A little more conversation...

Brands are topics of conversations on social media. No surprise there. But online conversations are less about the actual brands and more about the interests of people. There are conversations taking place within communities of interest – and brands are part of those community conversations whether they are taking active part or not. It’s time to focus on online community management and reap the long-term benefits of an engaging social strategy.

Now you probably want to get right into the hard figures and how to accomplish them through social media, but let’s pause just briefly and ask ourselves:

What is a community?

Communities were once offline and defined as groups of individuals who were close in regards to physical proximity and thus had good reason to have shared experiences and life conditions. Telecommunications and the internet in particular changed this narrow definition. Online communities are now global, our shared experiences are no longer limited by location and neither are our interests or experiences with brands. Chances are we as individuals probably have more interests in common with people scattered across the globe than those in our immediate surroundings.

Are online communities then more significant than