HOW – Best practices
When using the Research hub, certain watch-outs need to be considered. We recommend starting small, but thinking big and scaling rapidly. This means taking the time to build the community, in terms of both size and engagement – for example, starting in one market or with one product category. In a next phase, the community can grow, and its planning can follow the business cycle.
Despite the agility provided by the Research hub, this type of community requires thorough planning – think for example about an overall content and engagement plan. Regular refreshment waves are also needed to always have a fresh pool of interested and interesting participants.
Finally, observing discussions in an online community setting with a large group of participants is very different from following a focus group that typically consists of 8 to 12 people. The risk exists that stakeholders get overwhelmed and cannot easily spot the relevant observations. Developing a stakeholder activation plan – which combines a broad spectrum of creative deliverables and activation tools – is therefore key when running this type of community.
Did you miss the articles on what the other community types can mean for your brand? Catch up on the Flash, the Deepdive and the Program communities!