Ok, here is something I’m wrestling with: Can a community be successful with low brand awareness?

If you are a big tech brand like Dell or Microsoft, you have no problem launching a community. In fact, many of these organizations have several communities.

But what if you are a small SaaS vendor? Forget costs for one moment, and resources for another (chuckling) – can you attract enough community members to make it go?

Think about the last great party you went to (technically I have never been to a party – but if I had…) where there were a ton of interesting people, lots of great conversations, etc. Now contrast that with the opposite – the party where only 10 people showed up and there were too few conversations happening in too large room. Can you really blame the partygoers if they feel weird and don’t come to the next party?

So here is my question for you: Are community plays the domain of large brands only? Or can a small brand have a thriving community, too? What’s your view?

There’s a lot of buzz about online communities, but how much business value are they providing – and how are companies measuring success?

In order to provide some answers to this questions, and in a partnership between Deloitte, The Society of New Communications Research and Beeline Labs, we are conducting a research project on how companies measure progress and success within their business communities.

If you are involved in managing online communities for your organization, you are invited to participate in the 2008 Online Community Effectiveness Study. To take the online survey, go to: http://www.communityeffectiveness.com.

Results of the survey will be freely shared in May to all who are interested in this subject.