Does Your Company Inspire Trust? How Online Communities Can Help!

Just the other day, I said to my 10 year old daughter ‘trust is hard to win and easy to lose.’ She was having a tough time with a good friend who had done something jerky, and she wanted to know if she should trust her friend again just because she was being nice. Once trust is broken, it takes time and evidence to repair the damage. That’s why it’s always best to behave in an honest and trustworthy manner, rather than endeavor to rebuild bridges. While school girl antics usually come and go, life lessons about the formation and maintenance of trust are the foundations on which relationships are built in friendship … and in business.

The dynamics of trust is a topic carefully tracked by Edelman’s TrustBarometer. The 2012 edition measures attitudes about the state of trust in business, government, NGOs, and media across 25 countries. This hot-off-the-press report identifies a number of critical shifts in trust. While government officials are deemed the least credible spokespersons, CEOs also saw a rapid decline in trust.

The chief executive’s voice is no longer the trusted source for information about the company, the industry or service trends. Customers no longer look to executive leadership for vision and facts. Instead, thanks to the information now readily available through social media, peer-peer information and expert points of view have soared to the top of the trust pyramid like a kite in a windstorm!

As these data clearly demonstrate, expert opinions and peers are the drivers of trust. They are where the buyers of both consumer and B2B products and services gather the information they need to make informed decisions. And through the proliferation of user-generated content via self-publishing channels such as blogs, YouTube, microsharing, content curation and reviews, there are ample sources of information.

Current wisdom suggests trust can managed using the role of the Influencer to shape public opinion. These are experts with credentials which demonstrate credibility, are unencumbered by financial bias and, armed with data and experience, can offer feedback, advice and vision to help guide the buyers’ opinions and actions. So for greatest business impact, the obvious answer is to invest heavily in developing thought leadership content and securing strong influencer programs, right? Not really... It’s not that simple where trust is concerned.

The Edelman report takes a hard look at the operational and societal attributes that build trust over time. The study discovered that there are a few key elements that facilitate organizational trust. The ones that stood out to me include:

• Listens to customer needs and feedback
• Places customers ahead of profits
• Takes actions to address issues or crisis
• Is transparent
• Communicates frequently and honestly

Do these sound familiar? They are the basic tenets for building trust within communities online.

In a 2007 article entitled “What is trust worth?,” published in Qn, the Yale School of Management journal, author Steve LaVoie discusses his company’s experience with the role and value of trust. The founder of Arrowstream, a start-up focused on improving supply-chain management in the restaurant business, LaVoie discovered his firm’s ability to deliver savings for customers and profits to the business required rethinking the relationships between all the parties involved. Establishing and maintaining trusted relationships – and avoiding self-interested behaviors that jeopardized trust -- were the key to unlocking savings for everyone and making the business a success. Arrowstream became, in essence, a community of customers for the benefit of each and for the company as well.

Customer communities have been around for a long time. But the advent of new tools and technologies has greatly expanded their scale and scope. Online communities are now recognized as a key channel for building trusted relationships and engaging with customers, employee and other stakeholders. The ingredients are transparency, active listening, and taking action on expressed issues and needs.

Data points:

• 49% of businesses report having a customer community. [Business.com Business Social Media Benchmarking study, 2009]
• 34% said they planned to create a customer community in 2011-12. [Leader Networks New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study, 2010]
• 24% plan to use an online community to support senior-level client relationships in 2011-12. [Leader Networks New Symbiosis of Professional Networks study, 2010]

So … if your employee engagement survey yields data that gives HR a headache and an agenda, or your NPS scores are not all you had hoped, consider addressing the root cause – lack of trust! Take the time to explore new and innovative experiences such as online communities to engage your audiences, building and supporting trust in your company. And remember, as my daughter’s friend recently learned: it takes time and effort to earn trust.

Community Managers, Unite!

 Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD)! 

As I sat down to write a blog post dedicated to celebrating community managers - this fantastic, rewarding and often misunderstood profession, I realized that there are few professions (and professionals) as impassioned as a Community Manager.  Left-brain, right-brain, artist, scientist, pioneer, organizational change agent - the job is all that, and more.  So, in lieu of trying to write about my appreciative thoughts today, I have gathered a few of my favorite blog posts about being a Community Manager from my blog archives that I believe represent the spirit and joys of the role.

