It’s also a crucial time of year for marketers to roll their sleeves up and make some tough decisions for 2012. They will be crunching numbers, and asking critical questions like “what’s worth our continued investment in 2012? What needs to be cut? How successful were we in 2011?” and “what can we be doing better?” It’s also a time that, if you have a successful online community, you’ll be patting yourself on the back. Here are a few reasons you’ll be thankful you built the site:

1)      Your online community gives you a place to consolidate your incredible content marketing pieces into one stellar resource center.

Content marketing, along with social media, were the two big “buzz words” for 2011. Due to recent Google algorithm changes, the need for high-quality content is clear: Not only must marketers change their approach from keyword-driven to more meaningful, original content, but must also publish new content frequently in order to make the enviable high ranks of Google search results. So, white papers were written. Blog posts were published. Webinars held, Tweets sent, Case Studies researched and eBooks rolled out. Whew, that’s a lot of content. Now, where do you put it?

Your online community is the best place to integrate your multiple content marketing initiatives. Content can be categorized, organized, and tailored for different audiences. Plus, as opposed to dumping it all in your company website, by housing it on an industry or topic-specific community site, your content is viewed as more credible and educational rather than promotional, or a sales pitch.

2)      You have a place to integrate all those social media initiatives your company “had to do” in 2011 in order to stay competitive.

Let me guess: You created at least one new social media account this year. Oh wow, 4? Well, aren’t you glad you have an online community to bring together all your fans in one easy-to digest platform? Content can be cross-shared, discussions can be open to all your fans, and you can distribute content across all your sites with ease, because it all resides in one integrated repository. With an online community at the “hub” of all your social activity, you own the conversations occurring about your company, and industry. And, you’re easily able to establish a consistent voice across the various sites, something that’s quite difficult to achieve with scattered sites across the web.

3)      Your online community gives you a place to communicate with and build trust with your target audience- something that’s tough to achieve on your company website.

This year was truly the year of the consumer. People don’t want to hear from you – they want to find you. Inbound marketing efforts sky rocketed, and traditional outbound methods decreased. With an online community, you’re able to engage in direct conversations with your target audience. By posting content and resources they are interested in, and talking about, you’re able to jump into the conversation, offering real-time insight and establishing yourself as a credible thought leader. Plus, if there are questions or concerns about your products, you’re able to react to them immediately, which is an incredible customer retention skill. The more quality content you provide and open, honest dialogue you engage in with your audience, the more trustworthy you’ll become. And the more people trust you, the more likely they’ll be to buy from you.

Remember, though, that these conversations are tough to have on your company website. The automatic reaction from your audience may be to avoid interactions with you, to avoid a potential sales pitch before they’ve even gathered the information they seek. On an industry-specific online community, however, there’s less pressure: It’s just a couple of experts sharing ideas, answering questions and providing educational resources to help guide your customers along their decision-making process.

4)      You have a lead capture and nurture center right at your fingertips

Lead generation and nurturing can take an extremely large amount of effort from your sales and marketing team. But, with your online community, you have links to high-quality resources for any stage of the sales life cycle. Passive site visitors? You’ll capture their information with the quality gated content on your community (however, make sure you balance what you offer for free, and what you gate). New prospects? Send them to your white papers to learn more about the current state of your industry. For more serious prospects, you have volumes of case studies to send them to demonstrate best practices and lessons learned.  Regardless of what stage of interest your community visitor is at, there’s a content piece on your community that speaks to them .There’s a forum they can join, or poll they can take. There’s someone they can talk to if they have further questions. This is a powerful portal you have at your fingertips, and one your sales team should be leveraging just as much as your marketing team.  Because your best customers, the ones who renew with you year after year, are the ones who’ve had the chance to make educated decisions and build a strong relationship with you at their own pace.

5)      You’re beating your competitors- literally and figuratively.

Though extremely beneficial for businesses – for more reasons than I’ve even listed here – online communities are still a newer tool for marketers, especially in B2B. But, when done well, they are able to boost your company’s reputation and drive you up in organic search engine ranking. This places you ahead of your competitors who don’t have an online community in many ways: You’re educating their target audience, positioning yourself as the industry leader, owning top real estate on Google, and more.

What aspect of your online community are you most thankful for this week? 

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Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Confused? Don’t be: There’s a subtle distinction that needs to be made between social network users engaging with your brand, and using social media to research your brand. Even if they don’t want to join your discussion groups, post on your Facebook wall or subscribe to your Twitter feed, chances are your audience wants to use social media to learn more about you, on their own terms.

The same survey indicated that “54% of respondents said they used social networks to research brands.” The message is clear: Your target audience wants to be in the driver’s seat, and you need to provide the right online vehicles if you want to be considered in their purchase decision-making.

Your customers want to engage with the things they are passionate about, and if you provide that to them, then you’re all the more equipped to be top-of-mind when they are ready to buy.

Here are a few ways to engage with their passions, without brand-blasting them.

