Source: SmallCompanyBigImage.com
Building and maintaining a quality small business website is essential to your success. (Unless you’re one of the few businesses whose customers do not use the Internet to search for solutions.) Creating the site concept, design and then getting it built with its gazillion details, is a huge project—no matter what size your company is. And then we need web site content. And BTW, this isn’t 1999 when you can post brochures and product photos on your site and call it a day.
Nope. Now we need an ongoing supply of fresh content. Our buyers, prospects, customers, users, partners, and others all have ongoing needs. They’re constantly searching for useful content to help solve new problems. Engaging content. Compelling content.
As you’re solving the problem of how to create exciting, educational content, think about yourself as an Online Community Manager. The successful online community, social media blogger Connie Bensen believes, small Businesses already are Community Managers. Here’s a helpful post she did last year summarizing this idea.
Hosting an online customer community could really boost your content marketing expertise! Think of how much you will learn from your customers.
Examples of online customer communities:
Cisco hosts variety of online communities and discussion forums. Here are links to 3 of them:
– Small Business Support Community,
– Retail Industry
– Here’s one for French speaking members
Johnson & Johnson hosts the popular information & experience sharing site baby.com
Burns Engineering is a B2B firm helping the life sciences industry. They host Temperature-Measurement Community
Fiskars, Manufacturer of craft tools, garden tools, school products, home and office supplies hosts the Fiskateers Ambassadors community site.
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