Marketers should try to build active online communities around their content. This class will highlight a few strategies that can be used to find users who are consuming content, have users generate content on behalf of your brand, and mine chatter for new content ideas. Want to learn more? Join Front Row today and access on-demand videos, livestreams, and much more: http://bit.ly/1aqAivV

1. CONTENT MARKETING
FOR NEW MARKETERS:
COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES
Mike Tekula (@MikeTek)
Consultant, Distilled

2. GET THE FULL EXPERIENCE:
LEARN WHAT YOU WANT,
WHEN YOU WANT
Unlimited access to all upcoming live streams
On-demand streaming classes taught by top
practitioners
A growing video library, updated weekly
Get access for only $25 USD/month.
No risk—you can cancel at any time!
START 14-DAY FREE TRIAL

3. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
QUICK RECAP:
How our previous lessons
apply to community building

4. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
VALUES AND VISION MATTER TO THE COMMUNITY
‣ Your Values are your promise to the community — they establish trust
• Your job is to deliver on those Values consistently
‣ Your Vision, how you want to change the world, identifies your allies and
your enemies
• Think back to the Tesla Motors mission statement
‣ Without these, your brand stands for nothing
• And therefore, nobody will stand with you

5. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
Be as transparent and authentic as possible

6. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
YOUR PEOPLE ARE YOUR SEEDS
‣ Give your people the stage, don’t communicate as a logo
• Remember that Google is moving to reward author-attributed content
‣ The first community is the one already inside your business — expose it

7. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
FOLLOW THE INFLUENCERS
‣ Your community will overlap with influencer communities
‣ Study how influencers in your space have encouraged community
development on their sites
• Do they reward involvement?
• Do they share the spotlight with top contributors?

8. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
COMMUNITY IS PORTABLE
‣ Study your audience’s haunts
‣ Your site won’t be the only place where your community exists

9. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
THE EARLY DAYS:
THE FIRST STEPS TO BUILDING
A COMMUNITY

10. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
1. INVITE GUEST WRITERS
‣ Works with even a small initial
audience
‣ Establishes a sense of investment
in the guest writer
‣ Attracts their audience to your site
‣ Influencers who know them will
begin to know you

11. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
2. INTERVIEW INFLUENCERS
‣ Great way to “borrow” their audience for
a moment
‣ Outside of the most popular / busy
influencers, most are happy to answer a
few questions
‣ Remember consistency bias — helping out
makes us want to help out again
‣ Instant credibility for pitching up the chain

12. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
3. HOLD CONTESTS
‣ People love free stuff
‣ Make it compelling and a challenge —
tie it to your brand
‣ If you provide small business services,
partner with some friends to offer a
business package as the reward

13. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
4. PUBLISH CASE STUDIES
‣ Customers can make your most
supportive community members
‣ Present them in a favorable light, and
they’ll be proud of the case study
‣ Helps sell your products / services with
storytelling (not pure self-promotion)

14. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
5. MAKE A “BEST OF” LIST POST
‣ Point readers to the best resources
on a topic
‣ Let the content producers know
you’ve done it
‣ Ego and reciprocity prevail

15. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
THE POWER OF USER
GENERATED CONTENT

16. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
MAKE COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION A GAME
‣ Point systems build rewards into community
engagement
‣ Moz.com nailed this with their “thumb” system
‣ SocialMediaExaminer.com similarly created a
“top contributors” board, based on points
(awarded by other community members for
comments / posts)

17. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
CUSTOMER REVIEWS
‣ A report published by Search Engine
Land in 2012 found that 72% of online
consumers trust reviews as much as
personal recommendations
‣ Also increases the level of relevant
content on the page (SEO)

18. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
A NOTE ON TIMING
Use these forms of UGC in early days:
‣ Guest blog posts (by invite)
‣ Group interviews
‣ Surveys
‣ Embedded Twitter discussions
The possibility for these opens up once you have a robust community:
‣ Forums (Webmaster World)
‣ Dedicated UGC blogs (see Moz.com’s YOUmoz)
‣ Regular guest writers / editors

19. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
WHEN UGC GOES WRONG
‣ Even blog comment threads can get
out of hand
‣ Set some ground rules
‣ It is your job to police the comments

20. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
COMMUNITY
MANAGEMENT TIPS

21. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
KEEPING IT CLEAN
‣ Establish clear rules about what kind of comments/discussions you will
tolerate and what will get people’s comments removed or get them banned
‣ Encourage the users who:
‣ Add value to the conversation in a respectable way
‣ Challenge the arguments of the post or another commenter in a respectful
way
‣ You are not legally responsible for blog comments / forum posts but you have
the right (and the responsibility) to police them

22. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
CHOOSING COMMUNITY MANAGERS
‣ Natural affinity for socializing online
‣ Time!
‣ Advocate for users
‣ Ready to take it offline

23. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
REWARDING AMBASSADORS
‣ Once your brand has some
recognition, watch for social mentions

24. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
LEVERAGING FEEDBACK
FOR CONTENT

25. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
LISTENING IN SOCIAL
‣ Listen for social mentions of your brand or topic
•A
quick thanks for a positive brand mention
• A quick apology with an offer to discuss further for negative mentions
• If listening by topic, be extremely cautious about soundy “pitchy” when
engaging
• Timing is key!
‣ SocialMention.com
‣ Use TweetDeck for custom Twitter search columns

26. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
DRAWING INSIGHT FROM COMMENT THREADS
‣ Read. The. Comments.
‣ One comment can turn into an
entire blog post
‣ Don’t limit this to your own blog

27. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
PREDELIVERING CONTENT IDEAS FOR FEEDBACK
‣ Have an idea for a big, research-driven
piece of content?
‣ Reach out to influencers first (aim low/midtier) and pitch them on it
‣ Ask for their feedback on the idea
• Interview them and incorporate if it
makes sense
‣ The piece gets better, and...
‣ They will be likely to link to / promote the
piece upon launch (sense of ownership)

28. CONTENT MARKETING FOR NEW MARKETERS: COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
THANKS! QUESTIONS?