There has never been a better time than now to build an online community around your product, service or business. With a huge range of free usable tools to create a community that can run itself, you really need to look into this as a marketing and communication stragrey for your business. Here are a few options for running a community online for free.
Facebook Groups
Using one of the biggest portals online you can set up a free Facebook group or Fan page to run your own community. Using Facebook means that it is also easier to attract members virally. You can even pay to advertise your group on Facebook via Facebook Ads. This can be a good easy low cost way to attract people interested in your business but are not ready to become clients.
Find out more using the links below
Facebook pages: http://www.facebook.com/#!/advertising/?pages
Facebook Groups: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/create.php
Facebook Advertising: http://www.facebook.com/campaign/landing.php?placement=pf&campaign_id=402047449186&extra_1=1
If your product or service is Business to Business (B2B) related, it may make more sense to run a group on one of the biggest B2B network sites. LinkedIn allows you to create and run your own group. like Facebook, you can also pay to promote your group within LinkedIn using Direct Ads.
Find out more using the links below
LinkedIn Groups: http://www.linkedin.com/createGroup?displayCreate=&trk=hb_side_crgrp
LinkedIn DirectAds: https://www.linkedin.com/directads
So why build a community in the first place?
Using one of these two tools or even both can create a great way to add value to your business as well as:
- potential research tool;
- customer feedback tool;
- product support mechanism;
- develop a sense of community around your business;
- a marketing platform that can by pass email;
- search engine benefits of having user generated content appear within Google search;
- website content syndication mechanism;
- and much more..
About Jason Hulott
