posted on September 29th, 2007 in Ask a Ninja, Community, Despair, Inc., JibJab, Penny Arcade, Rooster Teeth 

on the importance of being earnest about community

Undies thrive on a direct connection with their fans. Audiences definitely appreciate the ability to interact with creators, whether at conventions or online. This direct relationship lets creators earn and enjoy high unit margins on their sales because they often need no label, publisher, wholesaler, retailer, etc.

Successful community strategies vary as widely as the Undies themselves. For instance:

• Despair, Inc. lets their fans build their own Demotivators. In addition, Despair offers excellent promotions to members of their Wailing List.
• JibJab has a massive community presence and lets fans star in their own clips;
• Penny Arcade has forums at their site, and they host their own monster convention, the Penny Arcade Expo, that this year brought together almost 40,000 fans for three days of gaming festivities.
• Rooster Teeth Productions has built perhaps the greatest Undie community site around. Check these amazing stats:

The web continues to evolve new ways to build and manage your community. TechCrunch has reviewed nine such tools. I like Ning a lot myself.
Ask A Ninja has announced an upcoming upgrade to their community platform. We’re eager to see what the Ninja unleashes for fans.
Creators, how do you encourage and engage your tribe?

Fans, what community features do you like the most?

–JLB