Building Communities: Techniques, Technologies, & Best Practices

1. Building Communities Techniques, Technologies & Best Practices Connie Bensen Online Marketing Summit June 8, 2011

2. Introduction Educator Creative Marketer Change Agent

4. Every Company Needs a Digital Footprint

7. Get to know your People 1. Listen

8. Choose Listening Tools Basic Google Alerts Twitter – Hootsuite, Seismic, Tweetdeck Premium Trackur Alterian SM2 Radian6 Sysomos Visible Technologies

9. What to listen for Brand Name Products Key Executives Competitors If no conversations… Industry terms * Identify patterns & trends

10. Get to Know Them Identify where consumers are at Which social networks The influencers (beyond top tier) Topics of interest & context * Create consumer profiles and understand what motivates them

11. Online Preferences Time of day Social Networks Formats – chat, video, forums, games, etc

12. Planning Create a Strategy & Metrics 2. Planning

13. Plan Based on Objective(s) Choose One that Meets Your Business Goals % Reduced spend on PR, Marketing & Advertising % Increase in Sales % Reduction in Customer Service Costs % Reduction Product Development Costs % Increased SEO Presence % Increase in Leads from Campaign % Increase in Brand Visibility * Note: the objectives drive the metrics which need to be measureable.

14. Platforms Build Hosted Social network (Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn) Items to consider: Do you own your data? Is the platform scalable? How difficult will it be to migrate it?

15. Content is King & SEO is Queen 3. Digital Marketing

16. Social Media has radically changed Marketing Company-centric (old) Buyer-centric (new) Identify buyer Search & find info, links Outbound Inbound Send an Email Visit website Call prospect Download a resource Assess the need Request a call Determine budget Describe a project Give a demo Give spec’s & budget Participate in a demo Submit proposal Request a proposal

19. Build Word of Mouth Use Shareable sites Encourage sharing of content in emails Send newsletters with links

20. Build an Inbound Strategy Share Your Story Create Interesting Content Add Value & Provide Resources Syndicate your content – help it grow legs Widgets (Slideshare.net) LinkedIn, Facebook SocialMediaToday.com, MyVenturePad.com * Set information free

21. Create a Party 4. Engagement

22. Kicking it off Seed the community Provide guidelines that suit the community Start with a simple profile Add additional fields over time Set expectations

23. Connect with them early on Evangelists Advocates Influencers

24. Advocates Reward them Give them more privileges Encourage them to moderate Provide a private place for discussions * Identify what motivates them

25. Dealing with Trolls

26. Measuring Success 4. Reporting

27. Measure what meets the Objective % Reduced spend on PR, Marketing & Advertising % Increase in Brand Visibility Amount of increased conversation % Increase in Sales Overlay sales performance on volume of conversation % Reduction in Customer Service Costs Number of uses of online content Number of issues resolved online by peers Increased customer satisfaction - qualitative % Reduction Product Development Costs Number of ideas gathered/implemented Compare previous cycle cost to present Reduced cost due to beta % Increased SEO Presence Google your brand/product! % Increase in Leads from Campaign

28. Calculating ROI Decide on the objective (it needs to be measurable). 2. What is the % increase or decrease change in behavior that is wanted. (Need to know the value of increment) 3. Measure the baseline. After a given period (or campaign time) take the measurement 5. Calculate the ROI based on the cost * Remember! It’s about building relationships.

29. Possible quantitative data Number of active members Percent with complete profile Number of new members Number of new threads started Number of mentions Number of comments Number of views (YouTube, Slideshare, Flickr) Number of embeds Number of downloads Number of followers (*careful!) Rank (Google, Twitter, Technorati, Klout, etc)

30. Possible qualitative data Sentiment and/or tone Quote from advocate Issues (frequency) Topics frequently discussed Recommendations (velocity) Brand differentiators

31. Monthly Reporting Report on Objectives Established from goals of the position Qualitative Trends in members, topics, discovery of new communities Quantitative Benchmark based on previous report Web Analytics unless someone else is tracking them Recommendations Based on interactions with customers

32. Growing Your Community Provide thought leadership Comment on related posts Guest blog Participate in related communities Organize industry related events online & offline

33. Fail Fast Learn from Mistakes Build on What Worked Grow the Engagement Get More Teams Involved Train Willing Teams

34. Team Exercise

35. Connie Bensen Community Strategist ConnieBensen@gmail.com @cbensen www.communitystrategist.com www.slideshare.net/conniebensen