ONLINE

COMMUNITIES

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Technology Overview

Table of Contents
1 Executive Summary 3

2 Online Communities Overview 5

3 Online Communities Vendor Landscape 8

4 Evolution of the Landscape 10

5 Analyst Bottom Line 12

Technology Overview Methodology 13

About Demand Metric 14
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Technology Overview

Executive Summary
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 4

Executive Summary
Online Communities and Social Networks have transformed the Marketing Activities include blogs, forums, Q&A, groups, contests, Gamification,
landscape in the last ten years. From pioneers such as Myspace to the SEO, and Social Media integrations.
behemoths of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, Online Communities
Increasingly, companies are using these communities for crowdsourcing
have become digital neighborhoods, hangouts, and intersections of
and ideation to drive innovation and new product development. Online
commerce.
Communities are also useful for identifying potential advocates who can
Marketers have found the global Social Networks to be both a benefit be further engaged using the Advocacy and Loyalty platforms.
and a challenge. The benefit is the ability to reach millions of prospective
In this overview, we examine company-owned Online Communities
customers with the click of a mouse. The challenge is being seen
rather than the large social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and
and heard in a growing cacophony of marketing noise. Increasingly,
LinkedIn.
marketers are finding that the answer is to create private or company-
owned Online Communities set apart from the social mainstream and Our Online Communities Vendor Landscape provides a detailed look at
dedicated to the needs of their unique customers. the landscape, vendors, and solutions for Online Communities.

Company-owned Online Communities are websites that act as engagement The goal is to enable Modern Marketing organizations to make
engines. They enable companies to create social relationships with effective investment decisions about the private Online Community
customers and prospects, and foster peer-to-peer relationships that drive platforms and tools that best fit their broader Customer Engagement
engagement with the company, brand, product, or service. strategy.

For a review of those networks and the platforms that support them, SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING VIEW RESOURCE
please download our Social Media Marketing Solution Study. Solution Study

Insights, Landscape, & Vendor Analysis

 5

ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Technology Overview

Online Communities
Overview
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 6

Online Communities Overview

Demand Metric defines Online Communities as website, and private Social Networks that enable members to interact in a controlled setting and are
created and maintained by a company or group to foster communication among peers or likeminded individuals. Online Community platforms include
the processes, technologies, and tools that enable a community to be built, managed, and measured for growth, revenue, and profits.

The Power of Online Customer Engagement

Demand Metric’s State of Online Communities
We now know that the buyer travels up to 75% of their for Support study found that for organizations
journey before directly engaging with the company in that have an online community as part of their

50%
consideration. Equally, we know that most of the journey support process, half report a moderate or
takes place online. While offline Customer Engagement significant contribution to revenue.
still occurs, it plays a decreasing role in the buyer’s journey.

Instead, new Customer Experience or Engagement

platforms that offer Personalization, Advocacy, and
Loyalty capabilities enable vendors to reach customers
through other channels with customized offers while
they are physically in the store or shopping online. Increasingly, companies are using these communities for
crowdsourcing and ideation to drive innovation and new
The trend is obvious even in the B2B space where, due product development.
to the nature and size of the transactions, sales teams are
more personally and directly involved. Today’s sales teams Online Communities are also useful for identifying potential
are more likely to rely on tablet-driven, cloud-powered advocates who can be further engaged using the Advocacy and
presentation tools and apps to provide the prospective Loyalty platforms.
customer with the best experience.
ONLINE COMMUNITIES OVERVIEW ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 7

The Future of Online Communities is Private

While the global Social Networks continue to grow

exponentially, a revolution is happening with consumers,
companies, and brands: the private Online Community
is displacing the public network for many groups and
activities. Private Online Communities give marketers
and brands much more control over information and In analyzing this market, Demand Metric has found that
social interaction. among members trust is higher, loyalty is stronger, and people
They offer customers more privacy, a higher level of are more engaged and willing to participate.
interaction, and stronger trust in both the community and Demand Metric believes that companies and brands will increas-
the content provided. They can be precisely tuned to the ingly shift marketing and advertising spends away from the
needs of a specific group of customers. Private Online global Social Networks and toward private Online Communities.
Communities can have levels, such as newcomer to VIP, be
gamified, and are more secure than the public networks.

Members love them because they can cut through the

clutter and get exactly what they need while sharing
their passions and insights with others who will most
appreciate them. They get their questions answered
by members with more experience and expertise in the
subject at hand.

Learn what the customer support landscape looks like and how
effective crowd based, self-service support channels are working VIEW RESOURCE
with our State of Online Communities report.
GAMIFICATION ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 8

ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Technology Overview

Online Communities
Vendor Landscape
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 9

Online Communities Vendor Landscape

As previously mentioned, this vendor landscape focuses on private
Online Communities.

Solutions from Online Community vendors range from basic web

community-building platforms, such as Disqus and Ning designed 105
for forums, chat blogging, and commenting, to sophisticated Social
Community platforms with web content management, intranet
collaboration, and detailed analytics from vendors, such as DNN, Lithium,
Vanilla Forums, Salesforce Community, and Higher Logic.

Marketers should expect an Online Community solution to provide

at a minimum a fundamental set of community-building capabilities.
These include forums, blogs, chats, reviews, Q&A, badges, contests,
photos and videos, and social widgets.

