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5 minute question

December 22nd, 2006 Posted in Building Community

In the first of what will hopefully become an ongoing series, I’d like to pose a question:

If you had 5 minutes with an inquisitive marketing manager, what would you want to make sure they learned about working with fans/community?

Anything goes, and if you’d like to participate feel free to email me (jake at communityguy dot com), post in the comments, or post on your own blog. If you do participate, I’ll post a link (or your content) here so we can collect the Ultimate List.

UPDATE: Check out the responses here!

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 22nd, 2006 at 9:58 am and is filed under Building Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  • http://web-strategist.com Jeremiah Owyang

    JakeThanks for starting this off. I encourage you to actually list my responses (and others) right here on your blog. You’ve my permission!:)

  • http://web-strategist.com Jeremiah Owyang

    Jake

    Thanks for starting this off. I encourage you to actually list my responses (and others) right here on your blog. You’ve my permission!

    :)

  • http://www.communityguy.com Jake

    Fair enough! I’ll post an update now. :)

  • http://www.communityguy.com Jake

    Fair enough! I’ll post an update now. :)

  • http://joshmaher.wordpress.com Josh Maher

    One important one…

    Communities need connections

    What I mean by this is that there are usually pockets of knowledge that are usually not connected. One User may be a leader in his own mini community but may not know that there is another User that is a leader in her own mini community. Finding a way to open the doors and connect these communities can be a powerful thing. It gives each leader a better chance to be highlighted and the company a better conversation to listen to.

  • http://joshmaher.wordpress.com Josh Maher

    One important one…

    Communities need connections

    What I mean by this is that there are usually pockets of knowledge that are usually not connected. One User may be a leader in his own mini community but may not know that there is another User that is a leader in her own mini community. Finding a way to open the doors and connect these communities can be a powerful thing. It gives each leader a better chance to be highlighted and the company a better conversation to listen to.

  • http://www.brainsonfire.com/blog Spike

    Just five minutes? You?re killin? me, Jake. But I think one of the most important things that I could ever try to convey is that ? if they do it right ? they are in for one of the toughest but rewarding experiences of their professional career. It?s that whole ?campaign vs. movement? thing, and you said it best at the last WOMMA Summit: ?Start what you can finish.? This isn?t some 3-month campaign that they can abandon and move on. This is literally rolling up your sleeves and digging in to people?s lives. It?s hard freakin? work. But it?s so very meaningful, too.

    Be flexible. Not everything is going to go according to plan ? and that?s a great thing. Movements are organic. They don?t follow a marketing strategy or fit on a flowchart. They are living, breathing things because they are dealing with living, breathing people. And those people will be your greatest ally ? if you listen to them and let them in. To be flexible you have to realize that you aren?t in control and need to relinquish that illusion from the start. The sooner you do, the better.

    You are a part of the community, too. Not the director. Not the leader. And certainly not the owner. Remember that.

  • http://www.brainsonfire.com/blog Spike

    Just five minutes? You?re killin? me, Jake. But I think one of the most important things that I could ever try to convey is that ? if they do it right ? they are in for one of the toughest but rewarding experiences of their professional career. It?s that whole ?campaign vs. movement? thing, and you said it best at the last WOMMA Summit: ?Start what you can finish.? This isn?t some 3-month campaign that they can abandon and move on. This is literally rolling up your sleeves and digging in to people?s lives. It?s hard freakin? work. But it?s so very meaningful, too.

    Be flexible. Not everything is going to go according to plan ? and that?s a great thing. Movements are organic. They don?t follow a marketing strategy or fit on a flowchart. They are living, breathing things because they are dealing with living, breathing people. And those people will be your greatest ally ? if you listen to them and let them in. To be flexible you have to realize that you aren?t in control and need to relinquish that illusion from the start. The sooner you do, the better.

    You are a part of the community, too. Not the director. Not the leader. And certainly not the owner. Remember that.