Why online communities?

[Kounterfeit]

Hello!

I am trying to get some information together on why a website my company runs should invest time and money in online community software, mainly discussion boards and blogs (e.g. vBulletin).

We are a medium sized online auto news/reviews/classifieds company looking to expand into online communities.

I am not so much looking for features as I am looking for information on how this can benefit our company, benefit our customers, etc.

In short: What have online communities done for YOUR business, have they made a difference at all? And are you aware of any good articles, books or blogs related to online communities in 2009?

Thanks!

[hitmancode47]

The only thing ive ever used a business forum is for my customer's to talk about the service they recieved etc, and write testimonials for the pages and so on.

But my vBulletin license is currently being used for a gaming community which me and a friend run.

But i suppose that the forums you can use are limitless. you can do practically anything with them.

[blackfalcon]

yes, forums do allot. They serve as a place for you to post news, for testimonials, customers to ask questions, give advice to other customers on how they should use products etc...