Complementary Uses for a Community Site

Posted by Fred Engelmann on June 7, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT

When we moved to rural upstate New York from sunny southern California, everything changed. Now we have clean air, little traffic, plenty of fresh water - and a much smaller local market for my core business of network design, implementation and management. So we put our heads together and created a new business, specifically for this area.

The model is simple, but not the marketing. As a family business, we design, implement and manage networks (surprise!) - which also offer public Internet access to visitors and guests. The network infrastructure is owned by the venue providing access, and the Internet access revenues cover the network management expenses.

That means we serve two distinct customer bases; our end users that purchase Internet access, and our venue partners whose networks we manage. In our area, the venues are generally small businesses, which serve the same visitors and guests. Those small business owners and managers are also our friends, neighbors, vendors, customers, or competitors (or all of the above) - one of the many benefits of rural living.

Here's the challenge: How can we engage our diverse constituents; provide value for our venue partners, communities and visitors; and build brand awareness? Not the old-fashioned way.

By engaging our constituents, I mean offering ongoing value to our site members and visitors. Those same friends and neighbors that sell to, buy from and compete with each other are also members of a variety of committees, commissions, clubs, and interest groups. Even among our small dispersed communities, the interconnections are broad and deep.

It makes sense to build upon those existing relationships for everyone's benefit. Integrating social interaction with business promotion encourages repeat visits and member contribution, which in turn adds value for all. Our regional businesses benefit from free marketing and closer customer relationships, and our communities are strengthened with better communication and collaboration tools.

Choosing a platform to meet all of our needs took a while - 'Web 2.0' wasn't on the radar yet when I started my research, much less its application to business promotion. When ConcourseConnect was first announced, and I followed the breadcrumbs to the developers' real-world implementation, I realized Concursive was way out in front of the market.

We structured our site as a free service to businesses in the Adirondack Park. At the same time, it's a resource for local communities, and for our visitors and guests. If you visit Connect > Adirondacks, you'll see that our business is just another profile (though we do have a spot at the bottom of the home page). We get the same social and collaboration tools as everyone else, plus brand awareness exactly where we need it.

The process of bootstrapping a community site can be daunting. With some powerful tools and a balanced approach, however, it can be fun instead. We've met great people and made new friends, just through our site development efforts. It would be cool if it grew like our business - by word of mouth.