Best Online Community Software for Your Business in 2023

What is Online Community Software?

Online community software is a computer program that allows you to built online communities. These solutions enable users to interact with each other and share data. Online community engagement software is mainly used by individuals who aren't at the same location but work together.

Teaming up on projects, sharing knowledge and ideas, driving innovations, and increasing productivity are the key applications of online community management software.

An online community software solution is also referred to as collaboration software, social software, and groupware.

Essential Features of Online Community Software

Communities are an essential part of any business. You could be a company that needs to form an online community for its employees. Or you could be a business in need of a community for your customers.

Ideally, the features you select for your community software will depend on your target audience, community type, and business goals.

But regardless of the variables, here are some common features in all online community management software.

1. Rich User Profiles

All online community engagement platforms have detailed user profiles. Users of your community software would want to have rich profiles that enable them to showcase their expertise and create a personal brand. Online community management software offers profile customization features to create in-depth user profiles.

The details you can include in a profile are full name, company name, photograph, designation, personal information, and contact details. Also, the software also has a social integration module to link social profiles seamlessly.

2. Responsive Design

The majority of internet users use mobile phones. Therefore, online community engagement platforms have a responsive design, which makes them accessible on all devices. You can use these systems on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and larger screens without any hassle.

3. Mobile Apps

With mobile users becoming the new goalpost for software companies, online community management software now comes with dedicated mobile applications. You can access the software on iOS and Android. Besides, these online community engagement platforms have cloud capabilities, which make them accessible remotely.

4. Content Resources

To engage a community, you'd need to offer high-quality content consistently. This goes beyond the traditional community content that included articles only. Now, users expect a more diverse range of content.

The best online community software solutions allow you to share content across different types and formats seamlessly. This includes videos, social feeds, newsletters, case studies, ebooks, media libraries, white papers, and community blogs.

5. Gamification

Gamification is an excellent way to promote team engagement and strengthen team building. It includes mini-games that encourage psychological activity. These games encourage your users to be more active and participate often.

Online community software solutions come with an in-built gamification feature. You can create games and activities for your consumers to keep them engaged.

6. User Groups

Take Reddit, for example. It allows you to create communities of users that share similar interests. This allows for efficient user segmentation.

All online community management software offers user segmentation and groups. You can create a group and add users to improve collaboration and privacy.

7. Easy Search

Users should be able to search for their favorite topics, discussions, and communities with a single click. Online community software solutions make this easier with a full-text search module. Users can type their query in the search box and get instant access to all the related topics and discussions.

8. Event Calendar

Regularly launching events is a great way to increase engagement in your online community. With COVID-19 in hindsight, many companies are scheduling virtual events, webinars, and conferences.

Online community management software makes event creation and scheduling seamless. The event calendar module allows you to create an event on a date within seconds. You can also set reminders and send invites to increase event participation and engagement.

9. Security

Privacy and data security have been a topic of concern among online communities. Several incidents of data breaches and identity thefts have come to light. Community software vendors seem to have resolved this issue as the best online community software solutions come with robust security features. These include end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, and spam and antivirus protection.

Benefits of Online Community Software

A community software solution can help you build an online community from scratch. Whether you're a small service agency or a large and established brand, having a community is necessary. Do you know how Microsoft, Google, and Apple are similar?

One, they're all trillion-dollar companies. And second, they all have an online community. All in all, every business – whether big or small – needs an online community.

Here are the advantages of having online community management software for your business.

1. Develop a Culture of Collaboration

When you use community management software, you create a foundation for a collaborative community for employees or customers. Doing so helps you free up resources and cut down the time taken to complete tasks.

Let's say your customer has a question about your product. If you have an online community, the customer can post his query in the community software and receive instant, real-time answers from community members. As a result, you won't have to invest too much time and resources in customer support.

Same way, if you have a community of employees, the collaboration in your company will increase. In case of doubts, employees will be able to consult with fellow employees and answer their queries.

2. Get Insights into How Your Customers Think

An online community software system allows you to monitor customer behavior, preferences, and opinions. You can follow various discussions, topics, and communities to understand what customers are talking about you and your brand.

Online communities also act as a great tool to gather feedback. When you launch a new product, getting honest customer feedback is essential. By monitoring discussions in online communities, you can determine how your customers feel about the latest product – what they liked and what they didn't.

3. Create Communities for Customers and Employees

You can use online community software internally and externally. Both aspects of deployment are different and have their benefits.

