This article is part of our series on Lessons Learned at South by Southwest 2010, a popular technology conference.
The Idea of a Sustainable Community
The idea presented was about how sustainability should be part of your business – almost the ultimate goal. It is a hard concept to describe, but it’s crystal clear by example: Harley Davidson. The panelist pointed out that if Harley Davidson closed tomorrow and no longer made motorcycles, the biking community would continue to exist.
It’s a great example, but I can’t figure out if this works for travel communities or not. A couple of examples:
- Tour Operators: Sure, all that local info or niche information will still be valuable and relevant for some time, but would people still want to gather in a place where the tour providers have gone?
- Travel Blogs: Without that fresh content and discussion to trigger new thoughts and ideas, would the community die?
Perhaps I’m trying to compare apples and oranges, but it seems like this might be a difficult one if you haven’t planned it out well.
Ideas for Sustainability
Some thoughts I had on making a travel community more sustainable:
- Creating community embassadors (and highlighting them) – the smaller your team the more important this is. Get as many of your staff as possible involved.
- Relentless focus on community members themselves. Yes, you must talk about the company as you’re here for business not just pleasure, but when community members know they’re valued they’ll be prepared for the long haul.
- Make sure you’re focused on the big picture. The community isn’t just about buying your stuff. It’s about sharing ideas and enthusiasm for the particular topic or niche you cover.
To Learn More
If you’re worried about how sustainable your community is, we can help. Why not take our free business assessment and get back on track.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this should be part of the goal with any social media strategy. I have noticed that Explorica, travel eduaction tour service, does a great job of building comminuity and trying to make the ultimate goal about that rather than just focusing on gaining the business.
The leaders at working towards making the travel community sustainable are going to reap the benefits of this activity.
Brandon, thanks for weighing in on this one. There are definitely benefits to be had – I’ve checked out Explorica, and it does seem like they are reaching out and trying to make an impact. Great example.
Online communities can be made highly self-sustaining. The key is to seed them with enough activity to reach a critical mass. That is not as easy any anybody would like. People get into the habit of using the forums and visiting the blogs they know. Motivating them to change their habits is never easy. Blogs are many times harder than a site built around forums. Without constant content, they quickly lose the attention of their visitors.
Nathan, that’s right. It is key to have activity, and it isn’t easy. For small businesses, I think the best approach is to remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. So PLAN ahead and pace yourself. Moderate your forums three times a week and write a blog article twice a week. More if you can. Less if you have to. But commit to something and stick to it.