Developing B2B Social Communities [electronic resource] : Keys to Growth, Innovation, and Customer Loyalty /
Brooks, Margaret.author.
Lovett, John.author.
Creek, Sam.author.
Developing B2B Social Communities: Keys to Growth, Innovation, and Customer Loyalty explains why business-to-business companies need a robust online community strategy to survive and flourish in today’s changing economy and shows you how to design and execute your company’s strategy successfully. Seminars, publications, market research, and customer care centers remain important tools in every B2B firm’s toolbox for understanding, attracting, and serving customers while keeping them loyal. But in a world of fierce global price competition, increasing transparency of business practices, and ever-rising complexity, these traditional customer interaction channels are no longer enough for most B2B companies. That’s why smart organizations—both large and small—are tapping into online communities to gain a huge competitive advantage: the ability to get much closer to customers and become more valuable to them. Developing B2B Social Communities delves into the generators of business value in online communities: immediate customer access to expert information within the company and from other customers; inexpensive delivery of custom technical help; demonstrations of how customers can to get the most from their products; and forums where customers can share tips, air gripes, reveal unmet needs, and suggest improvements.   Three veteran community managers show you how to harness the knowledge of the crowd to help shape your company’s strategic direction, develop new products and services, identify trends, sell more, serve customers more efficiently, and provide better product support. Fleshing out precepts with real-world examples and case studies, the authors detail the transformational opportunities—and pitfalls—for creating online communities.
Description based upon print version of record.
""Contents""; ""Foreword""; ""About the Authors""; ""About the Technical Reviewer ""; ""Acknowledgments""; ""Preface""; ""Chapter 1: The Human Need to Connect ""; ""From the Political Animal to the Social""; ""Hardwired to Socialize""; ""Updating the Status of Your Nucleus Accumbens""; ""Trusting the Crowd""; ""We Can Rebuild Him. We Have the Technology Better Stronger Faster.""; ""Back in the Conference Room""; ""Return on Investment""; ""Competition""; ""New Technologies and the Rise of Social Media""; ""Your Company Is Made Up of People, Just Like Your Customers""; ""Summary""
""Chapter 2: Community as the Centerpiece for Customer Engagement""""The X-Factor: What Makes for a Successful Community?""; ""Step 1: Due Diligence""; ""Step 2: Business Planning""; ""Step 3: Make the Decision: Yes or No? Should We Take the Plunge?""; ""Step 4: Community Planning""; ""Next, the Who Question""; ""Now to Answer the What Question""; ""Finally, Answering the How Question""; ""Step 5: Opening Activities""; ""Step 6: Launching the Community""; ""Step 7: Monitor, Sustain, and Evaluate Success""; ""Step 8: Continuous Improvement""
""Online Community: The Base for Social Engagement""""Summary""; ""On-Domain Platform Requirements Checklist""; ""End User Functionality""; ""Considerations Summary Chart""; ""Chapter 3: Community Models""; ""Showing Your Cards: Which Privacy Model Is Right for Your Community?""; ""Public Communities""; ""Private Communities""; ""Hybrid Communities""; ""How Will Your Community Be Governed?""; ""Internal Governance""; ""Externally Governed Communities""; ""Hybrid Governance Models: The Best of Both Worlds?""; ""Which Finance Model Is Right for Your Community?""; ""Summary""
""Chapter 4: Life Cycle and Maturity Models for Online Communities""""A Four-Stage Community Life Cycle Model""; ""Onboarding State""; ""Established State""; ""Mature State""; ""Mitotic State""; ""An Alternative Four-Stage Community Life Cycle Model""; ""Strategy""; ""Leadership""; ""Culture""; ""Community Management""; ""Content and Programming""; ""Policies and Governance""; ""Tools""; ""Metrics and Measurement""; ""Assessing Your Community Maturity""; ""Summary""; ""Chapter 5: Community Management""; ""An Investment in Social Capital""; ""Community Management Active and Passive""
""Desirable Traits Found in Successful B2B Community Managers""""Where Do I Look?""; ""Racing A Team Effort Much Like Community Management""; ""Don't Forget Content""; ""The Established Principles of Community Management""; ""Why Communities Fail""; ""Reasons Communities Fail""; ""Community Focused Around an Uninteresting Topic or Incorrect Audience""; ""Lack of Dedicated Community Management Efforts""; ""Unclear Mission, Purpose, Goals, and Measurements""; ""Lack of Content Nothing to Interact On""; ""Technology Platform Does Not Support Community Needs""
""The Business Need for the Community Ends""
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Developing B2B Social Communities: Keys to Growth, Innovation, and Customer Loyalty explains why business-to-business companies need a robust online community strategy to survive and flourish in today’s changing economy and shows you how to design and execute your company’s strategy successfully. Seminars, publications, market research, and customer care centers remain important tools in every B2B firm’s toolbox for understanding, attracting, and serving customers while keeping them loyal. But in a world of fierce global price competition, increasing transparency of business practices, and ever-rising complexity, these traditional customer interaction channels are no longer enough for most B2B companies. That’s why smart organizations—both large and small—are tapping into online communities to gain a huge competitive advantage: the ability to get much closer to customers and become more valuable to them. Developing B2B Social Communities delves into the generators of business value in online communities: immediate customer access to expert information within the company and from other customers; inexpensive delivery of custom technical help; demonstrations of how customers can to get the most from their products; and forums where customers can share tips, air gripes, reveal unmet needs, and suggest improvements.   Three veteran community managers show you how to harness the knowledge of the crowd to help shape your company’s strategic direction, develop new products and services, identify trends, sell more, serve customers more efficiently, and provide better product support. Fleshing out precepts with real-world examples and case studies, the authors detail the transformational opportunities—and pitfalls—for creating online communities.
Computer industry.
The Computer Industry.