1)     Build a topical online community

Whether you use Facebook, LinkedIn, or build your own online community, focus your topics and content on your products or services-types, rather than specific company. For example, if you’re a car manufacturer who makes convertibles, make the focus of your online community about the experience and thrill of being a convertible owner. No one wants to talk to a company before they’ve done any research, right? Talk about different experiences a convertible driver can have during each season, insurance-options and even specialty features. By providing a go-to resource for people who are excited and passionate about buying a convertible, you will be top-of-mind if and when they are ready to buy.

If you’re an established brand, then you should probably associate your company name with the site, but don’t be overly-promotional. Make the focus of your sites about your visitors and their passions, not about you.

2) Give educational content for free

The internet is an expansive resource center, so chances are if you’re not giving out information for free, someone is. Make sure your marketing team is equipped with educational, informative and fun content pieces to engage your readers. Post a “Top 10 Convertible Road Trip Routes” eBook, and ask for visitor feedback and reactions. Again, you’re invoking their emotions here, not trying to sell them. That comes much later, and is – according to the research findings listed above – not what they want to come to your site for.

2)     Post videos and pictures- and ask your audience to do the same

Some of the coolest content marketing pieces I’ve seen from companies are their multimedia elements. PepsiCo and Sony are two companies to check out for examples (on Facebook, Twitter or Google+). They talk about their products but in such a topical way that you almost forget they are promoting themselves. They are showing how to have fun with their products, honing in on what sparks their visitors interests. Aflac did this last year too- only they asked visitors to contribute their own videos.  Even better. The more you’re asking your audience to engage with their passions, using your brand as a vehicle, the better.

3)     Use promotions and contests

Finally, a great way to spark passion in your audience is to get their juices flowing. Offer them something cool in exchange for a video or picture, enter them to win the latest technology product, or share their latest idea for how you can improve one of your products. Research indicates that “61% of consumers who do engage with brands online do so because of a promotion or to receive a special offer” because they need to have skin in the game.  I would avoid providing a discount on your services, because that seems a bit self-serving. Make it all about them- stroke their egos, and make them eager to return to your sites to find more cool stuff that sparks their passions. Eventually, your company will become one of them.

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Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

We ‘Google’.

Which is exactly why Google+ is worth our attention. As the go-to search engine for a majority of internet users, Google has the power to petrify marketers with each new algorithm update: We scramble to improve our content, optimize our SEO and check the quality of our links and site design. So when Google creates a social network, we should take note: Our site ranking could be dependent on how often content is shared on the Google + page, or how many fans we have.

So I create a page.

Here are 7 immediate reactions I had to setting it up, and from exploring other company’s Google + pages. Keep in mind, this was yesterday.  Like most companies, I think we’re all still learning the ropes, here.

1)      I really like the layout.  I checked out the Muppets fan page, and Pepsi fan page and immediately I was drawn to the bright, big colorful layout Google + offers. It felt less “narrow” than Facebook, and I didn’t have to scroll down so much to see previous conversations.  This makes photos a lot easier to view, also, with an easy-to-spot conversation bubble to notify which photos had comments attached to them.  There’s just something about that clean design that is a breath of fresh air from the ad-and-content-cluttered Twitter and Facebook.

2)      It’s really hard to upload a good logo. Now, I’m not a graphic designer, but I found the interface really difficult. It took our team several tries to upload a picture that was the right size, and resolution, required for the page.

3)      Segmentation is easy, and helps target messages. Keeping up with new lists, hashtags and trends is tiring on Twitter, and Facebook doesn’t really let you target messages to specific groups at all. So even though we don’t have followers to our Google+ page yet, I think the ability to segment certain communications by ‘groups’ is going to be awesome. Think about it, putting all our ‘current customers’ in one bucket for lead nurturing content and pictures, our prospects in another to receive case studies and promotional pieces, and our conference attendees in yet another bucket to participate in hangouts (see #5), now that’s every marketers dream. I’m interested to see how it’s going to work…

4)      It’s “App” light: OK, so Facebook has some really cool apps that I don’t think Google+ has yet. But I’m a patient person (sort of).  Plus I like the integration with YouTube with the handy slide-out bar at the top-right corner, so that’s keeping me occupied for now.

5)      Interaction abilities are pretty cool: Hangouts = awesome. I can’t wait to eliminate the need for a 3^rd party vendor or conference facility and just hang out with our clients and prospects online, at any time.

6)      I’m trying to balance where it fits in our greater social media “plan”: I use Hootsuite for all my Facebook and Twitter updates, so right now I’m trying to sort out how I’m going to find the time to add yet another website to update with new content. I’m thinking an integration platform will be out sooner rather than later to streamline this for frazzled marketers (please!)

7)      Ripples! This is perhaps my favorite feature of Google+- and reflective of the site’s very visual, clean style. You can actually see, in a web diagram, how a content piece has been shared, who your main influencers are, and other fascinating statistics that you just can’t find anywhere else.  I’m going to have a lot of fun with this.

Finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, check out this article by Frank Reed about how companies rushing to Google+ is a bit silly; and remember “Google+ brand pages are going to change….Slow down folks. It’ll be OK.”

Because who knows what tomorrow will bring…..

Are you creating a Google+ page for your company? What has your experience been like?

