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Top 10s are important for people in Marketing

Part of the service we provide to our clients are opinion and thought leader articles. After a period of time we make these live for the public. Coming soon is an article about the difference between social networks and online communities – as people often confuse these very different models. In the meantime, enjoy the obligatory ‘Top 10 tips’ related to developing a successful online community:

1. Make sure the community needs are inline with the brand needs – look at Trip Advisor above.
2. Address the social challenges, not just the technological ones. Online communities and social networks are about people. Ignore the fact these people are online – do they still resonate with the audience social trends?
3. The community owns the community. If a brand wants a community, it needs to be part of it – look at Trip Advisor example.
4. Growth takes time and effort. Starbucks launched mystarbucksidea.com to build a community that looks to enhance the Starbucks experience. It’s taken a lot of financial resources and several months to get to the stage it is and currently requires 48 Starbucks staff to manage that community. Which leads on to…
5. Communities need managing. They are about people and wherever you have a lot of people you need someone to manage and police activity – even if those people are like the 100 Trip Advisor contributors.
6. Look at new ways to measure success. There are always the obvious benchmarks of page impressions and users but a community is not just a website. Set the targets outside of the obvious. Starbucks measure success on the goodwill they generate and new innovations from their community.
7. Appreciate the many types of communities. Whilst there are similarities, a private community is very different to a public one. Restricting access, limiting numbers and increasing engagement creates an entirely different conversation with users. GSK and P&G are known to use closed/ private communities for huge amounts of R&D across their products.
8. Consumer communities are a form of marketing. It’s a different form of marketing with new rules and etiquette. It’s always best to consult marketers who have a wealth of knowledge regarding community marketing (conveniently neoco can help). As a basic litmus test, put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Would the activity work for you?
9. These are social environments, so the general rules of social engagement apply. A good marketer would never crash a friends party and just start shouting about their brand all night – so why should that work online? Be respectful, honest and conversational – you will find it goes a long way.
10. Make sure the community is connected internally (at your brand). Communities can be a goldmine for consumer insight and innovative ideas. Make sure these fulfill their potential by enabling conversations across your brand.

Tags  community consumer GSK Madonna is still number one mystarbucksidea online branding online communities P&G Party on Wayne social environment social media social networking social networks Starbucks tips top 10 trends Trip Advisor