Identifying & Engaging
with Key Online
Communities
Social Media Marketing for Business
Johannesburg 11 June 2009
Melissa Attree - www.melissaattree.co.za

Strategic Planning
Conversation
Content
Community

Attention Economy

★ Information overload.
★ Partial Attention Disorder.
★ 90% of people who can skip TV ads, do.
★ Remember when you didnʼt have email?
★ email + sms + RSS + social networking +
reading + tv + radio + outdoor.
★ Filters

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, 1936

Strategic Planning

Targeted
Authenticity
Influence
Listen
Originality
Balance
Consistency
Transparency

Conversation

★ LISTEN to the conversation (ORM / Tracking
tools
★ Map the trends.
★ Start engaging with key fans / haters and
opinion leaders
★ Start to shape & influence the conversation.

Content

★ Content is King
★ Add value / make it sexy
★ Original / Use a variety of channels
★ Targeted / pitch
★ Context = 2 way convo
★ Great content travels. Help it

Find The Fans

★ Listen
★ They have Names & Faces
★ Categorise people - Do Your Homework
★ Everyone wants a soapbox - UGC

Communities

\"The royal road to a man's heart
is to talk to him about the things
he treasures most.\"
Dale Carnegie

Community Management
★ Establish purpose / objective
★ Must add value to marketing mix
★ ID suitable channels
★ Cast a wide net but maintain focus
★ Develop an internal policy (who? how? when?)

Community Management
★ Be true to your initial purpose
★ Set a precedent
★ Balance - 2 way Conversation
★ Content adds context
★ Track mentions / links / related queries
★ Response times

Community Management
★ Breed trust
★ Involve the community
★ Harness the collective
★ Say Sorry // Say Thank You
★ Manage channels and audit progress -

What is the shortest word in the
English language that contains the
letters: abcdef?
Answer: feedback.
Don't forget that feedback is one of the
essential elements of good
communication.

Melissa Attree
Social Media Consultant, Blogger, Brand
Strategist
GetOn eMarketing
www.melissaattree.co.za // www.geton.co.za
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