Tara Hunt says community is not the same as a marketing strategy. She shared 10 simple ways to shift thinking.
- Be a community evangelist. Get feedback and learn what you can do better.
- Shift your measures of success. PageViews or signups might not be the best yard stick. Find a way to measure true success.
- Embrace the chaos. Life isn’t always organized and that’s okay.
- Find your higher purpose. Know what you are achieving through the community.
- Understand your audience. Who do we serve? Why do they give a damn?
- INreach, not outreach. Focus on making your current members happy, not getting more members who will come and go.
- Design to delight. Determine the optimal experience and include little things to make people smile.
- Be part of the community. Get in there, talk to people, and get to know how they tick.
- Marketing is not an afterthought. It’s everything you do. If your product isn’t great, marketing won’t make it so.
- Have patience. There are no overnight successes.
(This is part of the CommunityNext Week in Lists. Photo credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)
Was she your fav speaker at the conference?
I enjoyed this talk a lot, but she didn’t have enough time to get really deep into the topic. It’s tough to pick a fav, but I liked the realistic look at advertising of this speaker.