• A Day In The Life of a B2B Community Manager
• What It Means To Be an Online Community Builder
• Interview with a Star Community Manager
• Defining the role of a community manager - what to look for when hiring

In celebration of Community Manager Appreciation Day, Dell has pulled together a wonderful, live event on a Google+ Hangout. I am honored to participate and hope you will join us.  Here is the agenda and the replay of the session (note: edited to add replay):

·       Chief Company Pinata & Cat Herder 

Beyond a Day in the Life of a Community Manager

Panelists:

                 Amy Muller  Chief Community Officer & Co-Founder, Get Satisfaction 

                 Mark Harrison  Community Manager Google Earth & SketchUp 

     Patrick O'Keefe  Author of Managing Online Forums, iFroggy Networks

·       No Matter B2B or B2C; It's P2P!

Whether Business to Business or to Customer; it's always People to People

            Panelists

     Jim Storer   Principal/Founder at The Community Roundtable

                 Vanessa DiMauro CEO Leader Networks

                 Lionel Menchaca  Chief Blogger, Dell

·       Evolving a Social Business

The Future of the Community Manager Role

            Panelists:

                 Jeremiah Owyang  Industry Analyst & Partner, Altimeter Group

     Bill Johnston  Director of Global Online Community

Circle Leader: Connie Bensen, Sr Mgr Community Strategy, Dell

The Social Mind: A New Research Project

Interrelationships between individuals, organizations, thought leaders and influencers are evolving in new and previously unforeseen ways thanks to the advent of social media networks. This paradigm shift represents a major communications innovation in all markets, and is radically changing the way people and organizations engage and behave online.

In order to explore this topic, and give back to the industry,  Don Bulmer and Peter Auditore and I are conducting a new study as Fellows of the Society of NewCommunications Research (SNCR) .    The Social Mind research project is designed to explore and understand these interrelationships and how they impact the consumption of information across social media channels and influence flow. Social Mind findings are enabling B2B, B2P, B2C or Cause marketers to understand the importance and relevance of content - and - its ultimate impact and influence on behaviors, beliefs, decisions and actions.

Through the Social Mind research we are endeavoring to identify key characteristics and insights into the engagement behaviors of individuals and how organizations can maximize reach and influence to execute on what we call the new Principals of Engagement in the millennium.  

To this end we invite you to participate in this study by taking a brief survey.  It won't take much time and we will share the results with all who respond.  Through SNCR, we are endeavoring to contribute to the industry learning and best practices with much needed research data.  The study is open to all.  If you have ever searched for data on this topic or bemoaned the fact that social media and social business is still emerging in its identification of hallmarks and best practice, please take a moment to add your voice! Just like with elections, every person's response counts. 

And, be sure to check out The Society of New Communication Research.  We are a group of researchers and practitioners who come together to help further the understanding and best practices of social.  We volunteer our time to further the industry and help raise awareness of social media function in business and society.

Be a part of the social community and take the survey here, And while you are at it, kindly use your social powers for good: forward it to a peer, retweet it, G+ it or share it however you see fit.

Thank you very much for supporting The Social Mind research project!

Online Community Decision: Public, Private or Hybrid?

Your organization has decided to develop an online community to serve your customers. Congratulations! This is an important step towards building a social business. As the team gathers in the conference room with whiteboards, markers and lots of coffee, you start by talking about other online community examples the organization might want to emulate, or those that have caught your fancy. Features, content, look and feel are usually a major part of this discussion.

But chances are you haven’t considered a fundamental but critical question: will the online community be public, gated or a hybrid (largely public with a private, members-only area)? This is one of the most important decisions you will have to make, one that shapes virtually every aspect of how your community will operate and, in most cases, determine its success.

The decision to make the community public, private or hybrid depends in large part on the characteristics of the audience you are trying to serve. At Leader Networks, we call this "The Engagement Model." It states that "The who and why of your community will dictate the what and the how." For example, if your organization seeks to reach a wide audience, such as a technical support community -- chances are a public community is the right format. If your audience is small and focused, such as prospective customers of an airplane manufacturing company, a private, gated community is probably a better fit. Serving multiple audience types or needs may require a hybrid format. So what are the benefits, drawbacks, revenue models and other distinguishing factors for each type?

