In July 2012 we added gamification into our own online community,  Topliners. With the launch of the gamification module came a “leaderboard” on the  home page  that allowed users to see their rank in the community of 7000 users and who their nearest competition were.  We also launched the concept of badges: little image icons that appear on a user’s profile page in the community as they complete a series of activities. But check out the 55% spike in average active users in mid-July: that was the week that we launched the gamification changes on our community. MORE >>

by Jesse Noyes | Tweet this The term “community manager” no longer lives in the realm of buzzwords. As social media, online communities and even in-person events have become a regular part of the modern marketing mix, community managers have been getting hired up. If you want proof, just look at the who’s who of brands that have added community managers assembled by Jeremiah Owyang.). Despite the number of community manager positions popping up on LinkedIn though, many organizations still struggle to understand just what community management means today. MORE >>

One recent morning I saw a post in one of my LinkedIN groups asking "what is the difference between a social media manager and an online community manager?" Social media managers bring the guests (clients, prospects) to the table and community managers welcome them in!" Among the first mentions I came across was a CMSWire which discussed the confusion between social media and online community management, and suggested the two roles have become blurred. Thank you for reading Building Online Communities for Business by Leader Networks. MORE >>

Here are the first 1,100 words of the chapter on B2B social communities from my forthcoming book, co-authored with Eric Schwartzman, entitled Social Marketing to the Business Customer. The rest of the chapter will go into the various kinds of social communities and how to use them, with examples from the HR, food service, medical and construction industries. Does it set the stage for a deeper discussion of social communities? Spiceworks does a very good job of managing B2B communities. Spiceworks is a technology company that acts like a media company. MORE >>

Online community is like world peace – everyone thinks it is a good idea but it means something different to each person. Companies frequently encounter a core problem when planning an online community; the key stakeholders each hold different views of what the community will be like and what it will accomplish once it is launched. So, when business sits around the table to talk about an online community for their company, product or service line, each person hold a different model; that is largely shaped by their relationship with one. types of online communities MORE >>