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Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

It’s a scary web out there, there all right, which makes it difficult for marketers to break through the spammy clutter and get their audience to trust them and their content. Here’s where having an online community can be beneficial for educating and engaging with your target audience; nurturing them with your credible content and, over time, positioning your company as an industry leader. But, this only works if the online community is set up correctly, because first impressions mean everything. If a visitor immediately likes your site, they will come back again and again and forward your useful information to their friends, prompting even more visitors. But if you scare them away at first glance, you will never reap the benefits an online community can offer. Here are some spooky online community practices, and how to avoid frightening your precious prospects.

1)      Terrifying Teaser Trickery

Teasers are great promotional tools. Ramp up excitement about a new product, maybe, or give a snippet from your latest research report to entice people to purchase the entire piece. But empty teasers are terrifying, and game changers in your community-visitor relationship. If you trick your customers into clicking on a teaser that immediately takes them to something other than what you’ve communicated, like a form, or a promotional ad, trust may be shattered (especially if the relationship with your prospects is just starting to develop). Slow and steady wins the sales race these days, and if you try to trick, instead of treat, your site visitors, it’s likely they’ll never view you as a credible source of information. Use the teasers to treat them with the latest, hard-to-find information, or a special discount code that will incent them to return to your online community again and again.

2)      Spooky Self Promotion

You know those freaky rooms full of mirrors, like the ones they have in carnivals or in Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” fight scene? Where everywhere you look there are dozens of reflected images? Now, think about how many times your company branding appears on your online community. Is every page your visitor goes to littered with “You you you”? Are you eerily present at every turn, suffocating them with your imagery and messages every where they look?

If and when your prospects what to learn about what your company has to offer, they will go to your company website. But if they want an online community to go to, to learn the latest industry news, read product reviews, and join discussions with others that have similar interests, then give them that. Don’t bombard them with your branding, because you’ve done enough by simply creating the space for this education and interaction to occur. By building the room, you’ve done enough. Leave the mirrors out of it.

3)      Deadly Design

We know, we know; these days it’s all about the content, right? But as a community sponsor, you have the burden of providing that content in an easy-to-navigate, visually appealing place. If your online community looks like a disaster zone, you might just scare away your site visitors for good.

Making sure your online community design matches the quality of your content is crucial to building trust with your target audience. The more organized, clean and fresh your community looks, the more professional and reliable you will appear. A hard to navigate or just plain messy site will, no matter how awesome your content is, scare away a lot of interested, eager visitors.

4)      Frightening Forms

Ever go to fill out a form online, and then click out of it, unsure as to how your personal information would be used? You may have even left behind something you really wanted to watch, or read, but just didn’t trust the website enough to disclose your details.  Forms can be scary, but online communities can still use them, if they follow a few rules. For one, make sure there’s enough information on your site that isn’t gated (or blocked by a form). You want people to come to the site, browse, look around and begin to trust you. Some of these people may be valuable prospects. Others, not so much. By capturing each visitor’s information and pushing them through your internal sales process, you may be wasting precious time and resources following up on unqualified leads.

 Instead, make your most valuable, robust and insightful pieces gated, but develop a fair amount of “free” content to surround it. On the download page, display some charts or research from the piece. Provide quotes from people who read it (or watched it) and liked it. Let people post comments and questions about it, and do the right amount of teasing that will make people crave the asset. But, be clear on the form just what people are getting in exchange for their information. Reassure them their information won’t be sold, and allow them to opt-into your newsletter or updates if they want. The people that opt-in, and download your information, will be truly interested and qualified leads worthy of your time and attention.

How have you been scared away from a company website or online community? Any spooky practices you want companies to avoid? Facebook  | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Are You Creating Enough Online Content for Your Company? - May 27, 2011

Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

Q:  “Do you draw distinction between B2B and B2C marketing?" 

A:  Yes, absolutely. There’s a big difference in how the two types of brands manifest. For B2C, you can be very aspirational, whereas B2B is more focused on risk reduction, which is demonstrated by content and thought leadership.

Additionally, the kind of marketing you do for each type of sale is quite different. For B2C you typically have a shorter sales cycle, so you can be punchy, fun, and to-the-point. In B2B there’s usually longer sales cycles and very large, extensive decision-making processes to boot, so marketing must roll up their sleeves and be “in it for the long haul.” This means more lead nurturing, more resources, more content, and education and more patience.

In fact, lead management is overall a different beast for B2B marketing. It’s more important, for example, to properly score your leads to ensure you’re spending the right amount of time and effort on the right prospects.  It also means that your sales team be equipped with the right resources to take those leads, nurture them, and build strong relationships with them; all marketing and sales challenges many B2C companies don’t need to worry about.

In short, for B2B sometimes the risks are greater, but so are the rewards. Miller states that B2B sales numbers are generally far higher than B2C, and can make or break a company’s survival. It can also be a huge investment for companies who may only look to spend in that area every few years or so. That’s why positioning your brand as an industry leader, year after year, is so crucial.

Q: “What Content Works Best for B2B vs. B2C Marketing?”

