If a company hopes to become part of a community, they are expected to engage in a dialogue with potential consumers, and that means submitting original content to the internet.

Why is it important to contribute to the internet?

Contributions to the internet result in acceptance into the online community, and lead to increased consumership. Contributions can be made in the form of blog entries, twitter responses, or even YouTube videos. The type of content that results in the greatest diffusion of content is classified as ‘viral’, and includes lists, quizzes, how-to’s, or even interactive flash activities. On the other hand, the type of content that establishes a company’s expertise in the field is classified as ‘informative’, and includes articles, commentaries on recent events, comparisons, Q&A sections, and product reviews. Establishing a balance between these two forces is the key to successful blog writing, and what’s more important, providing this free content will engender customer loyalty overall.

When does giving all this information away befome profitable?

Chris Anderson spends a great deal of time answering this question in his book, “Free”. He explains that by consistently providing engaging and relevant content, business owners have taken the first step in successfully creating a community around their brand. Community members, he says, feel an intrinsic need to support the business in which they are now mentally invested. When individuals are welcomed into a community through free content offerings, they subsequently feel indebted to support them. In addition, when the content provided is valuable, relatable, engaging and worth sharing to others, brand loyalty will increase right along with search engine ranking.

What’s the proof that these campaigns really work?

Tamar Weinberg in his book, “The New Community Rules”, discusses several successful and creative examples of companies that provided exciting and creative content that appealed to the masses: the “Mentos & Diet Coke” campaign and BlendTec’s “Will it Blend?” campaign. The Mentos campaign found a creative and unusual use for an otherwise one-use product. On a similar note, BlendTec’s “Will it Blend?” campaign featured a series of faux-scientific experiments in which durable, expensive or exotic objects were placed inside of a BlendTec blender, transforming it into a fine powder. Both campaigns were so creative and unusual that the videos spread like wildfire, and consequentially, awareness of both brands skyrocketed. Weinberg estimates that it would have cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars to find a similar level of success with traditional marketing techniques alone, but Mentos was able to produce a nationally recognized video for approximately $2.50.

So I can just post whatever I want and hope a community grows around me?

Not exactly. In order to provide such content, it is critical that the business understand the psychographic habits of their audience, their goals, problems, and values. Once this is understood, it is easy to provide content that will appeal to a narrowly tailored or widespread audience. Since anyone can make a video and post it on YouTube, it forces advertisers to place their primary focus on creating new and innovative plot ideas, and that requires a critical look at what the brand stands for, what their target audience is, and how they hope to communicate this message to their audience.

Seems hard to do from an insider’s perspective. Can you help me?

Of course! Our firm is capable of handling the necessary steps in order to form a strong image online. Contact us and see how we can help!

The internet is not a billboard that a firm can use to slap their name all over the town, but a community in which dialogue and understanding are the primary goals.

What binds members to form a global community if they are scattered in small pockets all around the world and will never meet in person?

Benedict Anderson, professor of International Studies at Cornell University, explains this phenomenon in his book “Imagined Communities”. According to Anderson, the idea of a community is nothing but a social construct, wholly imagined by individuals who believe that they are members of this community. In order to maintain this community, it does not matter if members in the community ever meet, exchange ideas, or even exist, as long as individual members believe wholeheartedly in their existence somewhere on earth. Because of this, the internet is an ideal venue for fostering these imagined communities, uniting members all across the globe in their desire for special-interest communication.

Now that these communities have sprung up across the internet, what are the implications of participating in them?

Just like any other community, there are rules of membership that must be followed. David Meerman Scott, in his book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”, clearly explains that members of a community are expected to engage in dialogues, two-way conversations in which both parties exchange ideas and express themselves and their opinions in an open and tolerant environment. This is where traditional marketing falls flat when applied online.

But advertising firms have been doing things this way for years! How does the internet change things?

Before Social Media Marketing, the number one way to reach an audience was through advertising, a one-way form of communication. However, when applied to the community model, it quickly breaks down. Think about the kind of people who spend all day talking at their peers without waiting for a response or signal of interest. They aren’t community members but parasites, and are to be avoided at all costs! The same goes for advertisers on the internet, which is why there is such a need for good Social Media Marketing.

What can Social Media Marketing do for me?

When properly applied, it can provide enormous results at a relatively low cost for the business: it can humanize a larger corporation, allow a small company to become a “thought leader” on a subject, empower a company to reach out to a specifically targeted audience based on geographic or psychographic proximities, or it can simply raise general awareness and appreciation of an otherwise dismissed brand.

How can I get started?

That’s simple! Caulfield & Co is happy to discuss How Social Media Can Help You.