Community 2.0: A Shared Experience with a Common Purpose.

 

It’s all about the headline.

Like my colleague Cheryl Treleaven reported last week, the ComBlu crew spent some quality time at

Community 2.0. It was a small, intimate affair that spanned lots of different topics, including great case studies and even some of the science behind what we do. Yes, there is an app for that.

It was energizing to hear stories and anecdotes from those who have been successful. This year it was all about the headlines and nuggets of knowledge shared by others. Here are my top five headlines from this year’s speakers:

5. “Brands struggle to humanize themselves” (Marc Gobé, Emotional Branding)

4. “Become part of pop culture” (Heddy DeMaria, Kraft)

3. “Closing the loyalty loop” (Kellie Parker, SEGA)

2. “Mission doesn’t matter, actions mean everything” (Scott Stratten, UnMarketing)

1. “The nerds have won” (Michael Tchong, Ubercool)

Community comes natural.

Most interesting to me were the engagement behaviors exhibited by the conference attendees. It was as if we belonged to a “Community” Community with a shared purpose. Just like community members, we:

· Registered for event access

· Created, rated and curated content

· Told stories

· Made new connections with people like us

· Shared relevant content with our networks

· Offered advice, best practices and tips and tricks

· Provided feedback on the experience

· Had access to experts

· Consumed the content most relevant to us

Is it because, as practitioners, we have social engagement on the brain? Maybe in part, but mostly it’s because community is fueled by people who want to learn, interact with others with common passions, causes or challenges, or contribute expertise and ideas. If executed correctly, communities allow companies to solve the issues we just talked about:

· Being human

· Becoming part of the culture

· Thanking their loyal customers and fans

· Acting quickly

Social is a no-brainer.

And lastly, the number one message that rang loud and clear is to get a move on things. People behave differently today in this age of Instant Gratification. If you are still toe-dipping with social engagement, it’s time to get off the shied. The nerds have won, and the Digital Natives are restless and abbreviating as we speak!

Jennifer Voisard

Jennifer Voisard

Senior Consultant

Jenny is a digital content strategist, who leads customer-centric engagements that focus on understanding B2B buying behaviors and developing custom roadmaps.

Her expertise is creating buyer personas and mapping digital content journeys to assess the multi-channel user experience. She helps clients operationalize plans across workstreams and identifies processes to create efficiencies in marketing operations. Jenny also has extensive time under her belt developing and managing customer advocacy programs and community building.

She has helped a diverse group of organizations including Cisco, VMware, Verizon, Microsoft, Dell, BMO Harris, Capital One and many others become more customer-centric.