Comments on: Ball Bearings, Men’s Underwear and Drano Oh My!

By: I would join a donut community « doug wick

I would join a donut community « doug wick — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:03:21 +0000

[...] popular “Would you Join a Toothpaste Community?” post, along with follow-up posts where Aaron tackled a few challenging products from a community-building perspective. I also sounded off on how the brand is your bridge to community [...]

By: I Would Join a Donut Community « The Engaged Consumer

I Would Join a Donut Community « The Engaged Consumer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:07:15 +0000

By: Your brand: The bridge to community « doug wick

Your brand: The bridge to community « doug wick — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:39:14 +0000

[...] to engage at a deeper level within a branded community. Aaron suggested a nice approach where you categorize your offering and look to commonly effective strategies. I’ll add to that by suggesting an additional approach that is a little more [...]

By: Your Brand: The Bridge to Community « The Engaged Consumer

Your Brand: The Bridge to Community « The Engaged Consumer — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:48:12 +0000

By: srdill

srdill — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:31:34 +0000

So – no thoughts on how to help Restaurants To You?

By: Cat Callen

Cat Callen — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:08:46 +0000

My favorite comment is how to make a community worth the cost to host / promote / maintain it for the sponsoring company. For example, we can have a farming equipment community (http://www.greencollectors.com/ or http://www.antiquetractors.com/), but will it actually profit the farming equipment manufacturer? If there’s a dog community, will participants buy more dog food (http://petcharts.purina.com/)? I’ve heard Nascar is notorious for fans actually purchasing the products of their favorite drivers (http://tinyurl.com/7pfk8l) – how did they do it? Will social communities share the same fan to purchase loyalty?

By: Aaron Strout

Aaron Strout — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:02:23 +0000

@pauline as another smart “community gal,” I appreciate your great advice. Thanks for adding your “three things” (having major flashbacks to days with B. Libert right now!)

By: Pauline Brannigan

Pauline Brannigan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:59:44 +0000

Aaron,

It all centers around building a mousetrap that is attractive for the mouse. If a community doesn’t continue to stimulate and attract back members (or interest them to begin with), it will fail. Companies need to determine three things (sorry, I couldn’t resist)

1) What are the business benefits or problems we are looking to impact with a social network?
2) Who is my audience and why will they be interested in joining and what will keep them coming back?
3) Providing them the cheese or the content/activity that will make your community a benefit to their personal or professional life on an on-going basis.

Great post and out of the box thinking as usual!

By: Aaron Strout

Aaron Strout — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:57:33 +0000

@ariherzog I’m sure I missed a few categories/miscategorized what I’ve got. For the sake of this post, those three buckets seemed to make the most sense.

@leslie you’re on – I’ll keep you posted

@hjstrout your comment wins for most insightful. As a community manager, I take your thoughts/recommendations very seriously.

@warrenss @jaygaines @scotthepburn – you guys really helped make this post (and the original, “Toothpaste Community” what it is. Thanks!

@jesseluna great minds think alike. Keep us posted on your project!

By: PRstore Blog » “I Can’t Do That!” Marketing Ideas for 2009

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:58:49 +0000

[...] like Jessica Smith (she’s on Twitter, too) and their devoted audiences. Whether you sell ball bearings, men’s underwear or Drano, your customers get together and hang out. Are you hanging out with them? [...]