My first SXSW Interactive experience was just that, an EXPERIENCE. It’s hard to imagine a five day stretch of time being so utterly consumed from sun up to sun down (and then some) by one fully charged event, but that’s exactly what it was. Five days devoted to learning about the newest trends and philosophies in web strategy, technology, design, marketing and social interactions, and then meeting the many innovators who are making it all happen.

One of the more interesting panel discussions I attended was “Building Strong Online Communities” presented by the leaders and creators of popular and thriving online communities: www.blogher.com, www.fark.com, www.reddit.com and www.arstechnica.com. Each had varying ideas of what led them to success, but a few common themes emerged from their discussions. Here are a few of the key points that all panelists agreed were necessary for success:

• Listen to your audience – users need to feel like they have helped to shape the community if they are going to continue coming back to it.
• Provide an open line of communication between the users and the creators of the community – this can be via email, phone, twitter or instant message, but the users needs to know their voices matter.
• Establish some guidelines for the community and enforce the punishment if users act against them.
  
• Let community members know of any changes that are going to be made well in advance of making them.
• Involve the community in decision making.
• Don’t segment your community too much or you will end up with lots of empty segments instead of fewer, full segments.
• And finally, know that you won’t be able to please everyone all of the time. It’s usually best to stick with majority rule when listening to users.

When the panelists asked the audience “Who here belongs to an online community?” about 99% of the people in the room raised their hands. Next the panelists asked, “Who here is currently developing an online community for at least one of their clients?” I was shocked to see about 75% of hands raised. It became quite clear to me that this is the new trend for brands to connect with their consumer, and I imagine it will continue to grow as more and more communities are developed in association with brand marketing.