From that basis, vendors’ solutions focus on specific requirements such

as eCommerce, intranet/workplace collaboration, social curation and
storytelling, and social advertising for media and advertising.

Download Demand Metric’s Online Communities Vendor

Matrix to review the key vendors for this space. Vendors are
VIEW RESOURCE
detailed by target industries, key offerings, unique strengths,
and current customers.
GAMIFICATION ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 10

ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Technology Overview

Evolution of the Landscape


Evolution of the Landscape
The early days of private Online Communities were characterized by
forums, bulletin boards, and chat rooms for Q&A and idea sharing.
The marketers’ role was mainly Social Listening and Monitoring to under-
stand customer behavior with dialog moderation.
A second stage emerged as Online Communities became destinations
where people went for higher trust information via reviews, tribal-based
knowledge, email and community support, special-interest blogs, and
photo and video sharing.
The third stage, which has emerged over the last five years or so, is
the development of true eCommerce communities. These communi-
ties are designed for Marketing, Sales, and Customer Care Enable-
ment. They are built specifically for Advocacy and Loyalty applications,
include sophisticated Gamification engines, are connected to Web
Content Management systems, and integrate with Enterprise CRM and
Marketing Automation systems.
Our Advocacy and Loyalty Technology Overview highlights
the advocacy and loyalty technology space at a high-level.
ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 11
They also include Social Network channel integration and offer a range of
analytics, from visitor profiles to advanced analytics for tracking customer
interests, behavior, and sentiment. Rather than being “attached” to the
company website as a separate area, they are becoming natively inte-
grated so that moving from the visitor-based website to the community
is seamless.
The future of private Online Communities is clear. Private Online Commu-
nities will increasingly become the company or brand’s primary website
and engagement point with their customers; a virtual “settlement.” Initial
entry will be via a simple intro landing page or portal for basic information
gathering and customer qualification.
That will be followed by a fast push into the community where deeper
engagement, VoC/Feedback, and Loyalty and Advocacy platforms will
enable Marketing, Sales, and Customer Care teams to create more
sustainable relationships for measureable customer lifetime value.
ADVOCACY AND
LOYALTY VIEW RESOURCE
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 12

Analyst Bottom Line

Private Online Communities are a key component of Customer
Engagement, providing a destination and a virtual settlement
where customers can have the best possible experience with the
company, product, and service.

Market trends in the global Social Networks are making it more

difficult and expensive to reach and engage with customers
through public channels.

It is imperative that marketers build private Online Communities

that will enable them to provide a unique, highly tailored
experience for each customer and lay the foundation for creating
measurable and profitable Customer Engagement.
 ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 13

Technology Overview Methodology

The Modern Marketing landscape is an ever-changing, ever- Our practical tools are designed to provide marketers with the
evolving environment in which new strategies, technologies, tools and templates they need to plan for an initiative in a given
vendors, and products appear continually. focus area, analyze the vendor landscape, and select the best
vendor for their organization.
Demand Metric Technology Overviews provide marketers with a
focus on a specific technology solution set or focus area so that Our Technology Overviews series includes:
they are armed with the knowledge, information, and tools they Advocacy and Loyalty Online Communities
need to develop effective strategies for their organizations. Gamification Online Event Marketing
Online Advertising SEO
Each Technology Overview involves hours of analyst research
(mainly publicly available information), is for a specific technology
solution, and is usually accompanied by several practical tools.

We provide a comprehensive overview of

Customer Engagement in the companion report VIEW RESOURCE
Customer Engagement Best Practices Guide.
 About ANA

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) makes a difference for indi-

viduals, brands, and the industry by driving growth, advancing the interests
of marketers and promoting and protecting the well-being of the marketing
community.

Founded in 1910, the ANA provides leadership that advances marketing excel-
lence and shapes the future of the industry. The ANA’s membership includes
more than 1,000 companies with 15,000 brands that collectively spend or
support more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually. The
membership is comprised of more than 750 client-side marketers and 300
associate members, which include leading agencies, law firms, suppliers,
consultants, and vendors.

Further enriching the ecosystem is the work of the nonprofit ANA Educational
Foundation (AEF), which has the mission of enhancing the understanding of
advertising and marketing within the academic and marketing communities.
 About Demand Metric

Demand Metric helps Marketing teams get stuff done with practical tools,
training, and a simple, modern platform for managing work.

Our analysts identify best practices from fast-growing companies and

build Playbooks & Toolkits, Guides & Reports, Training Courses, and Project
Templates to help you optimize your processes, add structure to your depart-
ment, and get your team punching above their weight class.

Manage your work visually with our easy-to-use platform, built for small
marketing teams by design. See what your team is working on at a glance
so you can spend less time managing projects and more time knocking
stuff off your list.

Through strategic partnerships with the AMA, ANA, and AIPMM, our 1,000+
time-saving tools & resources have become the industry standard. Don’t
start from scratch! LEARN MORE
Sign up for a free trial at www.demandmetric.com
GAMIFICATION ONLINE COMMUNITIES TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW 16

© Demand Metric Research Corporation.

All Rights Reserved.

www.demandmetric.com

Follow us on Twitter

Join Linkedin Group

Like us on Facebook