Page 197 - DCAP609_CLOUD_COMPUTING

Cloud Computing

Notes 13.1 Creating Groups on Social Networks

If you have a medium- to large-sized online network, you might have noticed some of your
contacts have been developing their own groups in the form of private groups, forums or social
networks that are a mixture of free or paid memberships.

13.1.1 The Advantages of Creating a Group

So with all of the existing groups out there, what’s the benefit of creating your own group?
Driving Traffic to Your Site: Let’s say that you start a forum on your own domain. If you’re
successful in creating a popular group, you’ll be driving a lot of traffic to your website. The
traffic, in turn, will lead to the next benefit.
Increasing Your Income: There are several ways to monetize a group. The direct approach is to
actually charge your group membership fees for entry into the group or advanced privileges,
such as the ability to promote themselves more within the group and premium content.
If your group is tied into a business, having the additional traffic to your site is bound to lead to
converting group members to clients, or getting clients to join the group so you can later upsell
them with additional products or services.

Then, of course, there are the indirect forms of monetization, such as capitalizing on the additional
traffic to your website and offering advertisers banner space.
Becoming an Authority: If you become a successful group leader, you could become an authority
in your industry as the administrator of a thriving group.

13.1.2 The Disadvantages of Creating a Group

As with just about anything, there are usually cons that need to be thought through before
jumping into starting up your own group. Here are some of the big ones.
Startup Costs: Generally, to maintain a group on your own site, you’ll have to invest in the
development or customization of group software, such as a forum program or social networking
plugin.

Administration Time: The next major factor in maintaining your own group is administration.
This involves everything from managing the software platform to moderating the activity
among members to be sure that there isn’t any abuse of group rules or harassment of other
group members. Without this kind of administration, the group will quickly fall.
Sticky Members: It’s not just about getting people to sign up, but getting them to keep coming
back to your group and participate as much as possible. Unfortunately, what some people forget
is that there are sometimes too many groups out there, and not enough time to devote to all of
them.

Notes If your group is not at the top of its game and requires too much involvement,
members might start dropping off in activity.

13.1.3 What You Must Do to Have a Successful Group?

So what does it take to create a successful, thriving group to which members are happy to come
back regularly?

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