Category: Online Community

  • Introducing Network Thinking: A Mobile Approach to Customer Communities

    Customer Communities Don’t Have To Be Complicated We know companies that invest in creating networks of relationships perform better than those that don’t. We also know that customers connected to a company’s “network of relationships” are more valuable. One of the best ways to create a customer network is to develop online communities. There are myriad vendors,…

  • The Secret Ingredient for Customer Lifecycle Marketing? Community Management.

    Clearly Customer Lifecycle Marketing is incredibly valuable when all stages of the lifecycle are addressed. So what is the problem? Based on my direct experience and years of studying the intersection of marketing and online community, I would assert that building meaningful relationships at scale is still an undeveloped function in the majority of most…

  • My First Year as a Consultant and what 2016 Holds for Online Communities (I hope)

    Honestly, I wasn’t going to do this. I’m already rolling eyes at all the “prediction” posts. And there are way too many 2015 retrospectives to look back on… but I’m feeling optimistic and inspired! You are taking the time to read this – THANK YOU! I have had an incredible amount of support for my…

  • Collaborative Economy Roundup for the Week of November 23, 2015

    As the United States prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, the team at Structure3C is thankful for another great week of growth and development in the #CollaborativeEconomy. We also have some exciting news to share: Bill Johnston (Founder of Structure3C) was nominated in the first cohort of Fellows for the Life Reimagined Institute. Read the full news…

  • Announcing a New Online Workshop: The Collaborative Economy Kickstart

    Every organization in the world is being impacted by the Collaborative Economy in some way. Smart organizations are engaging now by addressing emerging threats and identifying business opportunities. I created the Collaborative Economy Kickstart as a companion to our longer-form workshops. In 2.5 hours, participants will get a briefing on the Collaborative Economy, a facilitated exercise…

  • Collaborative Economy Roundup for the Week Ending October 30

    Your Weekly #‎CollabEcon Roundup for the Week Ending October 30 We hope everyone is geared up for an extra #spooky Halloween weekend. Uber’s latest valuation and funding round might be scary (actually, terrifying!) We’ll get you up to speed on this week’s best #CollabEcon articles. Just settle in with some trick or treat goodies and read the…

  • Thoughts on the State of Community Management 2015 Report

    Last week my friends and colleagues at The Community Roundtable released their annual “State of Community Management” report. This is the fifth year for the report, and the Roundtable team surveyed over 200 global organizations. Key Points & Findings include: An overview of the excellent Community Maturity model, as well as case studies on ho Microsoft…

  • Preview of the Brands & Collaborative Economy Research Project

    In March I embarked on a series of qualitative research projects to help organizations prepare for the disruption and opportunity emerging from the Collaborative Economy, and understand what resources they need to be successful. Wave 1 responses are in and the analysis is almost finished. I wanted to share a preview of the results to date. The full set of results will be published…

  • An Award Winning Community Strategy… 30 Years in the Making

    An Award Winning Community Strategy… 30 Years in the Making

    Two weeks ago my former team and colleagues at Autodesk won a Forrester Groundswell award for “Social Relationship Marketing (Business-to-Business)”. I am very proud of the work the collective team did (and continues to do), and heartened to see that the online community strategies I put in to place continue to bear fruit. A Rich History Community…

  • Opportunities for Brands in the Collaborative Economy

    Opportunities for Brands in the Collaborative Economy

    You’ve probably been hearing a lot about the Collaborative Economy lately. The key question many brands are asking: How do I get started? The good news? You may already have. Most organizations have an existing online customer community (or communties). Most are as simple as technical support forums, but many organizations have explored community engagement…