I’ve blogged before about the confusion around the term “online community,” but thought it made sense to follow-up with some specific reasons why companies should consider setting up a separate online research community.

First, some background on why I’m writing this post… In the interest of creating efficiencies, some companies are using their existing online communities as a means of gathering research insights. For example, they might ask a question in a community on their corporate website about a new product or ad concept and hope for some directional information to guide their decisions. I’m all for efficiency, but this practice of using general online communities for research has a few drawbacks that are worth acknowledging.

There are some strong reasons to setup a separate online research community and treat it very differently from more “conventional” online communities. Read on for 10 reasons why it makes sense to setup and maintain a separate online research community…

Why setup a separate online research community?

Here are 10 reasons why it makes sense to have an online research community apart from your other online community initiatives:

1. Privacy – Online research communities provide companies with an ideal venue to test new concepts (products, ads, websites, etc…) before they are launched, without the fear of competitors gaining access. This level of privacy can be difficult to attain in a public community.
2. Control – In a private online research community it is far easier to guide the conversation around topics of interest to you and your stakeholders to get at your research and business objectives. If you tried to do the same in a public community, members might view you as exerting too much control over what they have been building on their own. It could hurt the dynamic of your other online communities to guide the conversation too much, whereas research communities have that built-in expectation. Of course, research communities also benefit from “losing control” on purpose (which is another blog post entirely…).
3. Shared Purpose – Setting up an online research community and being transparent about the purpose of the community (e.g., market research and consumer insights), gives you another shared purpose around which participants can bond. While it shouldn’t be your only shared purpose, it can be something that helps them make connections faster.
4. Smaller Size – The smaller size of most online research communities (generally less than 500 participants), allows for a much more “intimate” look at the audience and their needs. In a larger online community it is easy to lose track of people and the context for their responses to research activities.
5. Exclusivity – Going with the smaller size theme, members of an online research community may also feel more personally vested in the community, knowing that their voice is one of hundreds rather than thousands. The “exclusive” element can be a big driver of sustained participation in the research community.
6. Cost – Trying to build the tools that a researcher needs into an existing community (for example, on your company’s website) can actually be more costly than using a specially-designed (and separate) platform for conducting ongoing market research.
7. Technology – Going with the cost theme, there are certain tools inherent in an online research community that allow for better ways of conducting research. For example, sometimes we ask “unaided” questions in PluggedIN research communities to minimize the impact of group think. That may seem like a small feature, but it’s big when you’re trying to get an unbiased look at a concept/issue.
8. Context – In a private online research community you know the participants and their associated demographic/psychograhic data as a result of profiling every member before joining the community. This allows you to push targeted activities and understand the context for the answers far better than in a general online community. In a public community, you have no standard understanding of who they are beyond what they provide in their profile page. Some may tell you a lot, others nothing.
9. Environment – I used to travel quite a bit down to Austin to moderate groups and in-depth interviews at Dell’s corporate headquarters. While it was convenient and cost effective for Dell, I always got the sense that participants felt a little “awkward” giving their unbiased feedback in the Dell building with Dell logos everywhere you turn. The same can be said for communities. Conducting research on a corporate website has a different feel entirely than a dedicated site for research.
10. Separating research from marketing – Last, but definitely not least, is the idea that research objectives should be separate from marketing objectives. It’s hard to ask for honest, unbiased opinions on the one hand, while providing obvious mechanisms purchase a product or spread the word about a brand on the other hand. Leave those objectives for a buzz building or customer loyalty community, and leave research objectives for a separate research community.

My assumptions

Of course, I’ve made a few assumptions here about the online research community you are using. For example, the feature described in “Context” is something called “user lists” in our PluggedIN Research Platform, and the feature described in “Technology” is something specific to our discussion section. Depending on the technology you choose as a backbone for your online research community, these features may or may not be available.

I’m also assuming that you’re starting out with research and customer insights as a priority, when in fact these might be ancillary objectives for your organization.

Conclusion

I hope this list gave you some ideas for why it makes sense to keep an online research community separate from other online communities, particularly those that are used for marketing initiatives. I’d recommend taking a good hard look at your objectives first. If the majority are research-oriented then it might make sense to setup a separate research community for many of the reasons I’ve cited above. You can then leave the rest to other “marketing-oriented” online communities/social networks that many companies already have setup.

What do you think?

I’m sure there is something missing here… What would you add (or subtract) from this list? In your opinion, does it make sense to separate online research communities from online communities? Why or why not?