by: Matt Rhodes
So here’s another post on the Deloitte / Beeline Labs Tribalisation of Business Study that everybody seems to be talking about (including me here and here). They are running a webinar next week on the study and I came across some slides they will be talking about thanks to Awareness Networks.
It is clear from this that amplifying word of mouth, innovation and online research communities that are the most frequent use of online communities in the study. This mirrors our experience of working with clients and talking to people in this space. All three of these can be uses of the online community and this medium of engaging people is great for achieving them.
Perhaps of more interest for me is the second slide that looks at the benefits people are seeing of online communities. Greater awareness (including through better organic SEO) is something that is a clear benefit for brands of a community, as is generation of new ideas. What is interesting is that almost 25% of firms reported that the online community led to each of: increased sales, more referrals and more leads. This shows the clear and immediate business benefit of the communities and so the more immediate (as well as the longer term) benefits they bring.
These slides are great and start to show some of the real benefits of online communities that the study found. Adding depth and detail to the reports that came out when this study was first released.
Usage of online communities
Business measures of success
Some more reading
- Do Branded Online Communities Fail?
- Corporate Social Networks Are A Waste of Money, Study Finds
- Social Networking in the Enterprise
- How Internet Marketers Can Create an Extra Revenue Stream
- Companies failing with social networks
- Why (most) online communities fail
- WeAreMedia Module 5: Encouraging Online Participation – Some Tips from Nonprofits
- OCRN: The Online Community Marketing, Growth and Engagement Report
- Why Does Corporate Social Networking Fail?
- Corporate Social Networks Are A Waste of Money, Study Finds
- The Art of Conversation – It’s About Listening Not Marketing
- Requirements for a social media network
Original Post: http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2008/08/some-evidence-of-online-community-benefits/
