The word “community” has been so badly used, it’s practically meaningless.
Going forward, I’m presenting myself as a growth expert with proven talent for engagement and marketing.
From Flickr
The word “community” has been so badly used, it’s practically meaningless.
Going forward, I’m presenting myself as a growth expert with proven talent for engagement and marketing.
Filed under Community Management, Personal, Uncategorized
More Gaudy Patter 
Do you think that your skills are generically applicable to the growth of any consumer-focused service? The thing about “community” is that it seems to have built in to it some notion of the actual nature of the user base. Growth, Marketing, and even Engagement are all terms that seem a bit more abstract, and claiming these skills rather than “community management” skills is to claim that, rather than fostering a community and helping the community grow into something, you are able to start with a site or service or whatever and figure out who should see it, why they should see it, how you will reach them, and why they would stay.
The reason I am interested is that my partner and I are searching for a “growth expert” (or marketing expert, or engagement expert) to give us some advise on how to get circupon.com in front of people. Know anything about that?
My skills and experience are applicable to any consumer-focused service.
To date, I’ve managed communities related to ecommerce, SaaS services, retailers, mobile apps and Burning Man aficionados. I’m good at getting to know online groups and learning their ways so I can communicate with them authentically.
I’m a community expert, but I end up shunted into customer service cul-de-sacs, not invited to usability sessions or generally encouraged to hush up. It’s not because I’m a pest; it’s because “community” is perceived as a custodial function that’s not essential to the success of the enterprise.
Show me the value and utility of a service/product and I’ll steer you to your audience and will show you how to talk to them. I can easily see how Circupon could become a go-to service for consumers; if you create a simple narrative people can buy into, it’ll be a lot less work.