I just read a very interesting article over at Research Monkey, aka Sassy Maven’s blog titled “It’s called Transparency… look into it“.
I think this is really a good discussion. Marketing is really fun in today’s dynamic world. With the online elements coming mainstream, marketers today not only have more tools to use, they also have more considerations. Building communities would definitely be one of the considerations of any modern marketing team. But seriously, how many of them really understand this? Just because the Marketing Manager has a Facebook or Friendster account, does not mean that they know how to “build communities”.
There are companies with so much phobia about communicating, they even warn employees NOT to have blogs. You can read about the transparency stuff over at Sassy Maven’s blog. For me, I want to talk about marketing strategy. Where, exactly where, do you think you want to go with your so-called “community”. Marketers need to understand that communicating with their various publics is a critical activity that should not be left to chance. Just putting together a portal with news, downloads, discussion forum or maybe even a chat box; does not make it a community portal. And building communities is not an online phenomena.
Now that this social science has crossed over into the marketing arena, it would be interesting to see how marketers are going to deal with this. Many are jumping on the train. Problem is, are they on the right train, and did they buy the right ticket?
If you are thinking of creating a community for your company, product or service, it’s a great idea. But before you do anything, learn exactly what kind of creature you are going to unleash. And, if after petting its fur and examining its claws, you still want one, go for it.
[tags]online communities, online marketing, marketing fad[/tags]
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