How to marry Social Media Marketing withCommunity Building and Community Management

The Five-star Program*****

By Ewold de Bruijnestrategic communications adviserBrightmen and Coolwordswww.bmcw.nl

Contents

Permission to follow(-up)

Building and maintaining ‘flourishing’ communities

Facilitating group processes aimed at flourishing

Community Building Model

Community Building Program Management Principles

Creating ‘Unique Buying Reasons’

Community Management Solutions

Community Management results

Permission to follow(-up)delivery vehicle for

unique contentself-expression

(user-generated)encouragement

to engage, gentlylighthearted,

casual and fun

58% expects to gain access to exclusive content, events, or sales

Communities enable people to ‘flourish’

‘Flourishing’ is a psychological concept* and an economic reality

It focuses on what people are continuously looking for and on what they will pursue out of their own free will:

Positive Emotions

Engagement (‘flow’)

Relationships (with other people)

Meaning

Accomplishments

Building and maintaining flourishing communities

* Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman

Where marketing is about ‘meeting needs’, communities are about ‘creating fertile ground for flourishing’

Followers and fans are informal groups (‘pseudo communities’)crystallized around a common interest

Pseudo communities can be nurtured into ‘real communities’,i.e. groups producing tangible results

Community Building and Community Management centeraround facilitating five basic functions in group dynamics*:

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

Adjourning

Facilitating group processes aimed at ‘flourishing’

= Information exchange

= Relationship building

= Competence development

= Validation and proof

= Acquisition of ‘totems’

(re. Positive emotions)

(re. Relationships)

(re. Meaning)

(re. Engagement)

(re. Accomplishments)

* Dr. Bruce W. Tuckman

Community Building Model

Tools forInformation Exchange

Tools forRelationship Building

Tools forCompetence Development

Tools forValidation & Proof

Tools forAcquisition of Totems

engagement timeline

incr

easi

ng u

nity

, coh

esio

n

ad-hoc interventions

planned interventions

All five functions are offered, sometimes simultaneously

Community members choose ‘out of their own free will’which functions they want to use and when (it’s their process)

The Community Manager keeps the dynamic group processes going by re-activating, repeating, revitalizing, renewing, …

Interventions continue for a planned period of time, or indefinitely

Programs are dovetailed with Social Commerce activities

Programs include interventions to engage other strategic stakeholder groups, such as: journalists, experts, business partners

Community Building Program Management Principles

Creating ‘Unique Buying Reasons’

Time andAttention The Party The Trick The Beauty

ParadeTreasures

Being notedand noting:- people- topics- places- things- ideas- interests- needs

Comingtogether:- activity- meet 'n greet- get to know- mix 'n match- touch and feel- connect & interact- make fun, have fun

Becoming amaster:- learning a routine- developing skills- a personal

make-over- transforming into

‘a competent one’- sorcerer’s apprentice

Committing and competing:- the judges- the nominees - the voters- the fans- the crowd- the media- the proof- the recognition

Getting it,keeping it:- the memento- the trophy- the proof- the elixir- the local- the temporary- the personal- the special

tagginginclusion and personalisation, turninganonymous suspects into prospects

creating a mythdirecting thoughts and giving

people a focus

settingstandards

creating preference

giving choicescommitting to personal values

making theoffer

personal economic investment

Wha

tthe

yw

ant

What we do

Community Management SolutionsInformation Exchange

Reactive

• Promotion of participationi.e. reacting, posting encouraging messages, chatting with (prospective) community members - both on-line and off-line

• Monitoring of community activityi.e. keeping an eye on the contents of on-line and off-lineuser-generated content, tracking topics, assessing ‘the mood’

• Issue managementi.e. correcting blatant violations of good taste, taking remedialaction when discussions or suggested activities go the wrong way,rapid response trouble shooting and problem solving

• Discussion managementi.e. setting the agenda by introducing new topics, by re-introducing topics, by ‘coaching’ key influencers

• Inbound alertsi.e. reporting back to the organization (client) what’s going on, what’s making the community tick, community initiatives/activities

Proactive

• Outbound alertsi.e. sending out messages to the community, on behalf of the organization (the client), or on behalf of contributors

• Stakeholder updatesi.e. creating editorial content to inform the organization (the client) and its stakeholders about upcoming events, new outreach initiatives, etc.

