Building Online Community April 25, 2007

Building Online Community
Community is the latest buzzword in online marketing. but what does it really mean? How are communities built - and why? Is there ROI in building communities around brands. Is web 2.0 community?

Join us on April 25th as we'll answer all these questions and more.

Sessions:

I'm B2B; can community work for me?

Presented By: Jennifer Evans, President and Founder, Sequentia Communications
In many ways, community can be more powerful for b2b organizations than for b2c. Jen Evans will talk about how B2B companies and marketers can use community to increase customer loyalty, market intelligence, profit and revenue within their customer base and beyond, how to offer value to an audience and the types of communications (blogging, podcasting, and more) that work most effectively for a B2B audience, easy, big impact ways to get started - and the kind of results you should expect, when. Case study included.

Click to Connect: etribes and emarketing

Presented By: Robert V. Kozinets, Associate Professor of Marketing, Schulich School of Business

Community is an ancient, rather than a new, phenomenon. Grassroots communities have been sparked by every technological innovation from fire to the wheel to networked computing. In this presentation, anthropologist and marketing professor Robert Kozinets will overview the technique and use of netnography, a method of ethnographic fieldwork developed especially for the study of online communities. He will provide a quick tour of the characteristics, motivations, and structural processes of consumers as they form themselves into naturally occuring communities. Emphasizing the use of communities as communication tools and sources of consumer insight, Professor Kozinets will also speak to some of the marketing challenges in this new and growing space.

Building Brand Communities: Using online tools to nurture your community

Presented By: Lee Dale, President of Smack Inc.

In an age when consumer impatience for mass media and distaste for corporations can lead to wasted media spends and PR nightmares, consumer and corporate value can be found in a shared community, a Brand Community. In order to build just such a community, there are three key characteristics to nurture: consciousness of kind, shared rituals and traditions, and moral responsibility. Lee Dale will be showcasing online tools to help you build towards your own Brand Community, including exploring some real world examples that speak to each of the three key characteristics.

Official Website: http://www.aimscanada.com