Benefits of Online Communities
BUILD YOUR BRAND BY CREATING AN ONLINE PERSONA
One of the goals in creating a corporate branding strategy is to achieve what’s known as a franchise in the mind. When you think of soft drinks, what jingle comes to mind? In our day, it was “Things go better with Coke.” How about insurance? Remember the slogan, “You’re in good hands with Allstate”? How about buying books online? Do your fingers automatically start typing Amazon.com? And so it goes. These companies have spent billions achieving that franchise in the mind.
Suppose, if, when people think of your industry, your brand immediately comes to mind? Better yet, suppose you did not have to spend a fortune to do it? In today’s information-overloaded market, brand building is more important than ever, and an online community is the most exciting and effective way to help you achieve this goal.
So how do online communities help to achieve the goal of building a personal brand, creating that franchise in the mind, and becoming the resource of record to your users? Business technology expert Dave Taylor suggests that everything a company does as a business that has a public face is de facto branding. In this respect, a community is the same as a Web page, print brochure, or newspaper ad. What differentiates your community is that it gives you the opportunity to create your own persona, a corporate personality.
Many companies have tried to build a brand on a single feature or benefit, such as experience, knowledge, education, or service. But it is hard to create strong emotional appeal by focusing on features and benefits. The best branding campaigns are built on the organization’s personality, philosophy, or values. They are inherently emotional and, when used consistently, will give you a huge competitive advantage in the marketplace over time. An enterprise scale social network and online community platform is the best way to manifest this commitment to content that will positively resonate with the site visitors.
To be more specific, here is how a Blogging Systems social network can benefit your business:
- Search Engine Marketing - Increased presence on major search engines like Google and Yahoo!.
- Direct Communications - Speak directly and candidly with your stakeholders.
- Brand Building - Additional channel to put your brand in front of stakeholders and keep shaping its unique identity.
- Competitive Differentiation - An online community will help set you apart from the competition, allowing you to introduce your brand to prospects.
- Relational Marketing - Build personal, long-lasting relationships with your customers that foster trust.
- Discover and Exploit the Niches - Uncover and sell to niches in your industry that you might not realized existed and were underserved.
- Media & Public Relations - Online communities are unique PR & marketing tools. The media calls you, not your competition.
- Reputation Management - Manage your online reputation as a business that is out front and transparent.
- Position You as Expert - Articulate your viewpoints, knowledge, and expertise on matters pertaining to your industry.
- Intranet & Project Management - Social networks make excellent, easy-to-use applications for internal communications within an organization. This may be one of the least well-known and underutilized areas of online community.
To sum it all up, social networks provide the personal touch your business needs to really connect with your target market.
Attend a complimentary webinar to learn more about the power of online community.
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