Connie Bensen

I haven’t posted in awhile but I have some new things coming. I’ve been working on the back side of my blog & just busy! But definitely some new things are coming.

Here’s some great reading:

10 PR 2.0 tips for Startups – I was glad to see #6 was ‘have a community manager’.

5 Steps to Start an Online Community by Darek Kleczek

Managing Online Communities

More good ideas for Online Communities on Social Media Today.

This one is definitely worth listening to. And I’m really enjoying Matt Rhodes’ insights on Fresh Networks so browse around while you’re there. Yet more evidence of online community benefits – audio slideshow of the Deloitte Study

If you find those helpful there are many more links to my favorite posts on my Resources tab.

And the Fedex man brought me an Advance copy of Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About by Bertrand Cesvet. I’m always open to new Word of Mouth Marketing ideas! And as a past librarian having the pre-published book in hand is like heaven! 

I’m starting something new on my blog of sharing links to articles that caught my attention. Here are some ideas for your community strategy:

An incredible article about Brands building community on Flickr

Beth Kanter pointed me to this ongoing wiki project that is going to be an amazing resource for Non-profits using Social Media. I’m sure that she would love your contributions!

A must see slide at Dogster.com along with this truth "Being a community manager is never about you, the community manager or the company you work for. It’s always about the community member or site user, who we like to call the customer.

Wall Street Article on Why Most Online Communities Fail? (yes, lack of human intervention) Take a look at how the industry spoke up in this article.

That was a warm up article for this one by Augie Ray that provides an excellent analogy between gardening & nurturing a community.

And kudos to Dell!!  Dell Opens Up Social Media Sites to All Employees