Case analysis: How does an excellent community operate?

There are many methodologies for community operation , from the life cycle theory from establishment to maturity to decline, as well as case analysis that teaches you step by step how to build a community . This article teaches you how to operate a community step by step, from vision to welfare.

It was the golden period of National Day, and I started to organize my WeChat address book when I was free. I found that I had joined many groups, but most of them were zombie groups that had been silent for a long time. Some of them were active for a certain period of time and then became silent, some continued to watch and lurk until they died, and some joined and chatted for a few words before being blocked directly. Why did this phenomenon occur?

I personally think that when a group is first established, managers should have some short-term and long-term thinking. Only in this way can we avoid future operational errors. Here I will share with you the five-step philosophy of personal community operation, hoping it will be of some help:

① Community Vision ② Community Threshold ③ Community Rules ④ Community Activities ⑤ Community Benefits

Note that the order of these five steps cannot be messed up, but they are interactive and need to be continuously improved and iterated. In fact, this is consistent with our product thinking.

1. Community Vision

When a group owner sets up a community, he must think clearly about one thing: what is the purpose of this group?

Because in order to gather everyone together to do something, there must be a reason. Without this reason, people will not come; without this reason, even if people come, their hearts will not be united.

So how do we build the top-level concept of the community, or how do we attract or invite members to join? We must consider our motivation here and return to the basic needs of human nature!

At the current stage of life, people's survival and security needs have been basically met, which has given rise to higher-level needs. The best form of carrying these three needs shown in the figure is the community. The following is Tencent's classification of communities (personally I think it is classified according to the popular types of groups)

But personally, I think it can be divided into two categories:

Interest Groups:

Why would someone start a relationship with someone who is not in a relationship?

For people

That is what we often call a fan group, such as Wu Yifan’s fan group. Every time they come, they go to the airport to pick him up. They all have one thing in common, that is, we all love Wu Yifan [囧–o(╯□╰)o];

Targeted

That is, what we mean by everyone likes to do something, such as a hiking group, where a group of strangers who don’t know each other gather together because they like to go hiking and travel together on weekends;

Targeted

That is what we mean by what product everyone likes. For example, Xiaomi fans always share information and discuss various topics in the forum before launching a new product.

Relationship Group:

Because someone has some connection with me, something specific is about to happen.

• Family relationship, because we are related by blood, so we need to become family.
• Friendship, because of the emotional connection between people, we become friends
• Colleague relationship, because we have worked together, we have become colleagues
• Classmate relationship, because everyone has studied together, so they are called classmates
• Fellow townspeople, because everyone has lived together in a certain place, so they are called fellow townspeople

…..etc

All communities are inseparable from the above two categories, and the vision is the reason to mobilize them together, or to work together. This must be there, and all group members need to know it, so as to ensure that the overall development of the group will not go astray, the so-called good roots.

2. Community Threshold

When creating a group, it is important to identify the members and set an initial entry threshold (that is, to identify the lower limit of group members).

The higher the screening and challenge thresholds set for a group at the entry stage, the lower the churn rate after joining the group. If no threshold is set, when new members continue to pour into the group, the quality of individual members cannot be guaranteed, which will eventually lead to the phenomenon of "bad money driving out good money" and a large number of high-quality members will be lost. When the community develops to a certain extent, secondary adjustments can be made depending on the pace of operations.

Here are some common methods for setting initial thresholds:

• Special invitation system: invitation by group owner or administrator, for example, using invitation code;
• Paid membership: This is the most direct way to join the group. You can join the group by paying a certain amount of money.
• Identity condition system: implement a strict review mechanism, for example, only the chairman and general manager of the company can join;
• High-asset system: take photos or verify in person, such as a luxury car club, everyone needs to own a certain brand of car to join;
• Product purchase system: You can join by purchasing a certain amount of products, a typical example is Kaola.com;

3. Community Rules

The establishment of group rules requires collective efforts. The group owner can establish preliminary rules during the initial operation, and then gradually enrich them according to the operation situation in the later stage. However, the group owner should avoid having the final say.

It is best to form a group rule after discussion among group members and reach consensus before implementing it, so that it is easier to comply with. If the group rule is not followed by everyone, the group owner will lose face and prestige, which will be inconvenient for the management and maintenance of the community in the future.

If the group leader wants to introduce strong group rules, then the group leader's influence must be several orders of magnitude higher than that of the group members, so that he can gain the psychological advantage of complying with the group rules - but most of the time, organizational discipline that emphasizes public opinion has a longer lifespan than groups that emphasize personal power.

In addition, if there are too many people in a group, you should choose certain muting measures; for example, no chatting in the group during working hours, and it’s okay at night and holidays. This will improve the situation a lot.