Public Online Communities

Public communities are open to anyone on the web who would like to join the community. While the community may -- and probably should -- require password-protected member registration to join or post a message, anyone with an email address and a web browser can have access. Organizations trying to engage a large audience of consumers or customers (B2C or B2B) with content and conversation online will usually choose a public community.

Audience
Anyone who is interested in the community, company or topics addressed

Growth
Ultimate size is determined by the potential audience universe
Usually (much) larger than private online communities
Need to scale quickly due to (typically) lower participation rates – more readers than posters

Focus
Goals are to educate and inform members about a product, service or issue
Activities includes content creation & distribution, discussions and member sharing
Topics include marketing info, education, product/service support

Common Features
Forums, blogs with comments, simple reviews ("like"), downloadable content, polls, webinars and multimedia

Revenue Models
Advertising, content sponsorships, lead generation, a la carte paid offerings such as webinars or reports, overall cost reductions for support communities, self-service sales

Benefits
Broad reach, enables company to show market penetration, marketing, product or service evangelism

Sample Measures
Member acquisition growth over time, views or likes, content contributions, SEO page rank, PR value
With tech support communities, reduction in support costs (community vs. call center) is a primary measure.

Private Online Communities

Private online communities are gated, often invitation-only communities serving a highly targeted audience. Many B2B professional organizations have private communities. There are membership standards, which can include subscription fees, in-depth profiles, vetting or current member recommendations prior to member acceptance. A gated community can create greater sense of trust and intimacy among members with more information about individual members and shared acceptance criteria. This can lead to more open and substantive engagement and collaboration between members and the sponsoring organization. Content and member contributions are considered privileged and not shared outside the community.

Audience
Highly selective audience based on a clear criteria, including verification of credentials such as title, practice area, certifications and other attributes.

Growth
Absolute size of private communities is less important than achieving high levels of member satisfaction in conjunction with business objectives
Audience selection criteria are crucial to member acquisition, participation and collaboration
Achieving a critical mass of members is necessary to grow collaboration. Can be successful with hundreds to thousands of members.

Focus
Goals are to share knowledge and expertise on mission- and career-critical issues; collaboration for professional advantage
Activities include co-creation, idea-sharing, high-level consultation, expertise development, collaboration and thought leadership.
High level of service and benefits to members

Common Features
Member directory, member-generated content, research and in-depth polling, forums, thought leadership and expertise presentation

Revenue Model
Member subscriptions (may include additional benefits such as special access to content and experts), sponsorships, commissioned research, discount purchasing programs, events (online and offline), thought leadership access

Benefits
Increase customer loyalty, increase in client penetration of product and service purchases, improve R&D and speed to market, gain high-level expertise from members, market foresight.

Risks
Private community members expect high levels of member service, poor execution risks alienating powerful customers and prospects
Audience selection criteria limits ultimate size, high quality content required, active community management.

Sample Measures
Membership revenue & renewals, NPS scores, customer retention, customer purchase increases, new audience targets acquired, PR, actionable expertise and ideas created within community

Hybrid Online Communities

Hybrid online communities have both a public and a gated or private area within the overall community infrastructure. They provide the features of both options at a single destination. Access is determined by the member's role. For example, a hybrid community might have an open, public area for consumer visitors with private, gated areas for suppliers or executives.

Hybrid communities often evolve after an organization is successful with one of the two models (public or private) but then discovers a business need to serve a different audience or segment using the other engagement model. At Leader Networks, we discourage trying to launch both at once; the complexities of initial messaging to prospective members and operational difficulties make this choice very risky. Instead, determine the best model for launch, then evolve the community. Leverage the learning from the first successes to improve the next phase.

Audience
Bifurcated, with both a public (anyone) and a private (selective and targeted) membership

Growth
Aim for rapid growth of the public community. If the private side will be a subset of the public audience, base private audience growth estimates on public audience acquisition rates -- but be prepared for significant variations.

Focus
The biggest challenge will be managing differing messaging and member engagement needs within a single community. Goals and activity expectations must be extremely clear and distinct for each side of a hybrid.

Common Features
A hybrid requires especially strong member management tools to maintain separation within the platform plus a robust, experience operations group to keep similar functions separate for each audience.

Revenue Model
Complex and multifaceted based on the business goals and organizational values. Which community type is the primary business driver?