A: We mention how thought leadership, education and content are so important in B2B marketing efforts earlier in the presentation. Why? Because it’s harder to get someone passionate about a printer or router versus a consumer brand. It’s a different type of brand, which needs altered messages. Companies often see some of the fun things B2C companies are doing online, and want to replicate that in their B2B marketing efforts, with limited success. What your audience is really look for isn’t pizzazz or spunk (although having a little of that never hurts, right?) but stellar content. This means white papers that are written with your audience, not your bottom line, in mind. It means hosting educational webinars, and investing in long-term content efforts. Other successful content vehicles are company blogs, which have seen a significant rise in the past few years in popularity, and links to sales. By focusing on content quality, and in large numbers, your B2B company will be better positioned to meet those sales goals, nurture leads, and position yourself as an industry leader.

Connect with us and join the conversation: What are your experiences with differences between B2B and B2C marketing? Facebook  | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

Wait- before you shut down your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, just listen to the rest of the findings. Though perceived as a ‘silver bullet’ for online marketers who, let’s face it, love to experiment in the latest social spaces, this survey urges marketers not to ignore the #1 source of sales – your company website.  Why? Because the company website it the “hub.”

Still, just as a wheel needs its spokes, so too does your company website need a variety of ways for visitors to get there (i.e. your social sites and online community).

Think back to the 3 pillars of online marketing: Your online community, social media sites and company website. Their voices need to all be in sync and have consistent messages in order to build trust with your target audience. What I think this survey shows is that not enough companies are finding that harmony between their multiple online sites, so when a visitor ultimately gets to the company website they are still uncertain as to what, if any, value you can provide to them.

Here’s some ways to make the most of your company website and ensure you’re maximizing on your lead potential WITHOUT ignoring your social sites.

1)      Keep your social media sites and online community going. Yup. Don’t you dare shut them down. These are critical elements of your marketing mix, but are you using them effectively as a driver to your company website? Consider persuading your social friends and community followers to your company site is through promotions, free demos and trials, and other prominent calls to action to download a new educational resource. Make them prominent, engaging and unique, and make it clear to your visitors exactly what they’ll find when they make the transition from social site to company website.

Also, reach out to your social communities when you’ve added something new to your company website, like “check out our new ‘News’ page and tell us what you think!” or “Vote for Our New Company Website Color Scheme!.” By making the lines between your different sites blurry means that your customers won’t feel like they are entering a sales pitch or needing to commit to you when visiting your company site: It will just be a natural extension of their interactions with you online.

2)      Make your company website social. Add a “Community” page to your company website that houses all your social information, like who’s sharing what content, who’s answering discussions, and who’s liking what.  Allow your network to contribute to discussions, or post their own experiences with your products and services in an open forum. Again, social media isn’t the “end all be all” for your marketing, but it is certainly a medium many people are comfortable engaging with. So, bring those social interactions to your company website- the place where the most lead potential is, and surround it with your great content (see #3) or Calls to Action (see #1).  

3)      Grab your visitors’ attention (and information) with content. Any marketer knows that content is the key to building brand awareness, getting quality leads and high organic search engine ranking. Use your social sites to promote or provide “teasers” to your online content, but then ultimately drive those conversations and content pieces back to your company website.  Start a forum for your most recent white paper, and post statistics from the piece directly on your social sites. This way, you’re giving site visitors exactly what they want; valuable information and answers to their questions with the ability to provide their own insights as well.

Also consider reaching out to your community for content ideas. Take a poll on what your next webinar topic should be, or invite others to be featured guest contributors. Make the content something that really matters to them and give them ‘skin in the game’, all huge engagement drivers.

4)      Move from static to dynamic –and know what works: 80% of survey respondents indicated that their website wasn’t living up to its potential. By applying some of the same rules you impart on your social media sites to your company website, you may be able to avoid this problem. Social sites and online communities should not be static, and in this day and age, neither should your company website. Though it’s a “hub” it’s not and shouldn’t be unchanging: Make it compelling, interesting and dynamic; refreshing content, ads, calls to action and information frequently to keep visitors engaged and interested. Making your site more social and content-focused, and less about “you” is a great way to establish trust with your prospects, increasing their propensity to invest with you when they’re ready. 

5)      What you don’t know may kill you (ok, maybe not kill you- but limit your sales potential). The most important thing to focus on with your company website is making sure you’re measuring all these activities: Implement a way to capture visitor information and metrics (including how they got to your site, how long they stayed, and where they abandoned it) as a way to optimize your investments and know what you should put the most effort into. And remember, it’s not just a numbers game anymore. While the survey shows that 34% of respondents wanting quality versus high quantities of leads, consider what your company is really driving towards with these efforts. Are you looking for lots of traffic? Or maybe a smaller number of highly engaged individuals? Do you want people coming in from LinkedIn groups, or Google?

All roads lead to your company website, but there are many ways of getting there. Make the path easy for your target audience, make it interesting and scenic, and make it fun.

Connect with us and join the conversation: Facebook  | LinkedIn | Twitter

What are some ways you’re integrating your multiple online channels? Are you struggling with the effectiveness of your company website, consider its potential value as a lead-generating machine?

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It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

You can listen to the complete Podcast here, which features insights on how marketers aren’t spending enough time, or budget, on proper branding initiative, even though it’s one of the most important things a company can invest in. By building trust with your target audience, your sales efforts will see radical improvement as people don’t buy from companies they don’t trust.