A community of customers is essential for every business regardless of its size, type, and industry. A community gives your customers a place to talk and share their opinions about your brand. The more your community grows, the more your brand develops.

If you're an enterprise with hundreds of employees, having a community for employees is also essential. A community allows your employees to get to know each other, collaborate, and participate in team-building sessions. This leads to improved engagement and enhanced employee and team morale.

4. Develop Meaningful Connections

An online community management system gives you a platform to connect with your community members. In general, brands use social media for their community-building efforts. But social media has some drawbacks.

It's diverse, and users are a part of multiple groups and communities. Thus, it's difficult for brands to catch their customers' attention and keep them hooked.

On the other hand, online community engagement platforms are highly useful. Users joining your community software will be there only for your brand. This will help you make meaningful connections and engage your community members more effectively.

5. Narrow Your Focus

Many businesses offer various products and services. While this might seem like a positive, it means your community manager will need to distribute his or her focus between multiple social media platforms and forums. Some of your customers could be on Facebook, some on Reddit, and some on Instagram. Managing all these communities can be challenging.

With a community software solution, you can narrow down your focus. Your community manager will know where all your customers are, which will lead to better engagement.

Who Uses Online Community Software?

While community managers remain at the forefront of using the best online community software solutions, other departments and individuals in the organization can also utilize them for improving customer experience and brand development.

Take a look at different departments that can benefit from online community software.

1. Community Managers

Online community managers are responsible for building, growing, and managing online communities around a brand. These individuals are responsible for developing and organizing communities to increase brand engagement and obtain user insights. The primary role of community managers is to create a happy community of customers.

Online communities are of two types: active and passive. Brands develop active communities to increase customer engagement. Brands can do this by creating social media groups or using the best online community software solutions.

Passive communities are user-generated and don't have any brand involvement. You can find these communities on public forums like Quora and Reddit. Passive communities are scattered around the web and are difficult to track and monitor.

A community manager's role is to develop an active community that helps you develop meaningful relationships with your customers. An online community software solution can help your community manager form a large community of active customers.

2. Marketers and Data Analysis

Data is the new fuel. Every business, regardless of its type and industry, needs data to stay afloat. However, with customers being more conscious about security than ever, getting in-depth customer insights and information has become challenging.

However, online communities are an excellent source of customer information. Community members share their personal data, like name and email address, which enables seamless lead generation. Besides, the members also share their opinions and experiences, which help you determine their intent and what they expect you to do.

Data analysis can fetch this information and present it to the marketing team. Your marketing team can then leverage the information to tailor its advertising and marketing efforts.

3. Customer Support Teams

World-class customer support is an essential aspect of business in today's customer-driven world. More customers are likely to stick with you if you offer good quality customer service.

But most customer support teams struggle to offer significant support. While several reasons can attribute to low-quality support, the major reason is the lack of knowledge. Support teams don't know what their customers want.

Here's where a community software solution can help.

Customer support teams can monitor topics and discussions on the community software to determine the customers' problems. Then, they can intelligently integrate this information into their support efforts to provide a better customer experience.

What Are the Key Considerations for Online Community Software Buyers?

Developing a happy community of customers starts with selecting the right community software. Here are a few things to consider when looking for an online community management system.

1. Develop a Strategy

First things first, figure out what you want your community to do. Is it going to be a community of happy employees helping each other? Or, would it be your customers helping you develop your brand. Also, how do you plan to interact and engage with them?

Be sure to consider these factors and devise a robust strategy before starting headhunting for online community software.

2. Know What Your Customers Want

Online community software is a place for your customers to hang out. Yes, you should use it for marketing and brand development, but its core purpose is to give customers a place to talk. So, when looking for a community system, have a clear idea of what your customers want.

3. Select the Features

Online community engagement software can come with myriad features, ranging from content distribution to private groups. But you may need all of them. In fact, adding unnecessary features to your cart can increase the overall cost of the software.

Therefore, it's vital to select the required features and stick to only the features you need.

4. Focus on Ease of Use

You don't want your customers to spend half an hour figuring out how to sign up. A complex online community system can ruin customer experience and cause an opposite impact. Choose a solution that's easy to use, not only for customers but also for you and your team.

5. Keep the Cost in Check

Online community solutions can be costly, especially if you go overboard with features. Ensure that you keep the costs in check and find the software that fits your budget.

Related Research Articles:

• The Relevance of Online Community Platform Software for Organizations