Benefits
If able to capture the value of both community types, synergies might include reaping the rewards of a private member-driven thought leadership community plus using very selective distribution of the private content to attract a larger audience to the public space.

Risks
Loss of focus, confusing brand identity, channel and message conflicts in audience acquisition, complex technical and operational structures

Sample Measures
Each aspect of the community (public or private) should be measured independently with different, contextual metrics based on the single models.

I will be discussing the topic of "Community Models: Public, Private or Both" during an upcoming Social Media Today "Best Thinkers" webinar moderated by Maggie Fox on Tuesday, Feb 7th at 12:00 noon ET. Please join me to discuss this important topic.

The 20 Minute Social Media Professional

“I don’t have time to participate in social media” is a common cry heard within enterprise. The concern is that social media has a steep learning curve and is a time vacuum preventing more essential work from getting done. In other circles where social media is more widely used, those who haven't started are sometimes in a pickle.  They don't know where to start and won't ask for help, worried about exposing that they haven't developed this professional skill yet.  Fear not...while we are led to believe that everyone and their uncle is using social media with great skill and acuity, there are many who have yet to take the plunge. 

Here is a 20 minute social media activity plan to help you dip your toe in the water while managing your time for efficiencies.There are many different activities you can do once you have started to master the art of social, but this activity plan ensures that the core efforts are covered.  But, before you start, you will need to do a few things. 

First, go to Google and set up alerts on your name (in quotation marks for best results – e.g. “Tom Smith”) as well as topics that pertain to the work you do (e.g. “airplane parts manufacturing” or “firmware and quality assurance”).   Try to be specific so you don’t get too much information or that which is not relevant. Also set up an alert for the name of the company where you work. 

Second, create a LinkedIn profile on at least one other network such as Twitter or Google+ if you haven't already.  Here are some practical tips to make the most of your social media profile.  

Third, if there are a few blogs that you find interesting, subscribe to them.  I recommend having the new posts emailed to you so they come to your mailbox for easy access.  Most thought leaders publish a blog, so if there is a speaker or author you value, search on their name and most likely you will find their blog.  There is usually a way to sign up for email delivery directly on the blog post.  

For extra credit, try to find an online community or LinkedIN group that is specific to your subject matter expertise.  I have created a big list of professional online communities that can serve as a starting point, but you can also search online or ask peers where they find discussions and resources online.   For many professionals, here is where you will find the most value in terms of content and connections to support the work you do.

Now it is time to begin…

1. Read blogs posts sent by email - 2 minutes

2. Check reputation alert, topic or company key word alert – 1 minute

3. Log in to LinkedIn, Twitter or Google+ and see if you have any messages. You may want to vary the network you log into by day of the week– 2 minutes

4. Respond to a blog post you have read or look at the twitter activity to see if anything catches your fancy  – 5 minutes

Possible actions include;  send email to author of great article & invite to connect if person responds,  re-tweet an article or blog post you have read, make a comment or like something one of your colleagues posted on LinkedIN

5. Participate in 1-2 professional networks or online communities once to twice a week.   8-10 minutes

Connect to 1-3 people every few visits
Write a personalized email to 1-2 connections
Comment briefly or post a forum message that is relevant to you

If you are reading this blog post, chances are you are already on your way to social media success. Congratulations!  If you know someone who wants to get started but doesn’t how to begin, do a good deed by forwarding these suggestions to them in email. And, if you are a savvy social media user, consider "adopting" someone who isn’t.  Offer to set up some time with them to show them how the tools work.  Be sure to use searches that evoke professional topics that may catch their interest – as relevancy is the key to success. And if you crave more information, here is a good blog post from the Social Media Examiner offering videos and additional resources to help support the learning curve.

Social Snacking Feeds Online Community

Social snacks are digital tidbits of information, ideas and personal presence which offer a quick taste of an online community's content and personality. An effective way to build awareness of a community, these virtual treats get distributed via the burgeoning ecosystem of online tools that support millions of short, sharing interactions daily.

Sometimes an online community can get overly focused on internal processes such as moderation, content development, member acquisition and engagement, and lose sight of the vast virtual world outside their domain name boundaries. Looking outward and sharing small samples of activities and content via social channels can give a wider audience a taste of the community's thought leadership and tone, fueling additional chatter, traffic and audience awareness for direct and indirect business benefit.

