Whatever Happened to Building Community?

Or, How We Started Buying Friends and Not Influencing People

Rosemary O’Neill - @rhogroupee

“There’s no there there.”

Gertrude Stein, and your website visitors

images - NeilPatel.com

“Get me a branded community, STAT!”

And buy me some influencers while you’re at it!

What did we forget?

It’s not about the technology.

It’s about value and context.

And people. Humans. Not targets, prospects, leads, or eyeballs.

Social media and community can coexist

Branded website plus social “embassies”

A branded community is a community with a specific business objective led by anexecutive sponsor, where a company creates a space for people with a common sense of identity to participate in ongoing, shared experiences. (CMX)

Rosemary’s Three Laws of Authentic Community

Don’t follow the marketing herd (context).

Be real/use a human voice.

Provide value.

You’ll know it’s working when they start talking to each other and not just you.

Good for Them● Help with a product, questions

answered● Emotional support● Recognition● Show leadership● Goodies, coupons● Contribute to product development● Relationships● Altruism, help others

● Improved product● Invested customers, affinity● Increased sales● Market research● Support deflection● Brand awareness● SEO● User-generated content● Human conversational voice leads to

good reputation

Good for Us

Real Community

Use cases for online community, with real examples

ideation

customer support

market research

brand awareness

employee advocacy

internal communication

donor recruitment/facilitation

community of practice

peer support & advice

influencer & advocacy programs

author and content creator communities (workshop & event continuation)

education & training

sales via reputation management - trust building

“...recent report from Millward Brown that found that Lithium customer communities drive almost 12 times more revenue than other social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Google+ combined.”

Most engaged community members confirmed as the biggest spenders on PlayStation Store.

“Sony’s PlayStation gaming division is ranked the No. 3 “most intimate

brand’ among millennials, according to marketing firm MBLM. It ranks

behind only Amazon and Apple. If you’re wondering what the hell

“intimacy” means in this situation, MBLM defines it as a tight

relationship between a person and a brand that can help a business

grow. ...The worldwide gaming market is worth around $100 billion, and

Sony has proved that establishing a rapport with consumers can

help a company capture a big piece of that.”

VentureBeat

"We have found one of the huge benefits of a brand community is that it serves a wide range of business units in one central place, from CRM to insights, PR, innovation, digital, word-of-mouth, cause marketing, and shopper."

When you get back to the office...

Take out your business goals & marketing plan

Review social customer touchpoints

Where can community provide a business benefit, & value to members?

Find champions internally & externally

Prepare a community strategy (be sure to build in metrics for success)

Remember you’re not alone (resources)

You’re cool, you don’t need to buy friends!