Consistency is another vital component of online marketing and lead gen discussed during the Podcast, and also covered by TMCnet Managing Editor Juliana Kenny in a recent article about the event.

It all comes down to making your content, and your brand, valuable to your target audience, and giving them enough to build trust in you so that when they’re ready to buy, they’ll come to you.

How are you positioning your online lead gen and advertising/branding efforts for 2012? Join the conversation @connectincloud.

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Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Are You Creating Enough Online Content for Your Company? - May 27, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

So the biggest ticket item for marketers is also the biggest challenge. No surprise here. As marketers struggle to navigate the new world of online lead gen and advertising, more and more are turning to social media and online communities to help them not only build brand awareness, but nurture and capture those prospects who visit their sites.

Content is out there, and being created by the second. So now, more than ever, it’s important that your company be viewed as a thought leader, which can be established through multiple online content and branding activities. But, this is a delicate practice that requires a balance of your company voice with that of your audience and the broader industry –and requires more educational messages than promotional ones. Without this balance it’s impossible to build trust with potential customers who will find your company while seeking educational information, not a sales pitch.  

Here are 5 ways to achieve this balance on your social media and online community sites. Here are 5 ways to achieve this balance on your social media and online community sites. For more ideas and best practices, join the upcoming free webinar happening October 17, 2012. The webinar will cover how companies are using specific lead gen and branding initiatives online to achieve success and be viewed as a thought leader; no small feat, for sure.

1)      Open your content ‘gates’: If you’re new to the social media or online community-game, you need to build trust with your audience before asking them for ANYTHING. This means free white papers, videos, case studies. A free consultation, perhaps, or incentive. Build that relationship before you ask for anything from them, because this will be the key to them offering up their personal information to you in the future.

2)      Answer questions and establish a personality: Just as you need to establish your content “voice”- you need to have personality shine through your sites so your audience feels connected with you.  Use your online community as a place to become “real”. Implement a live chat feature, or show some cool things your company is doing unrelated to your products or services. Finally, take the time to respond to customer inquiries on your social sites. These connections points will be crucial, and top-of-mind, when ready to buy.

3)      Provide content as a nurture technique, tailored for different audiences. This is a great way to reach all your different audiences. For example, have a section on your site or content pieces that are tailored for different job functions. Or, provide industry analysis and reports for each of your verticals. Finally, allow your audience to sign up for updates that are relevant to them by developing targeted eNewsletters. By giving your audience exactly what they want, and listening to their needs, you’ll be better equipped to establish yourself as a trustworthy and educational resource (as opposed to a sales center).

4)      Use surveys to see what your audience wants to know from you. Plain and simple, nothing’s clearer than a poll. You may need to provide incentives for people to complete them, but the direct input from your audience is invaluable.

5)      Give industry news for free, but offer an eNews for consolidation of the ‘latest and greatest’ for your audience. This allows you to build your database of people who have requested to hear from you on an ongoing basis (i.e., marketing gold).

How do you balance lead gen with online advertising on your social media sites or online community? Join the conversation. Facebook  | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

For one, the first and most important part of your online marketing strategy must be brand control. Now, this is really difficult to do with all the sites you probably manage. Even if you are still in the “follower-building” phase of your social media strategy, it’s likely you maintain some combination of a company website, Facebook page, LinkedIn profile and Twitter account (don’t even get me started on Google +…).  Dell addresses this issue by doing two things: 1) Nurture major influencers to your community and 2) Get involvement from in-house experts.

For starters, Dell identifies “major influencers who have their own blog-driven communities or participants in important ones” and brings them to Dell headquarters to speak with founder Michael Dell. This not only gives these influencers a positive perception of the company, but also includes them in important corporate conversations. The result is that their perception and subsequent communications about, the Dell brand will be positive and consistent with that of the company. 

Second, as we’ve outlined in past articles, using content contributors from within your company is a great way to build your online community and make more connections with your visitors. Dell not only brings in-house experts (from all levels in the company)  to targeted communities (based on their skills/subject matter expertise) but also makes “employees rock stars” so that they can feel ownership over community engagement and the relationships which result. 

By putting ‘skin-in-the-game’ for your employees, they will not only become more involved and empowered, but will feel responsible for the success of the business, helping reach a large audience in relatively shorter periods of time than before.  As a way to maintain company standards via social interactions, Dell holds an “internal social media training program that encourages social participation.”

 Now, as you know, every online community has its dark side, and Dell doesn’t shy away from sharing some of the potential ‘dangers’ of social media and community interactions. For starters, it can be harmful to your brand if you build an online community and no one visits. Secondly, if a large amount of “negative” visitors come to the site, or people come who aren’t interested in nurturing the broader community as much as talking poorly about your brand.

To avoid having a site that no-one visits, it’s important to build a site that’s not only educational and nurturing, but SEO-friendly. This means having a clean design, easy-to-navigate sections and relatively little company branding: The online community should be industry-focused, not all about your company, to establish your brand as the true thought leader in that space. It’s also important to keep the design fresh (change ads, banners, images and videos often) with a constant churn of new, relevant and educational content for visitors to want to bookmark the page to return later. Finally, content should always be written in an SEO-friendly way. As long as the content isn’t “all about you” but carries through your keywords, has proper links and no black-hat practices, it will be set up to rank highly, organically, on major search engines – making it easier for your target audience to find you.

