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Stage 4 Solutions in Action
Making Sense of Online Communities
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The world of high tech product marketing continues to evolve with new
technologies and methods to connect with target markets and customers. In this quarter’s newsletter,
we explore the relatively new world of online communities and how B2B companies are leveraging existing
communities and creating new communities to engage with customers.
We have continued to participate in a variety of through leadership forums. Stage 4 Solutions had
been invited by leading business schools in Silicon Valley to present on a variety of topics.
In the spring, we presented at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business on Electronics
Supply Chains and the characteristics of Electronics Management Services Providers (EMS), Original
Design Manufacturers (ODMs) and challenges faced by these industries. We also spoke on panel at
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley
on building consulting practices and paths to work/life balance. Next, we will be presenting at
the Silicon Valley Product Marketing Association in September and then, in October will be leading
a strategy development workshop for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.
We would also like to welcome a new member, Maryling Yu, to our team. Maryling has twelve years
of experience in strategy development, product marketing and marketing and working with industry
leaders such as Bain, Syndeo Corporation and CommPartners. In these roles, Maryling has led strategy
and marketing efforts to drive sales traction and results.
Maryling holds three degrees from Stanford University - Bachelors in International Relations,
Masters in International Development Policy and an MBA.
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With all the talk about and success of online communities,
it is impossible to ignore these trends and assume that they do not apply to the B2B space.
Much of the success of the MySpaces and Facebooks of the world has been driven by consumers
and consumer-targeted advertising. But now marketers are discovering new ways to engage business
customers by providing a virtual spot for them to interact with likeminded professionals using
separate online communities.
While bottom line benefits and impact of online community involvement are not yet quantifiable,
it is clear that companies need to evaluate the market trends and establish an online community
strategy that dovetails with their marketing, sales and support efforts.
To develop an online community strategy, a B2B company must first agree upon clearly
defined goals for its involvement. Some typical goals include:
- Connection with customers - listening to unfiltered, real-time feedback
- Collaboration with customers, prospects, and partners on new product development
- Create community learning and belonging
At its core, company involvement in online communities is really about creating an emotional
connection between businesses with shared interests and between the businesses and the company
whose product is employed. Online communities are not a website, a marketing event or a sales
portal for lead generation. Done well, online communities can augment marketing and sales
efforts, but their primary objective can not be to sell more products and solutions, but to
build connection with customers and potential customers.
Once the goals of online community involvement are defined, a company must define the strategic
approach to this involvement. Companies can participate in existing online community/social
networking sites and/or create a new, focused community. The approach taken needs to support
the online community involvement goals and be viewed in light of marketing and sales strategies.
Online sites like LinkedIn, Work.com, Ryze and ITToolbox focus on business professionals and can
be leveraged as part of an online community strategy. Or an independent online community can be
established using a proprietary platform or using the back-end architecture provided by customizable
social network companies like Ning.
One approach to online community involvement was taken by Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks.
In 2007, Intuit launched JumpUp, an online community for small business entrepreneurs.
Kira Wrangler, Marketing & Community Leader on JumpUp, explained to us that one of the
challenges with JumpUp at first, was that there is no such thing as "build it and they
will come" or "build it and they will contribute."
One of the ways JumpUp started to
engage its community was by featuring success stories of small businesses. When Wrangler and
her team figured out that their editorial control of this feature was taking too long and not
getting "the richest stories", they decided to let users nominate themselves for this spot
and submit content about their business challenges and how they’ve faced them en route to
success. Giving these young small businesses and their owners the opportunity to obtain
free visibility for their business resulted in 20% of their members contributing content
for the "spotlight" feature.
Besides company led online communities, online virtual worlds like Second Life offer another
way for B2B marketers to engage their customers in community. This online virtual world offers
a digital parallel universe where companies can host online events and collaborate with a broad
audience. It has found itself a digital home to Cisco, Sun Microsystems and IBM. Cisco has a few
hundred employees in Second Life. They do customer education and training and virtual presentations.
"The real value of Second Life for Cisco is the opportunity for spontaneous customer interaction,"
Christian Renaud, chief architect of networked virtual environments for Cisco told news publication
Information Week. "It’s like a birds-of-a-feather session that goes on around the clock. I bump
into customers and partners multiple times a day in Second Life. In 11 years at Cisco, walking
through the parking lot in San Jose, I never get people come up to me and say, I’m a Cisco customer,
have a second?"
While there are many models and goals to online communities’ usage, it
is clear that companies need to develop their strategies and define investments for this new area
that spans across traditional marketing, sales and customer experience functions. Soon, every company
will need to employ online communities in much the same way all companies must have a website and
internet/online marketing strategy today. Contact Stage 4 Solutions
here to learn more or discuss how we can help in your online community strategy development.
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