Managing Online Forums

Citation

Wood, N.T. (2009), "Managing Online Forums", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 56-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760910927055

If you ever find yourself in the situation of having to create and/or manage an online community and you have absolutely no idea where or how to begin, then this is the book for you. Managing Online Forums is a detailed master plan of how to create and run a successful online community. Positioned as a book for those who have little or no experience with forums, it also offers strategies from which experienced administrators will benefit. Although the main focus of the book is online communities, many of the topics O'Keefe addresses are relevant to managing social networking and corporate websites too.

Over the course of nine chapters O'Keefe systematically outlines the process of developing, creating, promoting and managing a forum. The first chapter, “Laying the Groundwork”, provides the foundation for the book by discussing some of the fundamental decisions you will need to make and the skills and characteristics necessary to be a successful moderator. As interesting as this chapter could and should be, I found it a little lackluster. It was vague in some parts and quite specific in others. These inconsistencies left me a questioning the book's potential. However, once I moved forward these doubts were erased.

Chapter 2, “Developing Your Community”, starts at ground zero with how to choose a domain name, the importance of selecting the correct software, design, layout, and customization and security considerations. In this chapter O'Keefe offers a variety of suggestions and solutions to common problems and at times gets very specific with his recommendations. For instance, when discussing the length of domain names he advises readers “a safe maximum would be around eighteen characters (not including the extension), with a good average of ten to fourteen” (p. 21). This level of detail is evident throughout the book and is one of its major strengths.

In the third chapter, “Developing Guidelines”, O'Keefe presents numerous real‐life examples to highlight and reinforce the importance of well‐developed user and moderator guidelines. At first I was a little overwhelmed at the amount of work involved. However, O'Keefe provides sample ready‐to‐use guidelines that the reader can copy from the book or download from the accompanying website. Readers are provided with suggestions on everything from how to treat people with respect to how to handle suicide attempts.

Chapter 4 covers the important task of promoting your community. In addition to discussing his own experiences O'Keefe also solicits the expertise of a well‐versed marketing consultant to answer fundamental questions from “What are the most popular ways to advertise a community online?” to “How can I track the performance of my campaigns?”. This chapter will be particularly useful to those with limited marketing knowledge.

Moving from marketing to management, Chapter 5 addresses staff related issues. Here, O'Keefe takes readers by the hand and systematically walks them through the moderation process. He highlights every possible scenario imaginable (and then some more!) and proposes coping strategies for each one. Although extremely useful, this chapter runs a fine line between being rich with description and heavy to digest. The main problem is its length – 64 pages, representing almost 25 percent of the book's chapter content. This is definitely an important chapter, but not one that you can breeze through.

Branching off from staff management, the sixth chapter addresses member management. Here he offers suggestions on how to handle difficult situations, when it is necessary to ban members, and how to actually go about doing it. Chapter 7 on “Creating a Good Environment” readdresses a number of topics addressed in previous chapters. There is some repetition here from previous chapters, and a lot of this material could be easily integrated into other chapters. The importance of viewing users as customers and the need to deliver good customer service is the hallmark of this chapter.

Chapter 8, “Keeping it Interesting”, takes the notion of site development to another level by outlining variety of ways to keep your customers happy and coming back for more. Once again O'Keefe offers a high level of detail from how to go about creating an awards program, to the content, layout, and distribution of newsletters. The final chapter, “Making Money”, rounds out the book with a discussion on ways in which you can make money from your community, whether it is selling advertising, merchandise, or instigating a paid membership program. These last two chapters I found particularly interesting, but I was left wanting to know more. Highlighting additional sources of information would be helpful.

It is obvious that O'Keefe is a master of his subject. The book offers an incredible amount of detail, and the support materials contained both within the book and on the website are very helpful. It would be nice to see a few more additions, though. Throughout every chapter of the book he directs the reader to a variety of sites for additional help. It would be beneficial to have these listed separately on either the site or in the book for easy reference.

What is particularly nice about the book is that it offers a good balance between the mechanical (IT) and the non‐mechanical (marketing, employee and customer relations) sides of successful community management. O'Keefe skillfully discusses technical issues in a way that is relatively easy for inexperienced administrators to understand. The importance of recruiting the right people, treating them with respect, and how to deliver good customer service are well covered, as is the importance of positioning your forum, creating a brand identity, and marketing to new and existing users.

Overall this book was an easy and educational read. Those who have some experience with online communities will breeze through it. For those entering uncharted territory it may take a little longer. Whichever category you fall into, this book is a worthwhile investment and is unlikely to gather dust on your shelf.