Vanessa DiMauro is an expert in online community building with over 20 years of experience. She is the founder and CEO of Leader Networks, a consulting firm that helps organizations succeed through social business and building B2B online communities. Many of her clients have won industry awards for their online community efforts. She is considered one of the top social marketing experts worldwide.

1. Building World Class
Online Communities
Vanessa DiMauro
CEO and Managing Director, Leader Networks
@vdimauro

2. • Vanessa DiMauro is the founder and CEO of Leader Networks, a research and
strategy consulting company that helps organizations succeed in social
business and B2B online community building.
• 20 years experience leading online communities.
• Many clients have won industry awards such as Forrester’s Groundswell, B2B
Marketing Award, and SNCR’s Excellence in Communications.
• Her work has been covered by leading publications such as the New York
Times, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
• Recently named a one of 40 top social marketing masters worldwide by Forbes.
• Former Executive-In-Residence at Babson College’s Olin School of
Management, holds both a B.A. and M.A. from Boston College and blogs at
http://www.leadernetworks.com/blog/.

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Online Community Leaders…
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
Photo credit: Martin Fisch

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Fact
Online community can fuel revenue; a
significant increase (of at least 18%) in
post-launch expenditure from
community customers can be attributed
to their joining the community.
Puneet Manchanda et. al. Social Dollars: The Economic Impact of Customer Participation in a Firm-
sponsored Online Customer Community, 2013
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014

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Fact
60% of IT executives now view
collaboration software as a critical or
high priority for conducting business
today.
July 2013 Forrester Research report "Setting the Technology Foundation for Your Social Business and
Collaboration Strategy,"
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014

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Fact
Communities generate a 67% lift in a
brand’s Net Promoter Score
compared to those customers not
engaged with a brand socially.
Millward-Brown, Owning Your Brand's Social Community Drives More Shoppers and Sales, July 2014
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014

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Four Business Drivers Fueling The
Case For Community
Ability to scale and
achieve greater
efficiencies.
Increased
self-service
opportunities
Greater customer
intimacy which leads to
increased customer
satisfaction
Increasing access to
customer ideas to
accelerate speed to
market and successful
adoption.
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014

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Copyright © Leader Networks 2014

9. Photo by ShutterRunner - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License https://www.flickr.com/photos/40718898@N04 Created with Haiku Deck
Create vision
Target & segment audience
Validate plan
Identify performance measurements
Benchmark competition & best of
breed
Choose tools and features
Pilot launch
Align operations
The Community-Building Process
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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The Community Success Equation
Member
Needs
Business
ROI
Online
Community
Success
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014

11. What AMAZING Online Communities
Do
MINE the
insights
shared
online
Marketing: Events, Market
Message, Prospective Customer
Education
HR: Staffing, Future skill needs,
hiring, employee engagement
Customer Care: Customer
support, Ideation, Knowledge
sharing, problem solving
Partners: Education and training,
engagement, support
And ALIGN
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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12. Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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13. Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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14. People come for content
and stay
for community!
Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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15. Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
Example: Building The Case For Social
How can the company apply
strategy best practices to
examine the opportunity for
social business leverage?
• Developed strategy at the C-suite level
• Created potential, varied revenue models
• Vetted model with customers and
partners
• Identified internal thought-leaders to lead
the charter.
• Beta tested with 500 strategy
practitioners before launch.
Situation
SolutionQuestion
Complications
Build a private online community
Their audience is elusive – CSOs and CRO
of top companies globally
Their consultancy focused on a high-touch
model, but scale was a barrier
Palladium Group is a
consulting and conference firm whose
founders invented the Balanced Scorecard
measurement system (Robert Kaplan and
David Norton).
•Help BSC practitioners share knowledge
•Increase customer intimacy and raise
awareness of products and services
•Tap into leading trends in strategy
execution
•Create a new revenue-generating service
line for Palladium Group
Many offerings means many markets
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16. Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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16
Palladium XPC
Sales
Marketing /
Web-site
Customer
Service
Advisory
Boards
Conferences
Education,
Training &
Certification
Maintenance
& Support
Pre-sales
Product &
Service
Delivery
Expanded
Use
Awareness about Palladium‘s point of
view, expanding the marketing impact
Prospects learn from
other customers &
understand offerings,
a valuable sales tool.
Access to thought
leaders & ideas from
other customers,
yields new leads for
increased service.
Access to
education &
training. Deepens
knowledge, adds
revenue.
Online events
integration & impact.
(registration, pre-
post-event
discussions)
Operational Impact Of Community: Palladium

17. The Future Of Online
Communities
The collaboration recipe =
1 to 2 large networks + 1 to 2
niche communities
Large networks are
consolidating while
smaller/gated communities
deepen in specialization Thought leadership is
the new currency of
online collaboration.Copyright © Leader Networks 2014
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