“The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.”

Cluetrain Manifesto

But first things first, what is an online community? It’s a place online where people get together to share, to create, to achieve a common goal. They are places on the internet which bring together groups of people who share a common interest. Or it can be an enhancement of an already existing (offline) community.

A blog is a type of community. There are more than 184 million blogs worldwide. Research has indicated that 34,1% of these bloggers write about their experiences with products and brands. Odds are they are writing about you too!

Last.fm lets people with a passion for music get together and share that passion, LinkedIn helps people utilise their professional network and Facebook helps you stay in touch with your friends.

So why is this important? Because, chances are, these people are talking about you! And there is nothing you can do about it.

Well, that’s not completely true. Understanding these communities and its inhabitants can set you on your way to achieve value from this phenomenon. Demanding a negative comment gets taken down will do nothing for your company. Listening to the feedback and getting involved with the conversation can do a lot of good for your brand, though.

Here are some of the reasons how you can benefit from working with online communities:

• Reputation Management – you can monitor the online conversation about your brand
• SEO – an involved company is more likely to get linked to, which will improve rankings
• Engagement – Active users of online communities are heavily engaged, by offering value to the community this engagement can be translated back to your company

Key Takeaways

• Online communities are becoming more and more important to the marketeer
• Why? Because they are important to your customer
• Chances are, these people are talking about you! And there is nothing you can do about it

So, what can we do for you?

Onetomarket has a great understanding of online communities and how to incorporate connecting with them into your online strategy. We have first hand experience in working with communities and can help you maximize your online presence.

Are you interested to find out more? Get in touch now!

Online Communities is a post from: Onetomarket

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