To get the “right” visitors to your site, establish clearly on the page (maybe in an “introduction” email) what the purpose of the site is, and how community members are expected to ‘behave’. Dell goes so far as to “Screen community members” and personally engage with unhappy ones to alter their perception of the brand. Regardless of how far you want to go with your site, you should at the least establish some ground rules for discussions and participation for community members to follow.

Do any of these Dell lessons resonate with you? What questions would you have about building successful online communities if you could pose them to the Dell team?

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Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Are You Creating Enough Online Content for Your Company? - May 27, 2011

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That’s why marketers are focusing on integration as a main priority for 2012- and are looking to marry the 3 pillars of their online marketing (website, online community and social) activities by making sure messages are consistent and the sites are all “speaking” with each other.  Now, how the heck do you even do this?

The first thing you do is put a Twitter button on your company website. Good, you can check that off the list, right?

Wrong.

You’ve taken the first step to integrating your multiple online sites, but you need to take it even further. Consider what blogger Jeff Bullas writes about the two sins of the stupid blogger and how it applies to any of your online content initiatives:

1)      Failing to include Social Network SHARE buttons

2)      Failing to include Social Network SUBSCRIBE buttons.

If you put a Twitter button on your company website, you are sort of crossing number 2 off the list. But not really. For one, you’re not giving your visitors the opportunity to share information they find on your site. Secondly, the only way people can learn about and subscribe to your social sites is if they are already on your company website.

Here are some tactical ways to get your 3 sites (or more) “talking” to each other in a clear, consistent voice:

1)      Implement an article widget, or a small box that can stream your latest online community or news articles any of your sites. People can easily click on an article that interests them, but make sure they can also “share” it on their social sites before they’re done.

2)      Bring in a Twitter feed box to your community or company website show the activity surrounding your account. People will see real-time content sharing and comments, and watch how you interact with your audience.

3)      Only share the most educational, non-promotional content on your community, and I would recommend even social sites. People know how to find you if they ended you. For now, they just need advice, ideas, and inspiration. They want to hear from you, not your sales team. So give them what they’re looking for.

Now, you might be thinking “oh come on, everyone has social sharing buttons and interlinking between their sites. This is common knowledge.”

Wrong again, my friends.

According to a recent report by BrightEdge Technologies only “53.6% of the 10,000 most popular websites have social links or plugins to Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or Twitter.” Shocking, right? This report also shared that websites that feature a tweet button “drive almost seven times more link mentions on average than sites that do not.”

Seven times. That’s a huge difference, and will make a real impact on how you differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Join the conversation- how are you linking your online community, social sites and company websites? How are you using Twitter to do so?

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Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

That’s more than a yummy refreshment. That’s marketing magic.

Giving consumers the power to “design their own” drink is a great way to nurture their community by giving them 3 things they really want.

1)      Social interaction

2)      Input into a product and the ability to tailor it to meet their needs

3)      To have FUN

The article further highlights that “Companies that are very responsive to their online community -- retailers like Nordstrom and Victoria's Secret -- get more out of the interaction than just online sales. Like Coke's vending machine, which sends data back to the Atlanta headquarters about taste preferences and shopping activity, a thriving online community can also give retailers a huge amount of market data -- a window into what customers want.”

This is, as we’ve discussed before, one of the greatest strengths of an online community: The ability to learn from your customers, ask them questions, give them answers to their questions, and nurture them. Even if you don’t sell something “cool” like a soft drink, you can still find a way to make your online community fun, and meaningful for your audience.

1)      Gather Customer Input

Most companies don’t have the ability to tailor their products based on their customer’s preferences, so a solution like the Coca-Cola Freestyle vending machine might not be suitable for everyone. But, what you can do via your online community is ask for product input from your audience. Say you’re planning a product upgrade: Post a poll on your online community asking your audience to vote on which feature should be added next. Or, hold a contest asking your customers for their ideas on a future video, white paper topic or webinar, and reward a winner with a discount (or gift) and notoriety on your site. These activities don’t take too much time, and won’t deter from your bigger business activities, but will likely have a huge impact on your reputation, creating loyal customers who want to stay engaged with you because they know you’re listening to them.

2)      Integrate Mobile & Social

These days, most people have Smartphones, and are using them to browse the internet, check emails, and stay connected with their social networks. The smartest thing a company can do is take advantage of this by making it easy for customers to find, and interact with you, by using these devices.

An App is a great way for people to stay up-to-date with your company “on-the-go”. Offer an App as a place for people to have Live Chats with your customer service representatives, or receive ‘alerts’ on product updates and breaking news. You can even offer your customers the ability to pay via an App, or access their account information, for real-time interactions.

Even if an App isn’t the solution for your business, there are still ways to make your online community mobile and social-friendly. Make links to your social sites prominent, post daily stories or “alerts” or offer a case study download for “Following” or “Friending” your site. Finally, work with your design team to ensure your site is visually appealing and easy-to-navigate from all types of devices (i.e. less use of Flash).

