online community: market context
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WOMMA: Community Manager CertificateMarket Context
Bill Johnston - @BillJohnstonDirector of Global Online Community
Global Marketing
The Simple Truth:Business is inherently social.
Global Marketing3 Confidential
Online Community:Intention to foster a network of relationships around common interests, over time.
Social Media:Describes a large spectrum of tools and activities.
Social Business:an organization designed consciously around sociality and social tools, as a response to a changed world and the emergence of the social web…
Via @StoweBoyd
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Brief History & Evolution of Online Communities1970s
–1990s
BBS 1
990 -
2000
Vir
Com
1.0 2000 -
2010
Ris
e o
f Soci
al
Media
2010 -
>
Soci
al
Busi
ness
Global Marketing
HostedCommunities
SupportMastery & Use
AffinityIdeation
External Communi
ty
External Communi
ty
External Communit
y
External Communi
ty
Holistic Approach = Networks of Value
Extranets
Internal Networks / Workgroup
s
Internal
External
Enterprise
Market
Experts & Advocates
Community
Mass Social Media
Collaboration
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Exerting Force on Your Strategic Plan
• Market Conditions
• Organization Health and Performance
• Corporate Culture
• Social Organization Model
• Pull to External
• Time
• Talent
Image via likecool.com
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Beware Evil Unicorns
Evil Unicorns = Magical thinking that can harm your long term strategy.
User Generated Content
“Gamification”
“Influencers”
Platform as Panacea
Image via http://chalicothere.deviantart.com
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Key Characteristics of Successful Communities
• Shared Value– Clear value to members & host (brand)
• Equitable Participation– Shared participation, vs. members or host doing all the work
• Growth (to a logical point)– Membership & activity increase over time
• Vibrancy– A sense of activity, enthusiasm and passion
• Community Leadership Model– Present leaders, Reputation, clear paths to maturity
• Advocacy– Program(s) as well as presence of advocates
• Experience– A quality user experience, logical toolset, modern design
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Case Studies
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AREA
Autodesk’s community for artists in the film, game and visualization industries.http://area.autodesk.com
• Robust platform, including blogs, forums, training, downloads and member portfolios
• Masters program
• Integration of online / offline events
• Global community
$ = @ E
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SAP Community Network
SAP’s Community Network bring together thousands of Enterprise Software Pros for learning, knowledge sharing and peer networking in a trusted environment.http://scn.sap.com
• Discussions, blogs, technical & training resources
• Grounded in value and utlity
• One of the most mature Reputation systems online
• 100 SAP Mentors power the community ecosystem
• Very active in the social media ecosystem$ = @ L ! E
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Lego CUUSOO
Lego’s Ideas community facilitating development and evolution of customer proposals for new sets, bricks and figures.http://lego.cuusoo.com
• Members create projects – proposed sets, parts or figures
• The community comments and votes the proposal up or down
• Lego reviews once proposal hits 10k supporters
• If proposal is produced, member shares in the revenue.
$ + @ E
Global Marketing
IdeaStorm
IdeaStorm is Dell’s customer-led innovation community, where members can post ideas for products, services or brand. Dell helps shape the conversation with regular Storm Sessions.http://www.ideastorm.com
• Ideas can be posted with rich media attachments
• Ideas evolve through comments, votes and extensions
• Idea Partner program and Community Management hands-on throughout the community
• Ideas can be shared into the social ecosystem
$ = @ ! E
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Manic Mommies
A podcast and events-driven community that brings together busy Moms from all over the United States into a community of support, learning, nurturing and fun.http://www.manicmommies.com
• Community is primarily driven via a podcast, with lots of listener interaction
• Events, including annual Escape and book club
• Grass-roots community that has matured & monetized, but has done an excellent job of staying true to mission and purpose.
$ @
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Meetup
The original “community of communities”, Meetup has been a mostly silent giant facilitating local community events. Meetup is all about getting online community offline, into f2f activities – all while maintaining connective tissue online. http://www.meetup.com
• Organized around the concepts of local groups with regular events.
• Social tools baked in for sharing of and discussion pre / post event
• Over 90k groups in 45k cities globally
$ + @ ! E
Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.
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AMEX OPEN Forum
AMEX community for small business owners, covering a wide range of issues related to operating and growing a small business. http://www.openforum.com
• Public-facing original content. Community features are gated, available to OPEN Members
• Private forums for members to connect, learn, share and problem-solve
• Business Directory for registered member businesses
• Very active outpost strategy, esp Facebook & Twitter
$ = @ E
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Dell TechCenter
Dell TechCenter is a community for IT Professionals, focused on use and mastery of Dell & partner products and solutions.http://www.delltechcenter.com
• 6 Community Leads, each with SME in their areas of coverage (Virtualization, Storage, etc)
• Full featured community, with blogs, wikis, forums, video and weekly chats
• Dell TechCenter Rockstars: Advocacy program
• Engaged on the social web
$ = @ ! E
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Internal: Chatter / Yammer
Internal “Collaboration” is undergoing a renaissance, thanks to vendors embracing social media ux metaphors and philosophies.
• Many organizations are now using internal microblog tools like Chatter or Yammer
• After false starts, full-featured community platforms like Jive and Telligent are starting to see greater adoption
• All of these tools are fighting ingrained habits (especially email) and corp cultures where information is power, and is shared accordingly
• Key opportunities exist to bridge internal / external networks to create a more valuable and useful community ecosystem
Global Marketing19 Online Community Strategy & PlanningImage courtesy ofhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelholden
A new era of business is dawning, powered by the social web.
• Your “network of relationships” can be one of your most valuable business assets… or your largest liability
• We need to further define and mature the teams that manage these relationships
• Silos must become nodes on the network – inside & out
• The “customer” will only become more empowered (VRM) – be prepared!
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