In the constantly changing world of knowledge management (KM), the contrast between 'the pointy nose' and 'the long tail' has become more increasingly pronounced. As organizations work to meet the growing need for information, they are relying on communities, the new powerhouses of content creation. This article explores the significant role communities play in KM and how they are redefining the way we access and share knowledge.

The power of community in KM

Communities have become massive sources of content because they deal with specific questions that official documentation, chatbots, and FAQs don't cover. These platforms use the combined knowledge of their members to create a rich repository of long-tail content that goes way beyond what official resources could ever hope to provide. This is the idea behind community-driven knowledge management: using nuanced, often narrow questions that come up in real-world situations to build an expansive knowledge base.

When customers are trying to find information, a substantial part of the queries consist of a limited set of highly popular search phrases. This type of information is the smaller ‘nose’ of the demand. The long tail is made up of highly specific queries, but with very high relevance for the individual.

The pointy nose: traditional KM

Traditionally, KM has been dominated by the ‘pointy nose’ approach: top-down dissemination of information that is editorialized, verified, and curated by the brand. Only a small part of people create editorialized content, carefully crafted with great detail to design principles, readability and usability. This content is meant to be easily accessible and found by the majority of your customers. They most often have a need for a limited set of information. And new customers will likely look for the typical few pieces of information. We regularly see this for certain how-to’s and FAQs.

This content serves the broader audience, providing generic information that caters to the most common needs. However, this model often overlooks the granular, specialized knowledge that individuals seek.

The Long Tail: Democratization of information

In contrast, ‘the long tail’ represents the detailed, specific content generated by users. It’s the kind of information that may only be relevant to a small group, or even a single individual, but is nonetheless crucial for those it serves. Communities excel in supporting ‘the long tail’ by facilitating a space where peers can freely create and share content, offering a more personalized and relevant experience.

Looking beyond the point of your nose

Online communities make distribution easier by using state-of-the-art recommendation systems such as ‘most popular’, ‘most recent’ or ‘discover’ that allow customers to become aware of more obscure information. Demand will shift from the most widely needed and used information to the aggregate power of a long tail made-up of demand from many different niche knowledge.

In the left end of the graph we have the information resources which are most frequently used because they are serving frequently recurring information needs. The information which is needed for transformational and transactional activities is likely to be served by information resources in the left pointy nose part of the graph.

The role of search engines

The symbiotic relationship between communities and search engines cannot be overstated. As community content is continually indexed by search engines, it becomes instantly accessible to anyone with similar queries. This not only enhances the visibility of long-tail content but also ensures that the language used is relatable and easily discoverable by others.

Beyond the product: the value of peer advice

Communities offer more than just solutions to product-related issues; they provide a platform for peer advice that often transcends the capabilities of official support channels. The advice from fellow customers carries a weight of trustworthiness and authenticity that official content sometimes lacks. Moreover, the diversity of perspectives within a community can lead to a richer understanding of best practices.

The shift to pull-based information models

The traditional push-based production model of KM is increasingly giving way to pull mechanisms. These systems allow for the automatic surfacing of relevant information, placing it directly at the fingertips of those who seek it. This shift acknowledges the diverse and dynamic nature of modern knowledge needs and the importance of making niche knowledge readily available.

Case deflection

Businesses struggle to serve their customers through customer support. Personnel is very hard to come by. One on one support through tickets or calls is furthermore very costly, as it is hard to scale.

Customers are looking to get a specific job done, such as the workings of your product for example. Many customers would be well off with the self-service a community can provide. An online community can help customers find the answers to common long tail questions easily through integrated FAQ’s from support software, through wiki-like how to’s and documentation, as well as through forums where peers and company staff can help them find the answers they need.

Their self-service can go beyond product questions. For example, when someone is looking for advice, a community can house responses from other customers that may be more helpful and trustworthy than the official content or the advice of a support agent. Or when looking for a best practice the community will be the better place to go as multiple perspectives from peers can be shared and discussed.

From the support organization’s perspective, this frees up agent’s time and resources to focus on the tickets they can best answer. The scaling power of communities for support is more than just a matter of deflecting tickets: it's also about giving the support team the focus to handle the types of questions that they're most qualified to answer.

It is not necessarily about reducing headcount, but support teams will be able to help more customers without needing to increase support headcount at the same pace. Communities can solve many of the simpler queries, and the support team is then able to focus on higher-impact activities and tickets only they can solve.

Conclusion

The integration of ‘the pointy nose’ and ‘the long tail’ through community-driven KM represents a significant advancement in how we manage and disseminate information. By embracing the collective intelligence of communities, brands can foster a more inclusive and comprehensive information and customer support strategy. As we look to the future, it is clear that communities will continue to play a crucial role in shaping the landscape of KM, making knowledge more accessible, relevant, and democratically shared than ever before.