Interactive digital marketing is a fine art, a balancing act, if you will, of supplying just the right amount of info to get people interested, without bombarding them with a pushy, overly intrusive sales approach. Websites are the Digital marketers shop window, a place to show off their wears and entice buyers in. So ask yourself, when was the last time you read an independent customer review? Or better still, when was the last time you visited a corporate website and were given the chance to vote or give your ideas on a new product?

This guestpost is written by Elena Savvides, International Marketing Manager at Telligent. Together with our Tom De Ruyck, Telligent is presenting at the iStrategy Event in London, May 23 2012.

If the forum for out-and-out sales is your corporate website, what’s the forum to receive product reviews, customer feedback, build brand loyalty and conduct market research? A Social Community of course! Here at Telligent we firmly believe no good digital marketing strategy can be successful without some form of Social Community. Many companies are still using what we like to call “Managed Communities” such as Facebook or LinkedIn; however there are some groundbreaking global brands doing amazing work with “Owned Communities” through the use of Telligent’s Community software and InSites consultancy expertise. Some nice examples of these are Ben & Jerry’s i-Scream Community or Philips’ Sleep Well Community.
So, if the Social Community is here to stay, what are some of the reasons you, as a digital marketer, should be looking to implement an “Owned Social Community” as part of your core marketing strategy? Well, here are our top 5:

1. Gain Customer Insights with market research online communities (MROCs) for a social twist on research that saves you time and money
2. Reduce Marketing Spend by increasing website traffic through relevant content that reduces SEO spending while attracting new customers
3. Rally Brand Advocates by empowering fans to share brand updates with friend directly to social networks like Twitter and Facebook
4. Launch New Products by creating product-level communities of interest to capture early feedback and fuel word-of-mouth marketing
5. Build Brand Loyalty by creating fun, interactive online communities to engage fans and hosting private, members-only communities for VIPs

Why not take a look at some of the Telligent case studies to see exactly how customers such as Cadbury, API Healthcare, Reader’s Digest & Microsoft are realizing some of these benefits through their owned communities.