How to grow Media Publisher revenue by engaging your community 8 point action plan: Be a Unicorn Be open and honest Work hard for the Community Understand the network effect Innovate what they want, first Offer multiple revenue relationships Help them to become fans Ask for help

1. Larry W. Smith • lsmith@liveidea.com • @lwsmith10011

2. Understand
your VALUE
CONNECT with
your community
Give them REASONS
to support

4. UNICORNS: Open. Honest. Real. Perspective. = VALUE

5. Connecting with a
virtual or embodied
community is
hard & endless work
• No one has you as their home
page
• Reach out and touch people you
can actually meet, often
– Make them fans, loyalists
• Who are your community?
– The one and the many are fluid
• Online, each and every article is
bait and monetization
– The one can lead to the many

6. Communities
are networks
Community size
have different
value

8. In theory
there is
no difference
between
theory and
practice.
In practice
there is.
- Yogi Berra

9. Be a Unicorn
and people will pay

10. Niche community with purpose:
Membership to the tool
Broad community: Subscribe to magazine, buy
merchandise, attend Makers Faire
Reference source:
Subscribe to magazine and website
Subscription and product:
B2B application for data and information
News perspective:
Subscribe to newspaper and website
Newsletter subscription:
Information, knowledge and community
Unicorn value and people will pay

11. To get help from the Community,
give to the Community

12. Palmer is noted for her use of the Internet,
regularly using the latest innovations to make new
fans and connect with old ones.
This includes her forum, her blog, use of many
free music and social networking sites, fund
raising, and direct-to-fan marketing. (Wikipedia)

13. Most online content sites
do not work hard
at letting fans give love and money

14. Creating Community
• Socially active online;
obvious and unique
– aggregation of photos and
videos
– RAW audio files to remix
– 450GB video files to edit
• Advocating for other bands
• Give away tickets, contests,
treasure hunts, surveys,
email
Revenue: Free plus Exclusives
• Give music away free, but
also sell it everywhere in
many combinations and
every format
– LP, CD, DVD, and multiple
digital encoding
• Limited edition box set:
2500 @ $300 sold out in
<30 hours
• All the traditional things
like shirts, caps, tchotchkes
Trent Reznor & Nine Inch Nails

15. o Be a Unicorn
o Be open and honest
o Work hard for the Community
o Understand the network effect
o Innovate what they want, first
o Offer multiple revenue
relationships
o Help them to become fans
o Ask for help
Grow Media Revenue
by Engaging the Community