Spot on with the post! Just thinking out loud, but it would seem that engagement from organic communities can often come from having a common thread, i.e. a topic that everyone is truly passionate about and invested in.

There’s also the dynamic of the community leaders. Sure, the essence of community is that every participates, but on with most social networks I’m on, there are usually members who communicate with more reach, rising to the top with new innovative ways to get the community engaged. This is especially true with LinkedIn groups and local Twitter communities.

@jimcanterucci commented that: “…an inorganic community can be successful if the engagement is pure, great useful content is provided and the content provider is genuine.”

Jim’s hit the head on the nail as well. I believe that inorganic communities (even if their started by companies to engage their audience), can be successful if they’re created with the intention of really connecting community members to build relationships and create opportunities.

Customer communities can have a significant effect on client retention if all the ingredients are present. An example would be a corporate User Group for a software company. Leadership of the company could engage with customers to work on improving software features and fixing bugs. Educational content and discussions on best practices could take place between members if seeded right. All of these members would have a common thread – they all want to use the software as efficiently and effectively as possible. The company could reduce training costs by fostering discussions and then letting community members train each other based on their experience.

I absolutely agree, the goal of the community CANNOT be to sell, but in a down economy when the cost of acquiring a new customer is far greater than retaining your existing customers, I think private corporate-managed customer communities like this can be a leveraged as a very valuable tool. Retention is the new acquisition.

Thanks for the great post!

It really comes down to doing it right in either type of community. Everyone has something to sell or derives their living from someone who sells something. Thank goodness because we all like to buy things.

How the people in a company interacts with the community is the key. I would guess that even an inorganic community can be successful if the engagement is pure, great useful content is provided and the content provider is genuine.

This is exactly what works well in an organic community. Thanks for the post.

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