80/20 Principle in Online Communities for Result-Oriented Content Strategy

The 80/20 rule is a popular theory of Economics.

Also known as the Pareto Principle, it states that regardless of the area, 20% of your inputs will yield 80% of your results. That means 20% of the time you’ve invested will generate 80% of the productivity. Or, 20% of the lead generation efforts you’ve put in will yield 80% of the leads.

This concept unfolds beyond Economics, and recently started gaining traction in the community landscape.

But how exactly? Let’s dive in to unveil all about how communities can benefit from the 80/20 principle.

The Relevance of 80/20 Principle in Online Communities

What kind of community is considered a success? 100% participation? 100% engagement? 100% log-in rate? Well, that’s not quite true.

Even if you get 4-20%^[i] of members engaging meaningfully in your community, it’s deemed a success. Why is that?

Because people come to your community for all the reasons including learning, networking, support, etc. Most of them are committed to a variety of things in their daily lives. Thus, it’s an achievement if your community holds some importance to those 4-20% of the members. So, ensure that you focus on that 4-20% and keep delivering value to them. So that they keep showing up in your community.

This is where the Pareto principle swoops in. It dictates that 20% of meaningfully engaging members yield 80% of your outcomes.

No, we’re not asking you to aim low. The aim is to focus and nurture that 4-20% to keep propelling further and achieve incredible results. When you nurture that 20%, you’ll notice that the rest of your community is benefitting immensely. So, directly or indirectly, it contributes to the 100% progress that your community is making.

Aligning Your Community Content Strategy With the 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 rule can be an essential tool in your online community, allowing brands to work smarter and achieve desired results.

Here is a 4-step method to curate a result-oriented content plan with this strategic principle-

1. Identify Target Audience

Start with identifying your hyper-engaged audience, also known as super users. You are looking for the members that dominate the most activities in your community. You will often find them asking questions, answering queries, leaving feedback, and more. Or you can set up a community super user program to identify them.

2. Research Requirements

After acquiring your super users, identify what interests them. When you are aware of what they are looking for, it becomes easier to meet their expectations. You can leverage analytics tools to analyze how much time they spend on a certain page or activity. And, understand their requirements in a better way to deliver what’s expected.

3. Optimize Deliverables

Optimize your content by targeting your hyper-engaged community members to maximize the output. You can employ community engagement practices to cultivate long-term relations with them and grow your community.

4. Measure and Adapt

This is a quintessential step that all agile communities follow which is monitoring what’s working and adapting by fine-tuning. If you notice that informational resources gain the most traction, it means your community members are learners. So, you should curate similar resources that add value to your community members and keep them engaged. Just keep an open mind to experimenting and analyzing what your targeted audience appreciates. You can also try segmenting your audience into smaller groups to refine your content strategy. It will strengthen your efforts and will yield more accurate results.

Brands need to focus on creating result-driven content strategies that bring member conversion and retention to the table. Every member is just as important in your community, so you need a content strategy that adds value to all of them. However, ensure that you nurture your precious, 20% of hyper-engaged members.

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References

[i] How The 80/20 Principle Applies To Community Building