"Serious" community builders may dismiss the social snack as so much "junk content" -- too lightweight to have any value. After all, how could a mere 140 characters represent the mission or the wealth of information riches contained in a true, in-depth online community? Well, just like an appetizer before a meal, the social snack stimulates hunger for more. These bite-size info-bits whet the appetite and raise anticipation of a more substantive meal to come on your community site.

Consider an online community dedicated to serving a cause. This kind of community provides content, resources and connections to an audience which supports the mission. The core membership may be very engaged and passionate, participating in the community with verve and energy. Each time that community publishes a new piece of content or launches an especially vibrant and engaging discussion topic, it is an opportunity to share tidbits of that content or interaction across popular social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and many more. A well-phrased tweet about a hot forum topic with a link back to the discussion will go a long way towards driving new visitors, raising overall awareness of the community and showcasing the unique personalities of the membership.

Cause marketers have been perfecting the practice of social snacking for some time. These organizations -- and their supporters -- have a passion-driven perspective. Many in their audience are highly engaged and driven to spread the word, so social amplification occurs naturally. Charity Water is a prime example of how social snacking works. This not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing access to clean water to communities in the developing world has done the majority of its fundraising via social media. Using some traditional marketing efforts in combination with social media, they have created an online community where members who support the mission create their own sub-communities of supporters, building an every-growing cadre of people who connect with each other and contribute to the cause.


Another example of effective social snacking practices can be seen in this simple twitter search.

These short posts all point to online communities, which are using social tidbits to support and encourage online engagement.

This good stuff doesn't happen through magic, however. The key to using social snacks effectively is getting them in front of the snack-ees. For example, if your Twitter account only follows friends of the firm or a limited number of people, the chances that someone seeing your tweets will be new to your community is low. Instead, put in the time to find and follow people who might be interested in the topics and issues your community serves. When they follow you back, they will be much more likely to see your tweets, and even re-tweet to other people they know who share similar interests.

In the same way, some percentage of your current community members have social media accounts. Help them support your community by adding them to your circle of "friends" -- make it easy for them to help share the information you are sending out. Encourage and invite them to support the community by sharing these social snacks with others. After all, your members should be involved in the subject matter at hand, and if they are, they will tell two friends, and those friends will tell two friends ... and scale happens.

Two things to remember when evaluating this strategy: your community's objectives and reach.

1. If your community's mission or objectives includes private or secure communications, carefully consider what kind of snacks can be shared, and what kind of experience a non-member will have when they visit your site. Creating a public "annex" might be a necessary step for your community so member privacy is not compromised.
2. While your community can be everywhere on the 'net, you may still need to go where the people are and let them know what you have to offer. For niche communities, using digital chatter and social leverage greatly increases your visibility as compared to the "build it and they will find it" approach. Use your community's depth of knowledge and active membership to attract and retain those interested parties who are likely to visit, join and remain members.

Online Community Beta Groups: Why and How

You wouldn’t throw a party and not invite your closest friends, would you? You might even encourage them to come a wee bit early, right? The other guests who may not know you as well might feel a bit awkward to arrive on time and be the very first ones there. So why not ask your buddies to come early? You can even ask them to bring a bottle of wine or a dessert, or suddenly need to borrow their table cloth or punch bowl. The really good friends even stay after the party to help do the dishes. I think these are key ingredients to successful party-giving.

Knowing this, I wonder why so many organizations launch their online communities without the assistance and involvement of a beta group? Why is this so important?

• Beta groups serve a critical function during the initial phases of a new online community. Inviting a hand-selected group of people to experience the community prior to launch leads to a number of wonderful benefits to the community: the member directory, discussion groups and polls start to buzz with activity, so when the doors are opened to new members at the formal launch there are plenty of signs of life already.
• Beta group members can also become a leadership team to help you steady the uncertain dynamics of the post-launch period to ensure there are people dedicated to the community’s success.
• Beta members are much more likely to link to others and respond to questions in the forums after launch because they already have a vested interest in the outcomes of the community.
• They can also serve as community spokespersons, offering testimonials and generating peer referrals.
• The early arrivals even perform the function for which the term "beta" was coined -- pointing out problems and issues with the community platform that the community owner may not recognize. We've all had the experience of talking to someone at our party who asks "Why is that ... over there?" -- and realizing that whatever-it-is really shouldn't be over there, after all! We all get accustomed to our environments, virtual and otherwise, but what we're accustomed to many not offer the best experience for new community members.

