Group behavior

• “A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy,” Clay Shirky: http://shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html
• Do startup companies need community managers? http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/hiring_a_community_manager.php

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Community users

 

• Why they contribute: An interview  with a Chicago Elite contributor to Yelp, a location-based review site: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/index.php?s=yelp.
• How to grow numbers: Big lessons in 1) power of reminders and 2) power of loyal users:

  http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/09/13/what-i-leaned-by-increasing-my-forum-membership-by-400-in-24-hours/
• What are the information needs of our communities, anyway? Knight Commission tackles this issue: http://knightcomm.org/
• Some might have seen this link already. I don't agree with everything on there, but it is in an interesting take on Web 2.0: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/50616

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User-generated content

• Example: 8020 Publishing produces two magazines of reader-submitted content: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/35464.
• Example: The Hartford Courant’s iTowns is considered a successful example of reverse-published user-generated content that is submitted online: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/35464.

• Gaining insight from UGC (marketing/customer service): From the article: "The benefit of engaging with your customers is that you decrease your time to market, you kill bad ideas sooner, you develop tremendous loyalty and authentic advocacy within your customer base – and you do all of those things simply as a function of actively listening." FYI: User-generated content doesn't mean "they" write journalistic-style stories for us. It means any form of written communication by our customers. http://www.mycustomer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=133960

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Social media tools/platforms

 

• A new way to create a branded platform: http://mashable.com/2008/09/09/webjam-branded/
• Examples of things that are already being done: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/46113
• Omniture, Jupiter & Forrester Research (FREE) Webinar on social media: http://www.omniture.com/offer/373?cms_site_lang=1&s_cid=13396&&s_iid=13288
• Overdrive Interactive's Social Media Map (FREE pdf download - wiki-style online one to come): http://www.ovrdrv.com/social-media-map/
  

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Marketing

• Interesting discussion around how much of marketing budget should be allocated to social media. See insightful commentary, too: http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/10/prioritizing-your-web-marketing-budget---what-slice-of-the-pie-should-social-media-get.html 
•  Marketing guru Seth Godin's interesting theory on frontlist promotion vs. backlist promotion: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/09/how-often-shoul.html He argues that you push frontlist to fans only and work like hell to promote, cultivate and maintain backlist for the bigger tribe to find later.
• Gannett's (non)-response to independent Gannett Blog is an example of how NOT to manage brand and do business in age of new influencers: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/47047 
• Differences between Facebook Groups vs Fan Pages: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-group-vs-facebook-fan-page-whats-better/7761/
• Social Media Marketing Tactics: http://www.seomoz.org/article/social-media-marketing-tactics
• 15 Fundamental Truths About Social Media Marketing: http://searchengineland.com/15-fundamental-truths-about-social-media-marketing-13243.php
• Five things to remember when venturing into a community and talking about your brand: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3631080
• SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) Online Glossary: http://www.sempo.org/learning_center/sem_glossary
  
• How to avoid downfalls of social campaigns: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=97389&Nid=50687&p=336202 
• 22-Step Social Media Marketing Plan: http://mashable.com/2008/11/07/social-media-marketing-plan/
• Examples of 324 companies using social media: http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html
  

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Community

• Best practices, interview series: Interview with Carlos Virgen of Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. His top point: Engage the community in person, too: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/11/25/lessons-in-community-from-community-editors-8-carlos-virgen-walla-walla-union-bulletin/
• Best practices, interview series: Interview with Angela Connor, managing editor and comm. mgr. of WRAL.com and GOLO.com. Her top point: Acknowledge members' good work: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/11/18/lessons-in-community-from-community-editors-7-angela-connor-of-wralcom/
• Best practices, interview series: Another of Paul Bradshaw's interviews with Real Life online community managers about top 3 lessons learned. This time, Sarah Hartley of MEN Media. Top point: Terms of use, rules of engagement, guidelines, whatever you call 'em, need to be in English, not legalese. http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/11/14/lessons-in-community-from-community-editors-6-sarah-hartley-men/
• Best practices: Notes from Forum One Marketing & Communities Conference 2008. Topics include being human (read: vulnerable), the party host metaphor, importance of emotional involvement and offline conversations to community, and the tension created by advertising knocking at the gates of the community. http://www.mindnumbingthoughts.com/2008/11/marketing-and-communities-conference.html 
• Content isn't king: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/09/18/basic-principles-of-online-journalism-c-is-for-community-conversation-pt2-conversation/
• Hyperlocal that works: http://www.lostremote.com/2008/09/23/our-hyperlocal-experiment-and-why-it-works/
• Best practices, interview series: Interview with community manager for UK's Guardian on best practices for moderation. Hot-button points? That editorial and other departments must know that final moderation decision rests with comm mgr. Also, that users need consistent community policies: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/10/21/lessons-in-community-from-community-editors-2-mark-fothergill/
• Communities of practice: Challenges and positive reinforcement for getting the job done. Plus, down economy may drive embracing of the concepts: http://chucksblog.typepad.com/a_journey_in_social_media/2008/10/tough-times-accelerate-cultural-change.html
• Best practices, interview series: One online community manager's top 3 lessons learned: community and interactivity are different things; terms of use/rules of engagement are important; and reward best users. http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/10/22/lessons-in-community-from-community-editors-3-andrew-rogers-rbi/
• Best practices: Highlights of the 2008 Online Community Summit, from how to define "community" to how to grow a community to how to measure a community: http://socialvoice.liveworld.com/blog-entry/Bryan-Persons-Blog/Recapping-2008-Online/1100000180
• Building Online Communities By The Numbers: http://www.clickz.com/3632853 

 

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