Want to build online community around  your brand?  Today’s travel marketing idea is a fantastic example of exactly that:  Club Med Insider

How It Works

I know Club Med has been working hard at shaping their brand image over the recent years, so its no surprise they’ve put heaps of effort into building what looks like a happy, thriving online community.  The site describes itself as:

Share your Club Med vacation experience-or get great ideas before you go. Travelers post their reviews, images, tips and stories. This is your space to stay in touch, ask questions, plan your trip and give advice to others.

Seems straightforward enough.  There’s quite a lot of content, such as “Thoughts from the Road” from the editor, a question and answer section, and other useful content.  The presentation is simple and straightforward, a refreshing change from other community sites that try to jam everything-including-the-kitchen-sink onto a single page.

What’s Awesome about it

Balance between Community & Editorial Content.  The “editorial stuff” (things written by the company) is clearly identified, for a start.  But there is plenty of it – community members aren’t left to fend for themselves.  But it’s all in balance, which is good.  It actually feels like a community.  Novel concept, eh?

Easy to Navigate.  Big, bright, clearly labelled buttons help you get around the user experience.  The main menu only has five options, with some additional menus hidden away in the bottom.  As I will note below, a few things are too hidden, but as far as page content and layout goes, it’s excellent.  It also has a bit of brand personality to it – showing off that relaxed, casual, yet classy feel of the Club Med image.

Easy to get started.  You can ask a question or leave a comment without a messy, long, complicated signup form.  They do automate this for you and send you a login after the fact, but I think this follow-up is required to avoid spam and abuse unfortunately.  At least they made it very effortless/painless.

“Insider” language.  I love the language and copy used throughout the site.  ”Please login to have full insider privileges” – isn’t that nicer than Login and Password required to continue?  Sure, some might find it elitist, but it is proven in tests that customers respond better to terms like “membership” than “subscription.”  Skip the technical jargon and use wording your ideal customer uses.

Advertising is for the Brand.  Yay – there are adverts.  And they’re for the brand.  Although they’re kind of small – and they aren’t very special.  Where’s the “latest Club Med Insider special”??

What Could be Better

Off-site links aren’t marked as such. This is mostly the case with the oddly hidden links in the footer, but you need to clearly identify (with text or other visual indicators) when a link will go off site.  Just because they’re down here in the footer does not make them exempt.

Club Med information is a little too hidden. It took me awhile to get to the footer, because there is a lot of (good) content to absorb in the header and pages.  All the while I was wondering “This is great.  I’d love to know more about Club Med’s latest resorts so I can ask a question on which one is best for my upcoming holiday in March.”  But there isn’t any Club Med information on this site.  A missed opportunity – particularly when it could be handily combined with the user content, so when I’m reading about this rave review of a particular destination, there’s a handy link for me to find out the latest dates and prices.

“But wait – that’s massive – I can’t do that!”

Ok, so Club Med is doing an awesome job at building community (though they need to work on their sales channel). That takes a lot of resource and effort, and Club Med isn’t exactly a small outfit.  But considering that some of the community software sites are FREE (such as Ning), you just need to carve out some time.   If you can’t launch the full scale invasion, can you:

• Make it easy for customers to ask questions – and post the answers you write online?
• Write a “from the owner/editor/whomever” series to give an insider perspective on your small business?
• Share photos and stories from customers themselves?  Just ask – don’t be shy.

Take a few baby steps.  Then take a few more.  After all, they say Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Steal what you can from the travel marketing ideas we feature, then come back and do more the next day.

To Learn More

Want to build online community but just can’t find the time?  Or need a helping hand? Our extensive community building strategy can help make sure you have the right foundations in place.  No matter what your situation, get in touch by taking our free, no obligation small business assessment to see how TOP can help.