1:30 — SocialMedia.org’s Kurt Vanderah introduces Newell Rubbermaid‘s VP of E-Business & Interactive Marketing, Bert DuMars.
1:31 — Bert begins by talking about MimioConnect, a branded community for educators to learn how to use their Mimio product.
1:33 — Bert: Mimio is a smart whiteboard for the educational marketplace, featuring teaching systems, distance learning, etc. It’s designed to help teachers teach.
1:34 — The big problem is that teachers are given little or no training on using the new whiteboard technology. In 2005, a distributor created the community with 5000 people in New Zealand. Teachers were helping each other use the products to their full potential and to teach students better. Newell Rubbermaid decided to hire the community manager from New Zealand and move him to the US.
1:35 — They also hired the super users in the community to start with as part-time contractors, and eventually hired some of the best as full-time employees.
1:37 — Bert: For us, the technology running the community is not as significant as getting participation. So the technology running this community is not a major issue.
1:38 — Bert: Today, the membership of the private community is 95,000 with high engagement and participation.
1:39 — Bert shared some of their biggest lessons learned from the program:
- Engaging the most influential advocates and actually bringing them into the team which runs the community can make the difference between success and failure.
- Embrace video tutorials, as they make learning to use the product easier than any other technology.
- To be a successful branded community, it must solve a customer’s problem.
- The best ideas to grow the community come from community members.
- Identify the strongest advocates and leverage them, and sometimes hire them.
1:44 — Bert says that by paying attention and listening to your community, you’ll find:
- New Product ideas
- New ways to use products
- Quickly identify product problems
1:50 — Bert says that Newell Rubbermaid feels that in the BtoB space, private communities will grow in importance and effectiveness.
Q&A
Q: Does the community know that you have paid advocates?
A: Yes, we are sure that everyone knows that we have hired someone as an advocate.
Q: What are some of the challenges from going from 5,000 to 95,000 people?
A: As it is scaling, you need to make sure the technology is running fast, to ensure the quality of the online experience is still very high. They plan to offer more features in the future.
Q: Does this help with SEO and awareness?
A: The goal of the community is to keep the focus tight on the product line and not expand the focus.
Q: How do you monetize the community, does it move the needle for sales?
A: In the education market, word of mouth is very important because the customers are advocating for us whenever they gather together.
Q: Are you doing any gamification in the community?
A: No, not today — but possibly in the future.
Q: What is the ROI of the community?
A: Pinning down the ROI is very difficult as with most social media channels. But we believe that 95,000 advocates who find better ways to use the products and be more effective in their jobs are happy with us.
- Blog by Sprinklr’s Chris Kieff, reprinted with permission from blogwell.
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Nov 11
Newell Rubbermaid: The Importance of Branded Communities- Live from BlogWell
1:30 — SocialMedia.org’s Kurt Vanderah introduces Newell Rubbermaid‘s VP of E-Business & Interactive Marketing, Bert DuMars.
1:31 — Bert begins by talking about MimioConnect, a branded community for educators to learn how to use their Mimio product.
1:33 — Bert: Mimio is a smart whiteboard for the educational marketplace, featuring teaching systems, distance learning, etc. It’s designed to help teachers teach.
1:34 — The big problem is that teachers are given little or no training on using the new whiteboard technology. In 2005, a distributor created the community with 5000 people in New Zealand. Teachers were helping each other use the products to their full potential and to teach students better. Newell Rubbermaid decided to hire the community manager from New Zealand and move him to the US.
1:35 — They also hired the super users in the community to start with as part-time contractors, and eventually hired some of the best as full-time employees.
1:37 — Bert: For us, the technology running the community is not as significant as getting participation. So the technology running this community is not a major issue.
1:38 — Bert: Today, the membership of the private community is 95,000 with high engagement and participation.
1:39 — Bert shared some of their biggest lessons learned from the program:
1:44 — Bert says that by paying attention and listening to your community, you’ll find:
1:50 — Bert says that Newell Rubbermaid feels that in the BtoB space, private communities will grow in importance and effectiveness.
Q&A
Q: Does the community know that you have paid advocates?
A: Yes, we are sure that everyone knows that we have hired someone as an advocate.
Q: What are some of the challenges from going from 5,000 to 95,000 people?
A: As it is scaling, you need to make sure the technology is running fast, to ensure the quality of the online experience is still very high. They plan to offer more features in the future.
Q: Does this help with SEO and awareness?
A: The goal of the community is to keep the focus tight on the product line and not expand the focus.
Q: How do you monetize the community, does it move the needle for sales?
A: In the education market, word of mouth is very important because the customers are advocating for us whenever they gather together.
Q: Are you doing any gamification in the community?
A: No, not today — but possibly in the future.
Q: What is the ROI of the community?
A: Pinning down the ROI is very difficult as with most social media channels. But we believe that 95,000 advocates who find better ways to use the products and be more effective in their jobs are happy with us.
- Blog by Sprinklr’s Chris Kieff, reprinted with permission from blogwell.