Online communities are proliferating as companies look to harness the collective wisdom and ideas of their employees, customers, and other constituents in order to innovate faster, reduce costs, and create the relationships that will grow their businesses and bolster their bottom lines.

To assess the true potential of online communities, and to identify how enterprises may better leverage online communities, Deloitte’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice conducted the Tribalization of Business Study in conjunction with Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research. The studied includes more than 100 companies, ranging across sectors from hardware to software to life sciences and generating revenues of $1 million to more than $40 billion, with communities ranging from fewer than 100 members to more than 10,000 members.

The study reveals that some enterprises are successfully using social media tools and online communities to engage with customers and employees for brand discussions, idea generation and product development. We also identified key success factors, and obstacles to effective community development.

The study surfaced valuable insights, lessons learned, and best practices for moving forward. Below are some highlights from the study:

People Helping People
The tribalization of business is all about “people helping people,” where those who share a similar passion turn to one another for information, recommendations and community feedback.

• 60 percent indicate that their communities are open for public interaction and feedback
• 53 percent of respondents said that permitting users to connect with like-minded people was the top feature contributing to success, and 43 percent said that permitting people to help one another was the second-most-important feature contributing to community success
• 45 percent of respondents recognize that finding enough time to manage the community is one of the biggest obstacles to making communities work

Conversely, poor management of online communities is a critical barrier to their effectiveness. Survey respondents also see facilitation (25 percent) and quality of the community manager (34 percent) as two features that greatly impact the community’s effectiveness, making it critical for companies to devote the necessary resources to this important role.

How Communities are Driving Innovation
A leading technology company is using its communities to solicit product development ideas from its customers, and then incorporating those ideas in future products. The company is also innovating customer support by monitoring communities as an early warning system for product issues, and then preparing its call centers accordingly.

• 39 percent cited “idea generation” as the purpose of their online communities
• 19 percent cited “new product development” as the key goal

CMO 2.0: The Chief Marketing Officer’s (CMO’s) Office Has Become the Community Manager’s Office
The survey indicates that the role of the CMO is being revolutionized through communities, with the CMO often becoming the lead transformative agent, empowering the sales, customer service and product development functions with the community’s intelligence and participation. Forty-two percent indicate that the marketing organization is now responsible for driving online communities. With communities becoming a central focus, marketing is now required to participate in nontraditional functions such as customer support, idea generation and employee communications.

Additional survey findings include:
The survey reveals significant gaps between community goals and how success is being measured
The success of the communities is measured with less helpful metrics like “number of visitors” and “page views”

More on the study here >>

Francois Gossieaux, Partner, Beeline Labs & Edward Moran, Director of Product Innovation, Deloitte will be speaking at the Social Media Strategies Conference.