Analytics & automated actions in response to member activity – We dream of a dashboard for better understanding member behaviors, with metrics such as:

Knowledge hub – Community knowledge hubs can house any type of content that’s value-additive to members, including relevant resources, FAQ, top posts, PDFs and links. Given the chat-based nature of many community platforms, the “best-of” content is often drowned out by more recent posts. We believe such a knowledge hub should be baked into the... See more

There are actually about a dozen platforms designed to fill this need - and they make up about a $2-3B annual market for brand community platforms today. Community-building is nearly as old as the internet, and so much has been developed since the advent of message boards and forums. 

Payments and built-in monetization models – Just as ads have become the predominant monetization model for social platforms, we believe member subscriptions are promising for communities. Because people are more likely to consume a product when they pay for it, subscriptions can incentivize engagement.

Lapsed members or those who are at risk for churning

Engagement over time

Yet while the appetite for online communities grows, the accompanying management toolkit still largely misses the mark.

Here are the leaders by market share, with a few example brands for each:

A better, built-in application flow and onboarding experience – Application submission, review, and approval, as well as a better, more productized onboarding experience should be native to the platform to keep membership organized.