Is Loyalty Dead? Is Your Content Sticky?

September 27 – 29, Silicon Valley Marriott, Fremont, CA

Sticky Content

‘Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice’

Woodrow T. Wilson

You guessed it! My topic is loyalty and my argument is that member loyalty to an online community is all but dead in this day and age.  Commitment to an online community, simply for the sake of being a part of a community, is gone.   Members are no longer assumed eternally loyal to an online community. Now that there are so many options online, commitment is diminished…competition is fierce!

For example, look at MySpace… do you think there’s still many MySpace loyalists out there? Facebook is still holding strong, but Google+ is on the rise. Social Networks, regardless of the purpose cannot expect their members to stay and be loyal if the value isn’t there or a better alternative becomes available.  Organizations cannot assume members will be loyal and connect to their community without some long-term, lasting value.  Organizations and community management must take a servant approach to engaging communities around content value creation. Above all, your community must resonate with the governing factor – loyalty, integrating all the trustworthiness and thoughtfulness associated with this remarkable trait.

So, consistent with my themes in previous posts and speeches, content creates community creates COMMERCE… allow me to ask:

• What’s sticky about your content that keeps your community engaged?
• What’s allows them to collaborate or connect to that content, and
• Can they build relationships with other like-minded community members?

If so, relationships can be developed between community members.

Believe it or not, ‘loyalty’ is not a separate topic from my speech, to be delivered at ISSMM Converge, on ‘How to Monetize Your Online Community.’ In fact and indeed, loyalty is the backbone of Avectra and at the core of everything we do! 

During my session, will you, as an attendee, learn new, clear cut ways to turn your online community into revenue-generating enterprise?  Absolutely!  And, at almost every stage of my talk you will hear the overtone of commitment and loyalty relevant to members and organizations.

Now on to ISSMM Converge:

It is an exciting time in our field, and during Converge, I am looking forward to hearing from, and hopefully meeting, Lyle Fong (@lylefong) to get his perspective on the future of “gated” communities and how Lithium and other community platforms fit into this increasing crowded software category. (topic: Gamification of Social Media)  Lyle Fong is the CEO & Co-Founder of Lithium.

And .. I definitely anticipate meeting Angela and Jamie from Campbell Ewald and explore how advertising and digital agencies are using social to drive product enthusiasts communities. Also, I’d like to see how are they collecting data authorized from Facebook, LinkedIn, etc… And, are they putting this data back into a CRM to tell the bigger customer or lead story? Angela Zepeda, Managing Director, and Jamie Lewis (@hinj19), Digital and Social Strategy at Campbell Ewald – is one of the largest advertising and digital communications agencies in the United States. ( topic: From the Boardroom to the Sea; Real-world Case Studies)

Hope to meet and greet you at ISSMM!

Don’t miss my presentation, How to Monetize Your Online Community.

Thursday, September 29th @ 10:30 am to 11:15 am

Sterling Raphael, President and Founder AvectraLabs / Avectra
@SterlingRaphael
LinkedIn.com/in/SterlingRaphael

If you need more information regarding Converge 2011 and the Institute for Social, Search & Mobile Marketing (Issmm), visit www.socialsearchmobile.org   If you are planning to attend and haven’t registered yet, today’s the day!

Tags: conferences, sales, marketing, search engine marketing, social media, aol, mobile marketing, co, altimeter group, current tv, brian solis, gamification, issmm, social search mobile, mobile monetization, blogher network, lithium technologies