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I have taken the liberty of cutting much of the content of each point. I strongly encourage you to read the article in its entirety here. - Vic

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While a lot has been said about how to do it, there are also ways to kill off an online community effort.

Here are some pitfalls that online organizations should avoid when trying to foster engagement.

1. The Gaping Hole Perception

Site visitors need to know that there is someone at the other end of the online community who’s listening, and who will respond and engage with them.

2. No Community Cohesion

User-generated site activity doesn’t necessarily translate into a community. Thompson said a typical case with news sites is that there is a lot of noise, but no community. People tend to respond to the story in the comments section, but not to each other. As a result, there’s a long stream of essentially unrelated comments. He said the best communities tend to cohere around leaders (i.e. community managers) and that the best leaders inspire leadership in others.

“Work to reward contributions, especially early on. Even a quick response is a type of reward. Use screen names. If someone leaves a particularly thoughtful comment on something, keep their username and e-mail in a private [file]. If a related thread comes around later, e-mail them and ask what they think about it,” he recommended.

3. Don’t Downplay the Audience

Dismissing the audience doesn’t get any community engagement effort very far.

Continuing to dictate, not offering choices and acting as though the audience doesn’t matter doesn’t work, according to Angela Connor, WRAL’s managing editor/user-generated content, and author of 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online, in an e-mail interview.

4. Don’t Betray the Community

Seamus Condron, community manager at Mediabistro.com, said in an e-mail interview it takes a long time to build trust and that it can be lost in the blink of an eye.

“Whatever initiatives you’re thinking of developing and launching, you need to maintain a constant dialogue with the community. If you don’t, you can find yourself in the middle of a community and PR crisis,” he said.

Keeping members in the loop can also lead to valuable insight on web site changes or even new products. Think of it as a built-in focus group.

5. Don’t Try to be Everywhere

Organizations should use well the social media platforms they’re already on rather than spreading themselves thin for the sake of being everywhere online.

Condron said this is one of the hardest battles of a community manager — making sure you’re not diluting a community presence by having several outposts, but no nerve center.

“I often see an over-emphasis of organizations ‘being everywhere’ online. Having a blog, or a presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is only a good idea if you’re able to support it,” he said. “In my role, Twitter has always been the nerve center, and where I’ve been able to have the most meaningful engagement. Of course there are opportunities on other platforms, but at the end of the day, I’d rather have one vibrant hub of consistent engagement than several that I don’t feel very connected [to].”

Not sure where to start? Then find out which social media platforms your audience is using, how they’re using it, and whether it makes sense to be on there. If so, reach out to them in those places.

7. Don’t be a Dictator

Connor recommended letting the community develop its own personality and be willing to embrace and support what it becomes. She said this notion can be especially hard for news editors who are used to calling the shots and setting the tone.

8. Avoid Social Media Staffing Bottlenecks

Newsrooms should train other staff to use social media because one person can’t be the eyes and ears for everyone else.

Andy Carvin, senior strategist at National Public Radio’s social media desk, said in an e-mail interview that it’s better to have several journalists with basic social media literacy and an understanding how to build relationships with potential sources online, rather than one social media reporter who’s expected to keep up with every meme or news story that happens to be breaking online.

“I’m skeptical when people suggest a news org should have a reporter ‘covering Twitter’ or whatever, because each social media platform is a reflection of all the people participating in it,” he said.

For example, a science reporter would engage with different people on social networks than would a crime reporter. Carvin pointed out that it wouldn’t work well if both of them relied solely on a social media person to pitch social media-related stories to them, since the social media person doesn’t necessarily have the subject matter expertise or contacts with people who do have that expertise.

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More journalism resources from Mashable:

Mashable’s Social Media Guide for Journalists

7 Ways News Media are Becoming More Collaborative

10 News Media Content Trends to Watch in 2010

8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow’s Journalist

10 Ways Journalism Schools Are Teaching Social Media

Todd has prepared a series of videos to explain how to take advantage of Facebook lists.
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Todd Maffin is a strategist, consultant, author and speaker based in Vancouver BC.