These are just a few of the "why do I need one?" reasons for a beta group. Now for the "how do I get one?" steps.

Keep the party metaphor foremost in your mind -- you don't want total strangers arriving at your party early! A good way to form a beta membership team is to select candidates from specific segments: friends of the firm, favorite clients, former (non-competing) colleagues, even a few industry opinion leaders. Depending on the anticipated size of the community by the end of the first year, the beta group size can range from 25 to several hundred. It's really up to you, based on your organization's ability to handle a well-structured beta program.

I like to create a fancy title for the beta group -- founding members, ambassadors, pioneers, charter members -- to formalize and confer some authority on the program and its members.

Then follow up with individualized written invitations (yes, you can even use paper!) which sets out the program's goals, benefits and member responsibilities, such as:

• Why were they selected?
• How long with the beta group run?
• What kind of participation is expected of them?
• What rewards or benefits will they receive from participating?

Next, create a kickoff event with the group so they can learn more about the community before committing themselves. This could be a webinar, a screen-share session, even a closed-door meeting at an industry gathering. This kind of group orientation gives candidates a chance to see they are in good company, part of a select group, which can help motivate participation.

Make it easy for them to participate. Provide them with access to the community and do whatever it takes to be sure their experience is a positive one. For example:

• Give them brief suggestions of things to do first. Don't leave them guessing.
• Define a set of activities around the community objectives. Then, monitor their progress.
• Specify the parts of the community that might need help. Actively solicit their opinions on these areas.
• Divide up the tasks. Ask some to create a profile, others to link to other members and so on.
• If the community has a private group feature, create one for beta members. They can join and share feedback about the community with each other -- and you. This can reduce email clutter and redundant communication on issues while revealing shared concerns that might not rise to the surface individually.
• If some members are subject matter experts in the community's topic area, invite them to contribute content or be interviewed as a featured member.
• Always follow up. With a small beta group, schedule voluntary phone calls with each member to get their impressions of the community. What did they like the best? What challenges did they experience? What was missing from the community that they expected to see?
• The most important thing to remember is that you need the good will of your beta members far more than they need you. So be especially grateful and undemanding when conveying your needs on behalf of the community.

Finally, don't forget to thank them, and I mean really thank them for their gift of time. This doesn't mean payment, which detracts from the aura of the beta group as your pre-party posse. Instead, take the time to write a note, recommend them on LinkedIn, post a public tweet or comment of thanks on a social site -- if appropriate -- and give them a badge or special tag within the new community. Yes, a modest Amazon gift card is also nice. You want to let them -- and the world -- know they are truly one of the elite: a community pioneer!

The Rise Of the Digital Doctor

Just the other day, I paid a visited my daughter's pediatrician in his office and saw a strange thing ... his desk was clean and in the far right hand corner of his large desk was a sleek, silver shiny object. A laptop computer. Of course, it was closed, and there were numerous sticky notes posted on top of it. Real change takes time. But there it was on his desk, ready to be used. Later that week one of my best friends, a world-famous rheumatologist, asked me to demonstrate Twitter. We found a number of key opinion leaders in her field with Twitter accounts. I think we're starting to see a pattern emerge – the rise of the digital doctor.

It could be push to electronic medical records or the speed of medical advancements that is propelling so many white-coats into the digital present and future. In any case, today's physicians are adopting digital tools -- including networking and social media -- at ever-increasing speed.

In a Sept. 26, 2011 article, the American Medical Association's amednews.com reported nearly all doctors in the US are now on social media. The article cites a study by research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan conducted between April and May, 2011, which found that 84% of doctors use social media for personal purposes. In August, a survey by QuantiaMD found nearly 90% of physicians reported using at least one social media site personally. Physicians' need for the most current information plus peer-peer networking for ideas and collaboration, coupled with easy-to-use mobile technologies such as smart phones and tablets (iPads) are driving this rapid adoption rocket!

