Online Communities vs. Social Media

Online communities or forums are social media, you might be thinking. Well, you are right. The distinction comes with contemporary thinking. When you say social media today, people naturally assume you are referring to Facebook, Twitter, etc., which happen to be trendier.

From a branding perspective, is it better to focus on forums or social media (SM) sites? That is a relative question and is highly dependent on what your objective happens to be. Personally, there a few obvious differences between forums and SM. One is that forums attract a group with a specific interest and SM sites appeal to a less granular cross section of society. Forum users probably follow the Facebook page of their select community, whereas the Facebook follower may not necessarily be a member of said forum. Users of the forum will be enthusiasts of the market, but not necessarily your brand. Whereas, fans of you SM site will be fans of your specific brand, hopefully. Another important distinction is that while you can go out and set up a SM page pretty easily, it is far more difficult to start up an online community and have any realistic expectation of achieving critical mass. You are late to the party on that note. So, I would say it is important to work on developing a presence with both the appropriate communities and building a SM site.

In order to position yourself or your brand in a favorable way within an online forum, you will need to develop a presence within the community. Since forums consist of voluminous amounts of information on a specific subject, the best way to position your brand is by contributing on a substantive level and create credibility for yourself. If you are patient and provide real understanding of the subject matter along with detailed information in the flow of dialogue, the audience will happy for your involvement. Remember, members of forums are apart of a niche community seeking information about a common interest. The most effective way to reach your target audience online is with a highly targeted campaign tailored in a setting where they are comfortable and thus more receptive to your message.

For SM sites, you build a page and leverage the availability of your brand on the respective SM site to build and or engage your audience. This is a little easier and less time consuming, especially if you have an established or desirable brand. Fans of your brand follow your messaging and engage you from time to time. For those that are followers of your page, this is a great way to keep them up to date with your activities and your brand fresh in their minds. This is also the trendier of the two approaches.

Either way, you are reaching out to your target audience. One way is to position yourself in a niche community and the other is to broadcast a message to an audience at large. Both platforms provide a highly effective means of reaching your target audience and really should be employed as a part of an overall online strategy. Take the time to get to know the nuances of online forums and social media sites and how your audience responds to your message within each. Stay active, be prepared and most importantly be authentic.

I can drill down into the specifics of both fields a hell of a lot more, but I try to limit my ramblings. If you would like to know more, hit me up.

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Seth Horne

Part II: Online Community Forums, Engaging the Audience

Online community discussion forums transcend the everyday social dynamic. Forums allow people to come together to share their interests, experiences, insights, discoveries, needs, gossip, without the social awkwardness inherent with typical social gatherings. The internet affords a certain anonymity or subterfuge, if you will. Individuals of all ages, from all walks of life and all corners of the world are free to engage on another in discussion at all hours of the day or night without fear of being reproached.

The most significant factor that distinguishes a discussion forum, at least the really good ones, from other social media outlets is the focus on a specific field of interest. What are you interested in and how precise do you want to get? Think about the automotive industry, for a second. How many automotive brands are there and how many lines within each brand? Well, there is an community of enthusiasts for every brand of car and every extension of the brand. Let's take the BMW brand, for example. You have the 1, 3, 5, 7, X, Z, M series and variations therein. The more niche oriented a forum becomes the more highly focused the audience and the more specialized the information.

Much of what you find on the more heavily trafficked sites will be groups of extremely knowledgeable enthusiasts eager to share every possible minutiae of information about their interest. Now, of course, just like in any group, there will be some that know very little about a whole lot. With out fail though, the amount and depth of your knowledge will be exposed in short order. But, for the most part forums can be gold mines of information.

Enthusiast groups play a couple of key roles as an audience. They are both captive and willing participants? For what, you might ask. The automotive industry figured out a long time ago that some of the big online communities could be fertile grounds for product feedback. This allowed them to engage their consumer directly and determine what features needed to be modified, added or removed. The forums provided them direct access to valuable real time information.

For the casual user, online communities provide a vast wealth of information. Ask and ye shall receive. For those looking to position a brand, forums are the mother load. What could be better than having a broad section of your target audience all gathering in one location? The trick is figuring out how to communicate with them, what appeals to them and how do you gain credibility in their eyes? For well known brands this is easy, but for lesser known or new brands this can be a time consuming challenge. A line I like to use is, it's a marathon not a sprint. Far too many companies expect results over night. You really have to be patient and smart. Be creative and offer incentives to the audience. What benefit is there in your brand? How will their experience be enhanced through the use of your brand? The right place to start is with a consultant or agency that has cut their teeth in the trenches of the industry you are looking to gain recognition from. Ask the right questions of the right people.