3)      Make the Transition from Research to Purchase Easy

Your online community shouldn’t be ‘all about you’ but rather your industry as a whole:  It should provide your target audience with education and be a place to learn, discuss, engage and share. But, as a marketer you know that the ultimate goal is to get those community visitors to buy from you.  One method I’ve seen work well is to have a simple call to action on each page, article, educational piece and link with simple wording, like “Click here for a demo" or “Learn more”. By not seeming too “over promotional” but still providing a bridge for your audience to go from your community to company site, you’re feeding your sales cycle without losing credibility. Another method I’ve seen work well is to have a “Sign Up” box for a eNewsletter, or link to social site, so people can actively sign-up to updates from you on their own terms.

So, there are still some sweet options for those of you who crave the cool-factor a personalized soft drink vending machine gives Coca-Cola, and these days the online world is your oyster: The more fun, innovative and unique your online community, the bigger bang you’re going to get.

What are some ways you’re using online communities to keep your consumers engaged? Facebook  | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Comments on this Entry:

(Jennifer Lindsay on Sep 8, 2011 7:54 AM)

Yes, I agree social media sites not only provides community but also topics, discussions and so on. We can foster a variety of different social interactions online if we provide the unique tools to support them.

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In a recent article, every Online Community has a dark side, I outlined some general best practices to employ, with some tips on what to avoid when managing an online community. In addition to these fundamental online community-building principles, there are some design fundamentals that companies can easily implement to prevent their site from looking like a disaster-zone. Because let’s face it, content is great, but appearance is probably equally- if not more- important to site visitors.

1)      What a Mess!

First of all, go to your online community and take a good, long look at it. Be honest. Is it a mess? Are there dead links, blank pages, off-centered ads or a hodge-podge of color, content and callouts?

Making sure your site is clean and easy to navigate is a critical and sometimes overlooked aspect of your online community. Why? Because while companies spend a great deal of time and effort making their corporate websites rock, online communities can sometimes be overlooked due to lack of resources or time.

But the fact is, your online community is a more powerful lead nurturing and thought leadership tool than your company website (if built correctly) and deserves your time and attention. If your audience comes to your site and it looks like a war zone, they’ll likely turn away and never look back. My advice? Take time every week to scan your site. Test links, look at the ads that are running, and lists of conversations and articles being shared. If something looks “off”, fix it immediately. These small kinks, if gone un-tended to, will turn into huge cracks in the foundation of your site overtime – and will be much more expensive and time consuming to fix in the future.

2)      Do You Have a Billboard Complex?

The most successful online communities are industry-related, because they position your company as a though leader without scaring away prospects with overly-promotional messages. Again, if people want to learn about you, they’ll visit your company website. Audiences flock to online communities to learn about a topic; content you’re fortunate to host on your site. Many companies use sign-ups, promotions and calls to action on online communities to generate leads from the site, which is a great idea. But, do so in a balanced way. If your community looks like a branded micro-site, people will turn away pretty quickly. If you subtly inject your thought leadership and offer opportunities for your audience to learn more in a non-promotional way, you’ll establish trust in them much faster, eventually leading to sales. Remember, the site isn’t a billboard. Billboards are ugly.

3)      Information Overload, Anyone?

Your company probably creates some great content: Articles, product demos, white papers, and more. Chances are, it all lives on your company website, so naturally it should all go on your online community –right?

Using your online community as a resource, content and ad repository for everything that’s on your company site isn’t a great idea- though the online community should be an extension of your company website, it shouldn’t be a replica. Think strategically about what you want your online community to achieve, and give your audience, and build your site around that specific purpose (for most companies, it’s education). This is what makes your online community different than your company website.  If people wanted to read all your white papers, they’d go to your website. If they wanted to learn about the latest industry news, or discuss how certain products and services work with others in their industry, they’ll go to your online community (and tell their friends to, as well).

4)      Poisonous Conversations

Online communities need a social element to avoid being “all about you” but beware the discussions that can do your company more damage than good.  A disgruntled customer, or misinformed visitor who’s able to “run free” on your site and comment all over the place will result in your site appearing unprofessional, unmanaged and in a state of disarray.

Though your content shouldn’t be “all about you” it should be very clear that you DO manage all site activity to keep it a professional, “safe” place for visitors. Set clear community guidelines from the get-go, and consider having visitors register before they’re able to leave comments. Then, enable alerts on your site so that each time a comment or discussion is posted, you’re the first to know.

This doesn’t mean you should remove all negative comments on your site. You can’t and shouldn’t control that. But what you can do is start conversations that prompt constructive feedback. Start a post like “What is 1 thing you would improve about X” (related to your products or services) and be sure to immediately follow-up directly with customers who express dissatisfaction.

Just like boarding up your house to avoid being pummeled by hurricanes is a great preventive measure, there are certain actions, like the ones listed above, that can help you avoid an online community disaster. What are some of your warning signs or things to avoid on an online community?