• Promoter engagementi.e. recruiting, selecting and briefing appealing and active representativesof the (envisioned) community, stimulate them to act as ‘magnets’

• Scripting, messaging, postingi.e. producing a storyline (or more storylines), writing pieces of content, inserting pieces of content (quotable lines, ‘good ideas’), keep feeding

• Bloggingi.e. writing articles ‘about us, the […] community’, connecting the dots,wordsmithing ‘the myth’ on behalf of the community

• Media engagement (journo’s)i.e. target relevant media, identify journalists, feed stories to them

Tim

e an

d at

tent

ion

Community Management SolutionsRelationship Building

During the event(s)

• Live coveragei.e. producing newsfeed (text, still images, video) and distribute‘editorial’ content via social media and professional news media

• Event managementi.e. on-the-spot production management, registration of participants,overseeing F&B, vendor activities, media facilities, etc.

Before the event(s)

• Content developmenti.e. copywriting, production of presentation materials

• Event planning, organization, hostingi.e. logistics, administrative chores

• Social agents supporti.e. briefing them, dressing/styling them, rehearsing key lines

• Primingi.e. producing and distributing content to set the agenda, set expectationsregarding the event, prompt certain topics (‘what’s it all about, really…’)

After the event(s)

• Content production and deliveryi.e. producing more newsfeed (text, still images, video) and distribute‘editorial’ content via social media and professional news media

• Re-visit, relive, reporting platformi.e. create on-line archive (‘the official files’) and repository for user-generated content (photos, videos, messages), friend finder, souvenirs

The

part

y

People are willing to pay for events and

to spend money at events

Community Management SolutionsCompetence Development

Training materials productioni.e. curriculum development, instruction manuals, materials for the participants, tests

Training facilitiesi.e. locations, logistics, administrative churns

Training facilitatorsi.e. recruiting, selecting, briefing, training and supporting trainers / instructors / moderators / hosts

Certificationi.e. validation of objective norms related to skills /competencies by independent ‘authorities’ (e.g. ‘advisory board’),and keeping a registry of candidates, personal data, results,personal ambitions

The

tric

k

People are willing to pay for seminars,

training courses,workshops…

and they enjoy thesekinds of activities

Community Management SolutionsValidation & Proof

Award and recognition ceremoniesi.e. event planning, organization and communication, pre-event / during event / post event content production, logistics support

Juror supporti.e. briefing and instructing jury members, keeping them informed,making sure that they are in the right place at the right time

Candidate supporti.e. providing them with information about entering the contest / being nominated, the nature of the validation process and theexpectations regarding their presence / contributions

Whitepaper productioni.e. doing research, writing, editing, doing the art work, taking careof reproduction and distribution of publications (on-line, off-line)

Testimonial collection and clearingi.e. interviewing key players, copywriting, photo/video shoots,formal approval and waivers (re. copyrights, for instance)

Maximizing media coveragei.e. story identification, story building, pro-active media outreach (including outreach to social media heroes), content production and delivery

The

beau

ty p

arad

e

People just can’t getenough of competitions,

contests and games

Community Management SolutionsAcquisition of totems

Identification of product candidatesi.e. listing products from the clients portfolio and from third parties thatcould be included in the offering, suggesting ‘special products’ and campaign-related merchandising

Supplier managementi.e. making arrangements with product suppliers – logistics, commercial /financial conditions, promotion / presentation

Product PR and Social Promotioni.e. producing news media and social media content, soliciting coverage(‘free publicity’), feeding on-line and off-line discussions (Word of Mouth)

Pre-sale customer informationi.e. providing product-related information (specs, prices, delivery process)and support (answering questions asked online, inbound calls handling)

After sales monitoringi.e. following (social) media activity, analyzing user-generated product-relatedstatements, reporting relevant findings back to vendors

The

trea

sure

s

Been there, done that,sent the postcard,

bought the T-shirt…It’s just irresistible!

Increased satisfaction and fan loyalty

Enhanced corporate reputation, brand reputation

Free publicity spin-off

Increased willingness of target audience to engage more often

Community Management results

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