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FTM
Seth Horne

Part I: Online Community Forums, the Basics

Long before I decided to form Full Throttle Media, I was working with a group of brilliant guys developing online communities. This was back in the early 90's and at that time there were not that many forum based communities on the internet. I have to give credit to the guys I was working with for being damn forward thinking and giving me the opportunity to learn how the game worked. We were all big car enthusiasts, so buying in to what they were doing was pretty easy. The idea was to create a setting where car owners, engine builders and manufacturers could come together and share information.

Basically, car enthusiasts had been holding gatherings for like minded car owners and tuners dating back to the 30's when guys started to modify their cars engines. Fast forward to the 90's. How do you bring the various car clubs from around the country and the world together in one place to swap stories and share knowledge on specific cars. The internet facilitated just such a assemblage. In a nut shell, online communities are simply gathering places for like minded individuals looking to exchange information in a social forum. These were the original social media sites. As such, the more highly organized forums offer a vast wealth of knowledge for anyone interested in joining or looking for information on how to increase their own base of knowledge. These focused niche groups have grown over time into some very large and influential communities.

A few of the sites I was privileged enough to be apart of developing hold real sway in todays car enthusiast world. What I am getting at is, community forums offer fertile ground for company's looking for brand exposure or product feedback. What are you selling, who is your target audience and where are they. Well, they are probably scattered all over this green earth. So, if you can find an event or a gathering of folks that meet your target audiences metrics then it is a lot easier to pitch you brand directly to them. Online community forums offer the perfect venue. Think of a few enthusiast groups like car owners, sport fishermen, cooks, etc. There is group of enthusiasts following almost every interest in the world. So, find the one that your product will appeal to most and join.

In Part II we will take a closer look at the pros and cons of online forums vs. social media sites.


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Seth Horne

Reach

What is it about smart business owners/executives just not grasping how to communicate to their target audience in the digital media world we now live in? They want to rely too heavily on word of mouth or print to reach their audience. Obviously, word or mouth and recommendations from friends and family rank right at the top when it comes to influencing our buying decisions. But, even if someone we trust turns us on to something extraordinary, what is the first thing you are going to do? If you are like me, you are going online to do a little research on the brand in question. Where am I going to do this research? Online, of course. Now, if the brand is on the ball, they will be creative and utilize a marketing plan that incorporates multiple components reaching across several platforms in order to hook me. Hey, not every company or brand is going to have household name recognition. A comprehensive branding strategy is going to be key to their success. Because at the end of the day, how many people are they really going to reach via word of mouth. A few, I am sure, but to really hit their target audience and peak some interest they should think social and visual media. This is where everybody is, no matter the age. I would hope they have some talented individuals on board that are crafty enough to develop a sound strategy that entices both right and left brain people. I am going to go out on a limb here and say, “print media is dying”! With that said, in some cases I do agree that print can help in very small doses. But, too many people rely on it as their largest means of brand messaging. Print ends up in the garbage basket and the cost benefit ratio for print advertising is usually small, so don't go heavy. Anybody that pushes a print intensive campaign should be shown the door immediately. Think about where your audience spends most of their time and what they are doing. It is a good bet that they are on the internet and more than likely on some social media site or watching video or both at the same time. Find a savvy person or agency that really understands the online world, online community development, social media, and can produce high quality video and hire them. Work with them to design an engaging marketing campaign for you. You can reach niche market segments more effectively this way. And, because of the tremendous shelf life digital media offers, you brand message will be seen over and over.


Go Full Throttle Media! Share the experience and sell the dream.
FTM
Seth Horne

Agendas

You know, it is funny how some of the people I work with are quick to seize on an idea and then begin to sell me on it, without even realizing they are a little late to that idea party. I usually have a pretty broad strategy before I tap any of my resources. That strategy typically involves multiple steps to achieve something far larger than what may at first not be so apparent. In many of the projects I work on, there are several deliverables being worked on simultaneously and not all the contractors being employed are privy to the long term strategic plan. Varying amounts of time pass before each begins to fully visualize the big picture and understand how all the components when combined offer up a far more lucrative project or series of future projects. So, my point is, it is always amusing to me when they have that "ding" moment where they see the much bigger picture with all the potentialities and quickly begin creating scenarios where they can form partnerships to pursue this serendipitous "gold mine" and how I might fit into "their plan". I get a good chuckle out of this. Hey, it has happened to all of us at some time I'm sure.


Go Full Throttle Media!
FTM
Seth Horne