Comments on: Always cater to the tastes of your community http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/ Community Building Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:46:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Great posts - 29/7 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-5170 Great posts - 29/7 Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:32:31 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-5170 [...] spark - Always cater to the tastes of your community Martin from community spark is constantly coming up with great articles for your community. [...] [...] spark – Always cater to the tastes of your community Martin from community spark is constantly coming up with great articles for your community. [...]

]]> By: Martin Reed - Blog Author http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4896 Martin Reed - Blog Author Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:17:20 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4896 <strong>Jay</strong> - I am glad you are finding my blog useful :) Jay – I am glad you are finding my blog useful :)

]]> By: Jay http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4893 Jay Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:41:41 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4893 I appreciate the offer; I've been scouring the archives over the past couple days and will continue to do so. I've got your RSS feed in Gmail as well. Thanks again for the nice site. I appreciate the offer; I’ve been scouring the archives over the past couple days and will continue to do so. I’ve got your RSS feed in Gmail as well. Thanks again for the nice site.

]]> By: Martin Reed - Blog Author http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4883 Martin Reed - Blog Author Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:51:44 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4883 <strong>Smiley</strong> - You have a pretty unique set up there; I have no doubt that this really differentiates your community from others. Keep coming up with original ideas, and keep hard at work creating content and you'll be set. <strong>Jay</strong> - I am sure you will find some articles of use in the archives. If you want to see an article on a specific area of community building that I haven't yet covered (or that you want more detail on), just let me know! Smiley – You have a pretty unique set up there; I have no doubt that this really differentiates your community from others. Keep coming up with original ideas, and keep hard at work creating content and you’ll be set.

Jay – I am sure you will find some articles of use in the archives. If you want to see an article on a specific area of community building that I haven’t yet covered (or that you want more detail on), just let me know!

]]> By: Jay http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4839 Jay Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:20:00 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4839 Thanks -- I will certainly look around at the entries in your archive! Thanks — I will certainly look around at the entries in your archive!

]]> By: Smiley http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4817 Smiley Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:17:11 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4817 Yep, they're fine with it. I keep the boards and the chat separate anyway. The members feel they run the boards, and the official anonymous staff names do all the official representing the site stuff. Not that there's much of that to do yet, lol, but I like to make sure there's one around at all times, even if there's only a dozen people in the chat, it looks good to that dozen if there's a representative there despite the user numbers! Shows we care, I think. Yep, they’re fine with it. I keep the boards and the chat separate anyway. The members feel they run the boards, and the official anonymous staff names do all the official representing the site stuff. Not that there’s much of that to do yet, lol, but I like to make sure there’s one around at all times, even if there’s only a dozen people in the chat, it looks good to that dozen if there’s a representative there despite the user numbers! Shows we care, I think.

]]> By: Martin Reed - Blog Author http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4809 Martin Reed - Blog Author Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:38:03 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4809 <strong>Smiley</strong> - It is interesting to see you have your moderators continue to use their regular chat names. This can really foster a sense of community (as long as those chatters are happy with constantly being associated with being a staff member!). You're right that it's always a good idea to be aware and pay attention to the thoughts and opinions of your members - particularly when you are planning any changes. <strong>Michael</strong> - The best way to get a feel for your members' tastes is to be involved in your community. Speak to your members and get involved in conversations. Get to know your members and the general personality of your community - then you will be in a great position to understand and cater to the needs of your members. <strong>Marketer Barrera</strong> - I agree that polls can be a good way of getting basic thoughts and opinions from your members. Always remember though, that they only offer limited information - they give you figures for pre-determined options that you have chosen but do not explain the thoughts and ideas <em>behind</em> someone's decision to choose a particular option. Additionally, if your site only attracts low visitor numbers then getting an adequate number of respondents for the collected data to be an accurate reflection of the thoughts of your overall community may be a challenge. This is an interesting area, and one I think I will cover in a future article. <strong>Sutocu</strong> - It is essential that you only ever contact members if they have given you explicit permission to do so. Your community members must be able to <a href="http://www.communityspark.com/the-importance-of-trust/">trust you</a>. I wrote about the importance of only emailing those who give you permission to do so in my article entitled '<a href="http://www.communityspark.com/common-email-newsletter-mistakes/">Common email newsletter mistakes</a>'. <strong>Jay</strong> - Thanks for your comment and welcome to the blog. It would be impossible to write a single article detailing how to successfully start a community as there are a number of requirements. I would recommend you have a look around the <a href="http://www.communityspark.com/archives/">archives</a> here, and also check out the '<a href="http://www.communityspark.com/top-posts/">Top posts</a>' section for some helpful articles that I have already written. In the meantime, stay tuned for more to come in the future! Smiley – It is interesting to see you have your moderators continue to use their regular chat names. This can really foster a sense of community (as long as those chatters are happy with constantly being associated with being a staff member!).

You’re right that it’s always a good idea to be aware and pay attention to the thoughts and opinions of your members – particularly when you are planning any changes.

Michael – The best way to get a feel for your members’ tastes is to be involved in your community. Speak to your members and get involved in conversations.

Get to know your members and the general personality of your community – then you will be in a great position to understand and cater to the needs of your members.

Marketer Barrera – I agree that polls can be a good way of getting basic thoughts and opinions from your members. Always remember though, that they only offer limited information – they give you figures for pre-determined options that you have chosen but do not explain the thoughts and ideas behind someone’s decision to choose a particular option.

Additionally, if your site only attracts low visitor numbers then getting an adequate number of respondents for the collected data to be an accurate reflection of the thoughts of your overall community may be a challenge.

This is an interesting area, and one I think I will cover in a future article.

Sutocu – It is essential that you only ever contact members if they have given you explicit permission to do so. Your community members must be able to trust you. I wrote about the importance of only emailing those who give you permission to do so in my article entitled ‘Common email newsletter mistakes‘.

Jay – Thanks for your comment and welcome to the blog. It would be impossible to write a single article detailing how to successfully start a community as there are a number of requirements.

I would recommend you have a look around the archives here, and also check out the ‘Top posts‘ section for some helpful articles that I have already written.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more to come in the future!

]]> By: Jay http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4800 Jay Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:10:58 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4800 I appreciate this article, and would like to suggest a future article with tips of HOW to START a community. That always seems to be the difficult part. Reaching a critical mass where you actually have a community, rather than just stragglers. How do you promote your community? I appreciate this article, and would like to suggest a future article with tips of HOW to START a community. That always seems to be the difficult part. Reaching a critical mass where you actually have a community, rather than just stragglers. How do you promote your community?

]]> By: Smiley http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4798 Smiley Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:57:33 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4798 Interacting with your members is the best way to get the feel of the community, I'd say. Members & I often have friendly banter.. that tells me they have a pretty good sense of humour etc. Or if you have serious discussions with them, then they're the serious type. To me, that's the best way to get a feel of what they want - whatever kind of conversations etc that they seem to enjoy the most !! Interacting with your members is the best way to get the feel of the community, I’d say. Members & I often have friendly banter.. that tells me they have a pretty good sense of humour etc.

Or if you have serious discussions with them, then they’re the serious type.

To me, that’s the best way to get a feel of what they want – whatever kind of conversations etc that they seem to enjoy the most !!

]]> By: Sutocu http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/comment-page-1/#comment-4797 Sutocu Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:48:16 +0000 http://www.communityspark.com/always-cater-to-the-tastes-of-your-community/#comment-4797 Always be careful when sending email to your community. Take care that it does not appear to be spam. Always be careful when sending email to your community. Take care that it does not appear to be spam.

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