Allow users a sense of ownership
To increase activity in a community, you need to relinquish control and let the users decide more. That is what the team behind Barnimagen.com has done.
”Dear Diary, well, 20 days to the birth”. Hjemmet Mortensen in Norway are behind barnimagen.com, where expectant parents can discuss, read articles, get good advice, keep a diary and create their very own website with a built-in countdown to the date of the delivery.
And this is something which expectant Norwegians appreciate. With 42,000 unique users and a million hits per week, the community has become a popular site to visit.
Barnimagen has the highest turnover
This community has the highest turnover of all the sections in Hjemmet Mortensen Digital. “The turnover per user is remarkable,” says Svein-Erik Hole, the editor of klikk.no, the ”parent” site to barnimagen.com. He is not surprised at the number of hits per week.
”There is hardly a target group which has a greater need for information than couples who wish to start a family, are expecting or have just had their first child,” he says and continues: ”When they discuss with one another on barnimagen.com, they invite new perspectives which journalists would not have explored. And simultaneously barnimagen gets a lot of free content.”
What the users want
At Hjemmet Mortensen they have a number of products for parents who are expectant or already have small children, among others Klikk Foreldre, Dinbaby.com, as well as the magazines Foreldre & Barn, Gravid and BAM.
Hjemmet Mortensen has plans for several new services which will contribute to enticing users to remain connected. For example, a better names guide which can also be integrated with Facebook and other social networks.
To prolong the users’ visit, they are given the opportunity to start a dialog with those responsible for the website. Employees reply to comments made on articles and use readers’ input to further improve the articles.
”42.000 users will always know more than one expert. The possibility of entering into a dialog with those who run the community gives them a stronger feeling of ownership,” says Svein-Erik Hole.
Loosen up on some control
If he were asked for another piece of good advice on how to keep users interested, this would be to first of all take them seriously.
”Let them know when they’ve done well. Be polite, even if they’re in a bad mood. Relax your control a little to allow the user to decide much more than you are accustomed to doing in printed media. And remember to think commercially and concentrate on products which you know can be sold,” he says.
And this is something which expectant Norwegians appreciate. With 42,000 unique users and a million hits per week, the community has become a popular site to visit.
Barnimagen has the highest turnover
This community has the highest turnover of all the sections in Hjemmet Mortensen Digital. “The turnover per user is remarkable,” says Svein-Erik Hole, the editor of klikk.no, the ”parent” site to barnimagen.com. He is not surprised at the number of hits per week.
”There is hardly a target group which has a greater need for information than couples who wish to start a family, are expecting or have just had their first child,” he says and continues: ”When they discuss with one another on barnimagen.com, they invite new perspectives which journalists would not have explored. And simultaneously barnimagen gets a lot of free content.”
What the users want
At Hjemmet Mortensen they have a number of products for parents who are expectant or already have small children, among others Klikk Foreldre, Dinbaby.com, as well as the magazines Foreldre & Barn, Gravid and BAM.
Hjemmet Mortensen has plans for several new services which will contribute to enticing users to remain connected. For example, a better names guide which can also be integrated with Facebook and other social networks.
To prolong the users’ visit, they are given the opportunity to start a dialog with those responsible for the website. Employees reply to comments made on articles and use readers’ input to further improve the articles.
”42.000 users will always know more than one expert. The possibility of entering into a dialog with those who run the community gives them a stronger feeling of ownership,” says Svein-Erik Hole.
Loosen up on some control
If he were asked for another piece of good advice on how to keep users interested, this would be to first of all take them seriously.
”Let them know when they’ve done well. Be polite, even if they’re in a bad mood. Relax your control a little to allow the user to decide much more than you are accustomed to doing in printed media. And remember to think commercially and concentrate on products which you know can be sold,” he says.
January 2010
Gallery
Facts
The word community is derived from the Old French word communité, which comes from the Latin communitas, which is an expression for fellowship or organized society.
Since the advent of the internet, there are no longer any geographic boundaries in the concept of a community.
People can get together in a virtual universe and share their common interests regardless of where they are physically.
Since the advent of the internet, there are no longer any geographic boundaries in the concept of a community.
People can get together in a virtual universe and share their common interests regardless of where they are physically.