A physician's professional life requires a high degree of mobility -- meeting with patients, working in the lab or a hospital setting, multiple offices, teaching, conferences -- which makes mobile devices ultra-popular. The freedom to compute in motion coupled with the proliferation of medically-focused mobile applications are a great match for medical professionals. There are applications for treatment options, electronic recordkeeping, drug interaction databases and even heart monitors online. A recent article by Jackson and Cooker Research outlines the many reasons why the future doctor will be a mobile computing powerhouse.

Access to up-to-the-minute new drug and treatment information is another reason why doctors are pushing themselves to get online. In FY2011, the FDA approved a record number of new medicines and devices. A recent survey by Manhattan Research found physicians prefer to receive the majority of their pharmaceutical and device product information through online sources.

A doctor's professional survival -- and that of his patients -- requires constant attention to new developments, continuing education and peer networking and collaboration. They need information from experts and peers to ensure they have the most current data to support patient care. Online access offers the fastest and most efficient way to do this. As anyone who has ever tried to call a doctor can attest, they are rarely available by phone. Professional private networks and social collaboration tools provide the means to connect and collaborate when it is most convenient -- often after hours or on weekends.

Continuing medical education (CME) and credentials are also moving to the screen. As budgets shrink, institutionally-sponsored CMEs are disappearing -- fewer hospitals and academic institutions are subsidizing the cost to keep physicians' credits current. The result is a shift to doctors funding their own CMEs and self-educating on topics that pertain to their field well past the minimum needed to keep their credentials current. Pursuing their CMEs online allows physicians to reap the same benefits other online education users have discovered: access to information and education on their own time, at a lower cost than traditional in-person learning, with greater efficiency. This will undoubtedly be the way future post-graduation education is delivered. According to research published in the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions (v30 (1), 2010), online CMEs are likely to be half of all CMEs consumed by practicing physicians within a few years.

So, there you have it. That foreign computing object on my doctor’s desk isn’t just a paperweight, after all. It is the path to better patient care, improving physician skills and increasing the efficiency of the healthcare system. The doctor of today -- and certainly tomorrow -- is likely to be as plugged-in professionally as any Silicon Valley startup maven, all for the benefit of health and humankind. Thanks, Doc. We'll see you online!

Keeping The B2B Customer Satisfied: Why Companies Need Online Communities

Seminars, publications, market research, and customer care centers are some of the most important tools in every business-to-business firm’s toolbox for understanding, attracting, serving and keeping customers loyal. But in a world of fierce global price competition, increasing transparency of business practices, and ever-rising complexity, these customer interaction channels are no longer enough for many B2B companies.

Today, software companies such as SAP and Taleo, business information providers such as LexisNexis, and consulting firms such as Palladium Group have moved much of these interactions to online communities they have built for their customers. While they are still in the early stages, these online communities are providing these companies with a competitive advantage: the ability to get much closer and become more valuable to customers every day, around the clock.

In the first of a multi-part series, my colleague Bob Buday of the Bloom Group and I review the traditional ways that B2B companies have interacted with customers and their limitations in a world in which change has dramatically accelerated. We then discuss why a number of companies have launched online customer communities in the last few years, defining the core hallmarks of successful communities.

Download the article here or view it online below.

Customer Intimacy on Steroids: Why b2b companies need to build online communities for their customers

View more documents from Vanessa DiMauro

In the next installment this winter, we will review best practices in online communities and the prescriptions on how to build and maintain a vibrant online customer community.  We hope you enjoy this article and look forward to your comments and questions. What do you think are the current limitations in the ways that B2B companies interact with customers and how do you think online communities can help?

What It Means To Be An Online Community Builder

For the past 15 years, cocktail parties were tough.  When people would ask what I do for work, my response, "I build online communities for business," would serve as a natural repellant to further conversation.  Confused or suspicious about this mysterious response, the martini-holding listener would likely divert the conversation elsewhere in short order,  as they had absolutely no idea what an online community-builder is or does.

I am happy to report that my social life is getting better these days, as online communities are all the rage. There are still elements of mystery that shrouds the community-building profession - but there is also a new-found curiosity.

So, late one evening, I tried write a description of what it means to be an online community builder. And instead of developing a cohesive job description, I wound up with a pile of words. (Leave it to a community builder to approach a puzzle with a unique solution!).  While my outcome most certainly does not replace the utility of a straightforward party-line, I think it will resonate will community builders worldwide who have evoked a similar suite of words at the dreaded cocktail party... when faced with the question "what do you do for a living?"