Then we are on the same page. In the beginning, it’s necessary to develop low level marketing strategies and tactics to simply let people know the site exits…but it’s necessary to have some sort of stucture that already exists that would allow a community to gel. Then you build on that and give tools to the visitors so they can build it with you.

I had actually interviewed with Backfence for a marketing position last year. I should blog about the markting/community building ideas that I had for them.

Jonathan

I agree with you that you can’t build a community without cultivating your target audience. What I meant in the post is the idea that you can’t effectively do traditional marketing – advertising, promotions, etc. – to attract people to a community if you haven’t first provided a reason for them to come. It would be like advertising a flea market without vendors, hoping customers would start trading among themselves.

If you’re building authentic community around something you know or care passionately about, you shouldn’t have to advertise to get what Caterina Fake calls your “Abrahams” – the seminal community members who will beget many descendents.

How does an entity ‘cultivate’ a community without marketing…without reaching out to the targeted area to let them know that they exist?

To me, marketing is essential from the beginning. Now big budget stuff, but grassroots stuff.

It’s not an ‘either-or’ scenario. You cultivate certain targete stakeholder groups (say, parents) by providing them with content they are likely to want or need.

To cultivate, you need to market to them.

What am I missing?

Everyone involved with any aspect of local blogging has spent much of the last week talking about BackFence, since the chaos going on behind close doors over there seems to have spilled out into the street. Quick background – The company was founded i…

Not to beat a deceased horse, but I think anyone that think they have a killer community/news site should review the entire Bayosphere story from very beginning to end.

I’ve said it so many times, you can make community web features, but you can’t make anyone use them.