Starting off your online community should follow the same model. Your first objective should be to identify your closest and most trusted stakeholders. These initial members will champion the new community along with you right from the get-go, so they need to be committed and passionate. You don’t need hundreds of anonymous people to get off on the right foot, you need the right people. Even 10 – 20 will do. The larger target audience can come later.
(photo credit: lululemon)
So what do you do when that initial group of 20 passionate folks turns into 25 passionate and 500 passers-by?