant number of messages? Large live chat sessions that are fully open to the public tend to face this risk. Reinforcing your code of conduct expectations for the event can help. If problems persist, you may wish to consider using the pre-moderation feature to further control the flow of discussion.

5) Use The Pre-Moderation Feature To Maximize Brand Safety

Traditionally, a live chat experience emphasizes live interaction between users. Usually, it is best to encourage a free flow of conversation. Yet there are some situations where it’s appropriate to intervene more heavily by using pre-moderation. In essence, pre-moderation means that each message has to be manually approved by moderators before it shows up in the live chat window.

There are pros and cons to using pre-moderation in your live chat. The advantages are there you can filter out almost all inappropriate chat content. There are downsides though – moderator review of each message slows down the pace of the conversation significantly. As a result, your audience may become disengaged if they are kept waiting too long. The second disadvantage is that pre-moderation requires more effort from your team.

Conclusion

Maintaining a safer online community requires ongoing effort and the right tools. With Arena’s advanced moderation and engagement features, you can create a secure and welcoming environment for all users. Find out more about Arena’s social communities solution.

‍