Social Networking and Community Building Kevin Palmer, Social Media Director Millennium Integrated Marketing [email_address] 877-873-7445 Become a Facebook Fan: Millennium Advertising Join Us on Twitter: Millennium_

Goal of the Session How an online community help grow your business Learn how to understand your niche by listening How to find existing communities within your niche Determine if you need to create your own community What tools you can use to create a community How to grow your community using common strategies

How an online community help grow your business

Learn how to understand your niche by listening

How to find existing communities within your niche

Determine if you need to create your own community

What tools you can use to create a community

How to grow your community using common strategies

Benefits of a Community Inexpensive Product Research (Lego) Customer Support (Microsoft, Zappos) Thought Leadership (Hitachi) Sales Support (Amazon) Create Customers Into Advocates (Lego) Organize People Internally or Externally

What demographics do your potential customers fit into? What keywords describes them? Where do they participate? How are they using the internet? Understanding What You Should Look For

What demographics do your potential customers fit into?

What keywords describes them?

Where do they participate?

How are they using the internet?

What Demographics Do Your Potential Customers Fit Into? Age Gender Income Education Location All impact how and why people use the internet

What Demographics Do Your Potential Customers Fit Into?

Age

Gender

Income

Education

Location

All impact how and why people use the internet

What Keywords Describes Your Customers? Write out a list of keywords that describes your business Write out a list of keywords that describe your customer They don’t always match How you perceive yourself is not how customers perceive your company

What Keywords Describes Your Customers?

Write out a list of keywords that describes your business

Write out a list of keywords that describe your customer

They don’t always match

How you perceive yourself is not how customers perceive your company

Set Up Listening Posts (Google Alerts, Social Mention, Twitter Search, Radian6) Set Up Monitoring Tools Around Keywords Know where the conversations are happening Gain competitive intelligence Set Up Monitoring Tools About Yourself Know what is being said about you and your brand Where Do They Participate?

Set Up Listening Posts

(Google Alerts, Social Mention, Twitter Search, Radian6)

Set Up Monitoring Tools Around Keywords

Know where the conversations are happening

Gain competitive intelligence

Set Up Monitoring Tools About Yourself

Know what is being said about you and your brand

Niche Communities (3,000 + social networks on the web) Benefits of the Niche Audience that is interested in your content Smaller community but you have a larger voice These are potential readers/customers, not just page views. Don’t Assume You Know Where the Community Is

Niche Communities (3,000 + social networks on the web)

Benefits of the Niche

Audience that is interested in your content

Smaller community but you have a larger voice

These are potential readers/customers, not just page views.

Look for active discussion/participation Be mindful of the overall membership Examine profile setup Some sites will pass on page rank with links You may be able to import RSS feeds or have other ways to automatically share you content within the site Evaluate the Communities

Look for active discussion/participation

Be mindful of the overall membership

Examine profile setup

Some sites will pass on page rank with links

You may be able to import RSS feeds or have other ways to automatically share you content within the site

Listen (do you think this is important yet?) Understand the community norms and rules Engage within those norms and rules Don’t go and broadcast your message (Cocktail Party Analogy) Completely fill out your profile and have a profile picture Be transparent Participating in an Existing Community- The Rules

Listen (do you think this is important yet?)

Understand the community norms and rules

Engage within those norms and rules

Don’t go and broadcast your message (Cocktail Party Analogy)

Completely fill out your profile and have a profile picture

Be transparent

Do You Need to Create Your Own Community? Available communities are weak or none exist You are an early adopter and need to pull everyone in your industry in You have the resources and the time to create, grow, and maintain

Available communities are weak or none exist

You are an early adopter and need to pull everyone in your industry in

You have the resources and the time to create, grow, and maintain

Rules When Creating Your Own Community Before we talk about the tools we need to talk about the rules Be transparent about the rules of the community You need to let others play, that includes competition It isn’t about controlling conversation it is about fostering it Promote and make others shine Reach out to power users, give them a larger role

Before we talk about the tools we need to talk about the rules

Be transparent about the rules of the community

You need to let others play, that includes competition

It isn’t about controlling conversation it is about fostering it

Promote and make others shine

Reach out to power users, give them a larger role

Types of Communities You Can Create Loosely formed for discussions Within your own blog Groups on existing platforms Message board Your own social network

Loosely formed for discussions

Within your own blog

Groups on existing platforms

Message board

Your own social network

Loosely Formed Discussions Benefits: Next to zero moderation needed Very small amount of technology and no cost except time Drawback: Need to have or build a large personal network Takes time to build awareness of discussion Example/Tips: “ Chats” on Twitter using hash tags. #prchat is a solid example

Within Your Own Blog Benefits: Fairly inexpensive option You host it, not impacted by policies of other companies Drawback: Need strong blogging software and developer The blog needs to be less about the company and more about the subject Examples/Tips: Open up to guest bloggers almost exclusively Highlight comments of others Profile system and allow people to share their content

Groups on Existing Sites Benefits: Free except for time Strong platform and technology is already available Drawbacks: All the content and information is controlled by a third party Less control over the look, features, feel, and administration Examples/Tips: Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Google Groups

Message Board Benefits: Most software is free Can tie into blog People are used to format Drawbacks: Not as feature rich as other technologies Requires some technology know how Examples/Tips: Buddy Press can tie into WordPress Install

Your own social network Benefits: Robust community with multiple features More engaging, gives people a reason to come back Drawbacks: Much more of a technical and time investment Can be slow to grow Examples/Tips: Ning.com offers a “free” solution, great example communities

Thank You Kevin Palmer, Social Media Director Millennium Integrated Marketing [email_address] 877-873-7445 Become a Facebook Fan: Millennium Advertising Join Us on Twitter: Millennium_