Enterprise Social Media

Making the case for joining external communities

Posted on 13. Feb, 2009 by Michael Brito in Community Management, Social Media

I was excited when @bruceericatdell asked me if I wanted to participate in the Digital Nomads community. Digital Nomads is a place where the “digirati” hang out and talk about the latest in technology, wireless, digital trends – you name it. Contributors to the site span across many disciplines and companies (i.e. Dell, Intel, Federated Media, Mashable to name a few). I was even more thrilled when I enlisted the help of other Intel employees (Josh Hilliker - @joshprostar, Ken Kaplan - @kenekaplan and Tony Jones - @MCP85) from various segments of the organization i.e. market research, enterprise IT, public relations and marketing respectively.

The Nomad community is s not a place for marketing messages, offers and spam.  It’s real. It’s personal. It’s human.

So is Wepc.com; and even though it’s community sponsored by Intel and Asus, I would consider it an external community.  My participation there is to join in on the many conversations and give my personal point of view to many of the awesome ideas that the community is generating. You can read more about the Wepc vision here. 

Often times, I push back when I get a request to build a new Intel community. My biggest concern is that we build a community and no one shows up.  Additionally, most are unaware of the resources needed for the community. I am not just talking about the strategy, development, budget, content and integration.  I am more concerned with having community managers there to nurture the conversation and foster relationships.  And furthermore, unless Intel hires full time community managers, this would have to be done by volunteers in addition to their full time responsibilities.

In some cases, building an Intel community makes perfect sense.  Open Port is a great example of this on the business and enterprise side of the house.

I believe that joining external communities on behalf of Michael Brito (who works at Intel) not just Intel; establishes a greater sense of trust; and this is what I have learning along the way:

• If I can’t bring any value to the conversations, I won’t chime in.
• I always disclose who I am and where I work.
• Authenticity is real to me and something I value in all relationships; not just the ones online.
• I never promise something I can’t deliver.
• It’s not all about me or the company I work for.

As Bob said in a previous post, it’s important to have an onsite and offsite social media strategy; as they are both equally important.  Ignoring one or the other will create missed opportunities to listen to customers, connect with people, build brand loyalty, and create evangelists. 

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Tags: Asus, community, dell, Digital Nomads, Social Media, Wepc

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