Talk about online communities is everywhere lately. This is good news to those of us who have been building online communities as the core of our profession for many years - sometimes quietly in the shadows of marketing. Recently, community has come to the forefront of customer retention, customer research and other operational functions in ways never before realized. We community builders celebrate this market change and have high hopes for the future. Recently I spent some time with a fellow community strategist; Jane Hiscock, CEO of The Farland Group. MORE >>

Your organization has decided to develop an online community to serve your customers. This is an important step towards building a social business. As the team gathers in the conference room with whiteboards, markers and lots of coffee, you start by talking about other online community examples the organization might want to emulate, or those that have caught your fancy. But chances are you haven’t considered a fundamental but critical question: will the online community be public, gated or a hybrid (largely public with a private, members-only area)? Congratulations! MORE >>

Think “Trust Marketing.”  In 2009, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith released their book Trust Agents.  This book focused on trust as it relates to influence.  Brands need to work on building their own customer trust as well.  When you look up the meaning of trust you’ll see it is defined as “reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., Trust Marketing is about delivering “integrity, ability, and surety” on your brand position.  So how does social play into the scheme of Trust Marketing?  Think Trust Marketing. MORE >>

In the recent Edelman Trust Barometer report they detail out how trust is rebounding in a handful of Western countries especially in the United States where trust in business jumped 18 points to 54 percent. Say you are going to do a launch of a new technology product (like I am in June). Related posts: B2B Marketing: Trust + Community = ROI Trust is not a new thing when it comes to. Sharing is how you build a Brand In a recent BusinessWeek article featuring Tony Hsieh from Zappos. Bottom line this is great news for us content marketers. MORE >>

By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, customers hate marketing, they don’t trust the emails we send or the marketingspeak we write on brochures and other materials. But that even is giving way to a relationship economy where trust is power. Trust in your values, your ethics, your skills and experience, your ability to deliver, your track record. 10 Steps to a Building a Successful Content Marketing Strategy. Be Helpful – In this age of commodities, people buy from who they trust. They don’t care about your products or your features. MORE >>