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Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Are You Creating Enough Online Content for Your Company? - May 27, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

Intrigued by this assumption, I posed this question to some of my LinkedIn comrades in several discussion groups (ps. I’m loving the engagements and discussions happening on LinkedIn these days…)

Here’s what I asked, and what I learned from the fantastic participants:

Just read an article that shows B2C companies leading the way for Social Media- but I'm sure there are strong examples from B2B- have any to share?

• Emersonprocessexperts.com is doing a great job of diving into social marketing (led by Jim Cahill) especially considering their company’s industrial, more conservative environment (as reflected in "Social Marketing to the Business Customer" by Gillin/Schwartzman)
• Cisco is doing a great job (which I already knew, but here’s a great video article by the Social Media Examiner on how Cisco is using Social Media: http://bit.ly/krHcRy including the FB Cisco Support Group for Uber User Internet Addicts http://on.fb.me/lOzD7U)
• One person noted that Kodak is doing a great job and were among the first to embrace social media. I had no idea, so I checked out Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to check it out. Their Graphic Community on LinkedIn is pretty cool, and so is their Facebook page. There are quite a few Kodak Twitter accounts, which can be a pro and challenge, but still –they’re there.
• I got sent a great case study of Philips' use of LinkedIn to communicate with the medical community, which was pretty incredible.

Finally, one person commented that “the best I have seen is IBM. But the mid-sized guys (let's say $US500MM - 1BB) are few and far between. With the economic downturn it seems creativity and experimentation were the first victims in this category - in my experience most are trying franticly to do more and faster of what they already knew how to do - direct selling for example.”  Now this, I can believe, especially with Lead Generation topping the charts as the main marketing initiative this year for most companies who don’t have the time, or money, to invest in social media as much as they’d like.

Still, according to a recent Social Media B2B survey, 86% of companies are using social media, with more than half incorporating it into their marketing strategies. The numbers keep growing, too, so I think with examples like the ones above, and the many, many more I’m sure people have to share, we’ll keep seeing improvement in how B2B companies leverage social media, albeit somewhat differently from B2C, for marketing reasons.

Add your own examples to this list- Join the conversation!

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Are You Creating Enough Online Content for Your Company? - May 27, 2011

Boo! How Not to Scare Your Customers Away from Your Online Community - Oct 31, 2011

Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community

1)      Think Before You Tweet

Twitter is an excellent content sharing tool, and the more content you share the more likely you are to improve your SEO and reputation in your industry. This is why many businesses jumped on the Twitter train right away, setting up auto feeds to push every press releases, following thousands of people, and adding a “like” button to their entire site. My advice for online community managers is to be a bit more thoughtful with your tweeting. An auto-feed is a great way to push your content, but is exactly that: Automated. This goes against the concept of an online community, which is to be an engaging, interacting community of visitors sharing valuable information and prompting discussions.

What I would recommend is highlighting a few comments, discussions or articles via Twitter every week on your online community, and add a comment about it instead of just a link (something like “Our readers are passionate about their phones, check out the responses to the latest technology review article). Be sure to give your readers props too for contributing their comments or articles with the “@” features (because who doesn’t’ love to see their name in lights?)

2)      Use the HashTag, Not “New Account”

Companies are often tempted to create a new Twitter account for each of their business units or products. But on an online community, what you’ll want to promote is unity through one core site. Your community should be a one-stop-shop for all your visitor’s interests, and using the hashtag allows you to categorize and choose specific topics to focus on through your online community without moving visitors away from your main site. It’s also a way for people to more easily find your content if they search for it on Twitter. Think about what HBO does for its series. Rather than a site for True Blood, Entourage, and all my other favorite shows, you can just search by #trueblood. It’s more organic, more natural and much easier than managing multiple sites with multiple followers. You have enough on your social plate as it is.

3)      Show Your Personality

This ties back to providing automatic feeds of your content – there’s no in plain links. Try showing some style on your online community (check out how to use social media for socializing in this recent article via #cmworld). Give your posts, your tweets, and your discussions some flavor, and people will be much more willing to interact with you and share your content.

4)      Be a Giver, Not a Taker

Twitter, Facebook and Linked in can all feel a one way street. You push your content, start discussions, post links and ask people to come to you. But, on an online community it’s important to give AND take.  Give your readers props on your online community. Share someone else’s content, or start a discussion in response to someone’s posted article. The more love you give, the more you’ll get, and people will want to participate in your online community to get some of that attention you’re handing out.

5)      Water, But Don’t Drown

Online communities need to be nurtured, but don’t go overboard. If you go to an online community with too much going on, it can actually serve as a deterrent. Choose a balance of content, visuals, discussions and social media on the site every week, and stagger your content based on a pre-determined calendar. Choose a certain topic to cover each month, or plant seeds on your community to help it grow. A community visitor should feel like they have something to contribute to a site, and if the community’s already full, what more will they think they can give?

Connect with us and join the conversation: What are some manners you think online community managers should follow? Facebook  | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Social May be the 'Silver Bullet' - But All Roads Lead to Your Company Website - Oct 26, 2011

It's Time For Your Community's 6-Month Check Up- Are You Prepared? - Oct 24, 2011

Sponsored by the Call Center Outsourcing Community & the Virtual Contact Center Outsourcing Community