Analysis of 4 types of community operations!

Do you often see this kind of situation in the communities you are in, or in the communities run by many brands:

• When there are benefits, everyone is active, but when there are no benefits, the group is dead silent.
• Despite the announcement of group rules, advertising links are still everywhere in the group, and it eventually became a spam group.
• After the event, the group owner wanted to turn the flash group into a long-term operation group, but he couldn't operate it.

When many people consult me ​​about business, they often start with “Da Nian, why can’t my community be established?” “Da Nian, how can I promote the community?”

Before explaining this "big" question, I usually guide the other party to think: Is your business suitable for community? What kind of community is suitable?

In today’s article, I will sort out several common types of communities based on their characteristics, for your reference before starting your community business.

1. Consumer Community

As the name suggests, this type of community was originally established for the purpose of selling goods. The only criterion for measuring the quality of a community is revenue output. However, based on the way of selling, it can be divided into product-oriented selling and wool welfare-oriented selling.

There is no need for interaction between members of this type of community, and it is difficult for them to interact with each other. It is like going to a supermarket to buy things, where customers rarely interact with each other.

1. Product-oriented sales community

This type of community is not sensitive to price. On the contrary, they pay more attention to the brand, product and quality of the service process. A typical example is the sales groups of some social e-commerce group leaders. I know a group leader in Hangzhou, who has an operation team of three people, and can steadily sell goods worth 2 million yuan every month.

To be this kind of group, there are two key factors in operation:

1. You need to cultivate people and groups: The premise for establishing a social e-commerce community is social interaction first, and then e-commerce. The premise for group members and private friends to buy goods from you is to establish trust with the group leader.
2. Quality control + service: There must be a reliable supply chain and after-sales service. Good products and services can allow users to deepen their trust with the group leader after each transaction, which can easily lead to fission and old customers bringing in new ones. Once there are problems with the product, it will inevitably lead to a decrease in user trust in us, or even user loss.

2. Wool welfare community

Most of these communities exist under the names of the brand's "special price group" or "welfare group". A typical example is Luckin Coffee's welfare group, which distributes coupons within the group every now and then, and guides users to place orders in various ways.

The standard for measuring the quality of such communities is the conversion funnel from welfare discounts to consumption, such as the coupon redemption rate, the coupon redemption rate in stores, etc.

There are also two key factors in operating this type of group:

1. As more benefits are gained, people's psychological expectations for benefits will continue to increase. Therefore, we must learn to provide benefits in different ways to provide continuous stimulation to group members.
2. Pay attention to the life cycle of the community. When the data does not reach the expected target value, promptly import the still active users into the new group and guide the new group. Do not waste time on "dead groups" .

2. Hobbyist-type communities

A community of like-minded people is a community formed based on a certain label and interests. Common communities of like-minded people include mother-and-child communication groups, cute pet communication groups, yoga communication groups, skateboard communication groups, car friends groups, etc.

The typical feature of this type of community is that the more detailed and vertical the tags are, the higher the stickiness and activity of the community are usually, and the more obvious the commercial value of the community is . To give a simple example: "Pet communication group", "Cat communication group", "Pudong cat-stroking group", "xx community cat friends club", as the labels become more vertical and the regions become closer, the stickiness and activity of the community will generally show an increasing trend.

This type of community can be created by ordinary people who want to build a few groups based on their own interests and hobbies and make some extra money, and brands can also operate on a large scale.

There are four key points in operating this type of community:

1. In order to ensure the long-term health of the community, there needs to be a threshold for group members to join. The more detailed the group labels and the more vertical the categories, the better .
2. In the early stages of operation, it is necessary to constantly stimulate users through content and common topics to help them develop active habits .
3. Hold as many offline activities as possible to deepen the connection between users and enhance community stickiness.
4. Small, beautiful and meticulous operations can greatly extend the life cycle of a community, but monetization actions must be clever and restrained , and the community should not become a "dead group" in the early stages due to excessive marketing activities.

3. Strong IP Community

This type of community is generally established under the call of a powerful individual or brand IP, such as Xiaomi Community, Liu Run’s fan group, fan groups formed by some relatively niche independent brands, etc.

This type of community is suitable for experts, big Vs, bloggers, and well-known brands with a certain degree of influence in a circle. Its notable feature is that users are driven by passion, have a high degree of resonance with specific IPs, and are also highly willing to participate in co-creation .

Therefore, before the IP person or the brand considers building this type of community, they must rationally evaluate whether they have sufficient IP appeal to allow users to join and remain in the community. Otherwise, they may have to start from several other types of communities.

There are three key points in operating this type of community:

1. It is necessary to continuously output high-quality content/products . For example, Liu Run needs to continuously output high-quality personal opinions in the community, and Xiaomi needs to continue to produce high-quality, cost-effective products. Good content and products are tools to continuously retain users and are also natural topic fermentation products in the community.
2. Fully mobilize users' sense of participation and guide them to co-create IP/brand, such as feedback from mobile phone users, inviting users to try out the product, etc., and continue to give positive feedback to participating users.
3. Through fixed "membership days", offline fan meetings, and a unique community language system (such as emoticons, "rice noodles", and other language systems), a unique community culture is formed, and the circle effect is used to build a strong cohesion of the community.

4. Learning Community

A community that you join based on a certain learning goal can be called a learning or growth community. Our common postgraduate entrance examination and civil service examination groups, running check-in groups, weight loss camps, and side job earning communities can all be classified here.

This kind of community is very purposeful, and the purpose of group members is to obtain information and learn relevant skills. Therefore, it is relatively clearer to manage and is more suitable for bosses who take the knowledge payment route .

There are four key points in operating this kind of community:

1. Do a good job of user stratification and assign people with the same knowledge level to the same community. For example, divide them into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced . Operate in layers to avoid the embarrassment of high-level users leaving when they hear the basic knowledge of novices.
2. Set up entry thresholds to filter out “freeloaders”.
3. Multi-dimensional content operation improves the sense of gain of group users through various forms such as discussion of relevant learning topics, sharing by guest experts, and analysis of cases.
4. Clarify delivery standards to avoid group users doubting the value.

V. Summary

Having said so much, some people may still ask, what are our family groups, classmates groups, and colleagues groups?

In fact, the community is a carrier that helps us carry and operate user relationships . Among the four mainstream community types mentioned above, there is basically a community first, then there are relationships based on the community, and then transactions and monetization are generated based on the relationships.

In the context of family, classmates, and colleagues, relationships come first and communities come later. The activity of the community does not affect the relationships between us, nor does it have universal commercial value.

Someone will surely ask: Why can some people sell 2 million products in a month with only 3 people, while some brands, even with the whole department trying their best, are unable to revitalize their own communities?

That’s why I wrote this article. Could it be that you made the wrong choice when choosing the type of community that’s right for you?