Brazen careerist
Where ambitious young professionals connect and grow
Already a member?
Welcome to Brazen Careerist!
Jesse Bouman is using Brazen Careerist to share ideas. Join now to become a member and start networking with Jesse Bouman and other professionals just like you. Learn more.
All Activity
Jesse Bouman
Oh Madison! How I miss thee! Many quality nights were spent at the Terrace. (Sorry, I'm new here and people in LA just don't get how awesome it is)
Ryan Paugh:
Give us all a shout next time you're in Madtown. We'll all meet for a brew down on the waterfront. Best of luck in LA.
116 weeks ago
116 weeks ago
Jesse Bouman
New here, liking it thus far. Question for everyone. Do you have any tactics that help you build the volume of your online community? What did you do when you started from scratch?
Rebecca Thorman recommended this
Rebecca Thorman:
Sometimes it's as key as placement. Not just in marketing communications, but directly on the front page of the site. Do you recommend your ...MoreSometimes it's as key as placement. Not just in marketing communications, but directly on the front page of the site. Do you recommend your clients have links to their social prescence on their home page? Alice has links to all of ours on our homepage footer. We see a high rate of adoption/interaction because of this. Also, to accept that some brands just aren't meant for social media and to think outside the box on other ways they can engage their customers. Finally, are all your efforts integrated? Like do you post that companies blog content on Facebook and Twitter? Do you use the content that users give you? When we do contests, we also make it so we have User Generated Content to use as a result. Then we use that in our marketing, blogs and social sphere. I think it shows we care about engagement. Even without contests, if we particularly like a quote/testimonial someone says about us on our Facebook page or on Twitter, we ask if we can use it, and put that in our email and then the call to fan or follow. Seems to work well.
116 weeks ago
116 weeks ago
Kade Dworkin:
Echoing Rebecca's points, I know that with all the companies that I've worked for or advised that the inclusion of the links on the homepage with ...MoreEchoing Rebecca's points, I know that with all the companies that I've worked for or advised that the inclusion of the links on the homepage with a clear call to action to join the program is the best move you can make. After that, prominently displaying those links when they access their account or any email promotion sends is the next best thing to do. She also pointed out a key thing that I forgot I do all the time at my current employer: integrate testimonial tweets and posts into our corporate marketing materials (most importantly printed media, digital doesn't have the same effect). That has been a great way for us to get folks excited about using the platforms we want them to.
It sounds like you're already trying to do the existing community outreach (bloggers, podcasters, etc.) which is awesome but it may be too soon for that. Make sure that we're you're sending people to is a place where if nothing else they see that you're creating content daily (use hootsuite or blogging tools to schedule posts over the weekend). Also respond to people ridiculously fast when they post something on the desired platform. I've found that being willing to comment back fast helps build that self-fulfilling loop. [For some communities I've turned on alerts that get sent to my phone that will allow me to respond to basically anything within 10 minutes given I'm awake.]
The final thing that I'd really recommend in your case for those clients who are having a hard time to clear the 1K level is putting your contact info clearly on the platform you want to build on. Get the client company to give you an email address that is twitter friendly (less than 20 characters) that forwards to your primary email addy. Also get a phone number (google voice is awesome for this but Skype can be made to work) that you can advertise even though folks will rarely (if ever) call. You want to open up the opportunity to have people talk to you (the brand) in any way that they want. Once they feel heard you can pretty easily guide them to creating content on the platforms you want (Facebook Fan Page, comments on the company blog, etc). This is time intensive up front but once you get the reputation of being available it's actually pretty shocking how few people will contact you directly since they all believe everyone else on the community platform is asking for your attention as well. It's at that point that I've found "random" calls to people who are investing time on the platforms is the best next step. Just ask them how they're doing and what they think the community needs.
Any of that helpful Jesse?
116 weeks ago
It sounds like you're already trying to do the existing community outreach (bloggers, podcasters, etc.) which is awesome but it may be too soon for that. Make sure that we're you're sending people to is a place where if nothing else they see that you're creating content daily (use hootsuite or blogging tools to schedule posts over the weekend). Also respond to people ridiculously fast when they post something on the desired platform. I've found that being willing to comment back fast helps build that self-fulfilling loop. [For some communities I've turned on alerts that get sent to my phone that will allow me to respond to basically anything within 10 minutes given I'm awake.]
The final thing that I'd really recommend in your case for those clients who are having a hard time to clear the 1K level is putting your contact info clearly on the platform you want to build on. Get the client company to give you an email address that is twitter friendly (less than 20 characters) that forwards to your primary email addy. Also get a phone number (google voice is awesome for this but Skype can be made to work) that you can advertise even though folks will rarely (if ever) call. You want to open up the opportunity to have people talk to you (the brand) in any way that they want. Once they feel heard you can pretty easily guide them to creating content on the platforms you want (Facebook Fan Page, comments on the company blog, etc). This is time intensive up front but once you get the reputation of being available it's actually pretty shocking how few people will contact you directly since they all believe everyone else on the community platform is asking for your attention as well. It's at that point that I've found "random" calls to people who are investing time on the platforms is the best next step. Just ask them how they're doing and what they think the community needs.
Any of that helpful Jesse?
116 weeks ago
Private Message
