Social Media and Building Community (GF201)

Chris Brogan...New Marketing Labs, LLCtwitter: @chrisbroganhashtag: #imu09 / #gf201

01_ it’s all about them

community is never about you, your product, or anything else related to YOUR goals...

...except insofar as you serve to power theirs.

02_ community is a gift

if people form a community around your stuff, be pleased. whether or not it’s on your site, underyour control, you have something to work with.

03_ be humble. always.

the moment you forget that you’re there as a participant and think you’re the owner, you’re on afast ride down to nothing.

04_ listen. acknowledge.

listening is point 1. if you don’t listen, you fail. but acknowledging people’s participation is the most most most most most most most... mostimportant part of community. fail this and fail.

05_ it’s not about the where

a community isn’t a facebook community or a twitter community or any social network in general. it’s people who gather. tribes are alwaysnomadic in the new web.

06_ equip instead of sell

your community wants to succeed. they look to you (if you’re lucky) as part of that recipe. give them more and more success, not more and more of the product you need to sell.

07_ celebrate them

if all you offer is a place to praise and talk about your products and services, pack it in. seek out your community’s personal and professional successes and praise those, too. more so.

08_ the roi of community

community helps in several parts of the sales cycle: lead generation, post-sale education, support, and r&d for future products. any one of these can be measured. measure them all.

09_ resource costs and team

community cannot be outsourced, but it can be bolstered. support often make the best community manager recruits. off-site some of the drudge work.

10_ first stepslisten. find them where they are. determine what they want. decide if you join their community or make one.or both.introduce yourself. invite them. ask them for goals and hopes.share yours. begin the journey. repeat. repeat. repeat.

xx_ chris brogan...

chris@chrisbrogan.comtwitter: @chrisbrogancell: 617.759.3639