The rules of a community actually define the daily conduct of group members. They are a kind of obligation and responsibility. Here are some common types of community rules:

• Naming rules: All new members should name their nicknames according to the rules, such as city + real name + industry.
• Rules of speech and behavior: Group members should actively participate in the discussion of topics within the group, express their opinions, and refuse some forms of personal attacks and insults to group members.
• Task rules: All members need to complete specific tasks within a specific time. Those who fail to complete the tasks on time will be punished. For example, a content sharing community requires each member to post a new experience in the group within one week after each class. If the deadline is exceeded, a 10 yuan red envelope will be issued.
• Punishment rules: All members must not cross the line, such as posting violence, pornography, and other malicious advertisements will be directly removed from the group

etc…..

As the saying goes, "Without rules, there is no order." The purpose of rules is to make the community move in a set direction without deviation.

4. Community Activities

Community activities are actually an important way to liven up the atmosphere within the group. They are in the interests of group members. If there are no activities or communication within a group for a long time, the members will become unfamiliar and sparse with each other, without a sense of belonging, and everyone will lose the value and meaning of their existence.

Here are some common activities:

Content Sharing Session

A common way of organization is for the group owner to coordinate group members in advance, plan 1 to 2 topics per week, invite different group members or external experts to share, spend 1 to 2 hours each time, and invite group members to communicate and discuss together at the agreed time. This will create a sense of "collective creation". At the same time, regular sharing will allow group members to develop a sense of identity and find the value of their own existence, and this sense of value will catalyze more positive chemical reactions.

Red Envelope Chain Game

The group owner sends a random red envelope, and then the person who grabs the highest amount in the red envelope continues to send red envelopes. This will end after three consecutive rounds. This can increase the fun among group members and liven up the atmosphere. Another benefit is that it can also remove some lurking group members (hahaha!!)

Sign in

For example, in a fitness community, everyone supervises each other every day to see if they have completed the training seriously. Each group member is required to upload three photos of their fitness today before 9 o'clock in the evening, such as photos of sweating and photos of lifting dumbbells. Then everyone can comment and communicate together. On the one hand, it can increase the sense of belonging of the group members, and on the other hand, it can increase the mutual recognition and sense of existence of the group members.

Recruitment with prizes

For example, collecting community treasures, community flowers and plants, collecting community logos, collecting correct children's names, collecting slogans, collecting mascots, collecting essays, collecting promotional slogans, etc. It is to make use of the wisdom of group members, and it will be even more powerful with prizes, while increasing the sense of participation of group members.

etc…..

A good community relies on activities to connect people and remains active to remain vibrant.

5. Community Benefits

During the operation of the community, we need to consider the long-term and short-term benefits of group members, set the benefits for the group at different periods based on the group goals and the motivations of group members to join, and grow together with the group members.

These benefits may be allowing them to share products and gain profits, or they may make them feel that they have gained a lot of knowledge and achieved continuous growth, or even make a good friend and find a sense of belonging among similar people - in short, you must always be able to understand what the group members are thinking.

A good operator should be able to touch people's hearts.

Balance the motivations for creating a group and joining a group to create personalized benefits.

Give a complete case

Dark Horse Community: Let users collaborate to create a community with a sense of belonging

Community Vision: To enable deep cooperation or transaction relationships between users, with the needs of corporate founders as the core, to create an entrepreneurial incubation community that integrates learning and growth, financing roadshows, promotion consulting and other services.

Community threshold: Users are positioned as elites, all of whom are entrepreneurs . Since their circles and beliefs are basically very similar, users of the Dark Horse community spontaneously initiate and participate in community activities and have a stronger sense of ownership.

Community rules: Through NiuTou’s equity crowdfunding model, entrepreneurs in the community invest in and help each other. Ultimately, high-quality entrepreneurs can be listed on the New Third Board. At the same time, successful entrepreneurs can help entrepreneurs who are still growing, and ultimately achieve common success through mutual help and cooperation among entrepreneurs.

Driven by this rule, cooperative circles spontaneously initiated by community users have emerged in the Dark Horse community, becoming sub-communities within the community. When a community has more sub-communities (small circles), this kind of community is basically very vital.

Community activities: Its Dark Horse Competition, Dark Horse Business School, iEndorsement, and NiuTou can all support the users of the Dark Horse community to participate in them, and these activities also have certain industrial chain connections. On the spiritual level, the Dark Horse community is also committed to building a sense of superiority. Media coverage by Entrepreneur and iDark Horse , as well as joining Dark Horse Camps and Dark Horse Clubs with high-quality entrepreneurs, allow entrepreneurs to have a greater sense of belonging to the community.

Community benefits: ① Powerful entrepreneurial resources ② Sense of superiority after joining the community ③ Continuous personal growth ④ Sense of belonging through self-realization

Summarize

If you want to build a good community, you must think about the above 5 aspects in the early stage of building the group. Both short-term and long-term operation plans need to be taken into account. It will help you avoid making mistakes in community operations.