TMCnet Online Community News
Updating Community Terms to Stay Competitive (& Other Lessons from Soffront's Cloud CRM Community)
After working with TMC (News - Alert) for a few years on various marketing programs, Soffront decided to sponsor an online community on TMCnet to support the social media initiatives they had planned for 2011.
Originally named the “Hosted CRM” community, Soffront soon saw the CRM industry buzzing around “cloud” terminology, as more and more companies were launching remote access solutions. In order to take advantage of this new trend, Soffront determined to re-name the community “Cloud CRM” and focus their content on this keyword.
This evaluation of a community term and its relevance in your industry is a wise practice for online community managers to follow, as it’s important to be current in your messaging and consistent with what your target audience will be searching for online. As a way to ensure you’re being consistent, try out the Google Keyword tool. Do a search of your desired term, and see which related searches show up. See how competitive the term is compared with the number of people searching for it each month, and talk with your TMCnet team to see if a new term might be more relevant or aligned with your goals. Industries are changing constantly, as are technologies, so it’s important to be aware and proactive to ensure your community is always relevant and current.
Marketing Gets More Social
As cloud-based CRM technology is becoming the most popular way to engage with, and retain, customers, so too must marketing online be as interactive and customer-focused as possible. That’s why Soffront’s main focus this year has been on building their social media presence to engage with their target audience on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert). Soffront has some advice for other companies just starting out in the social media space:
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Visit other industry-related communities on various social sites and see what people are talking about
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Search related keywords on Twitter to see trending topics related to their products and services
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Jump into the conversation by commenting and posting relevant content
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House a large amount of related content on an online community to share across other social sites
An online community has, for Soffront, also been a great SEO tool as the articles developed exclusively for the site appear frequently in organic search engine results (the Cloud CRM community currently lives on page 1 of Google (News 
- Alert)), bringing people to their community to learn more about the topics that interest them.
Internal Management of Social Initiatives, and Keeping Messages Consistent
As the ‘go-to resource’ for Soffront’s social media campaigns, Young shares some internal management techniques for staying current on multiple sites. For one, Soffront “updates the sites frequently, especially since there’s so much competition: You have to keep up with the latest technology [and] reflect the latest trends in your social media.” This includes posting industry-related (not just company-focused) content on your online community, sharing community content across all social sites, and taking the time to share select pieces on other community sites like LinkedIn (News - Alert).
The Soffront corporate website is also very dynamic, and constantly changing with the latest company updates and product releases. Young explains that she keeps all her online sites (company website, community and social sites) up to date by ‘rippling’ changes outward; she will work with her web design team to update the company website, and then reflect those changes on social sites and their Cloud CRM online community. Though constantly updating your website is key to keeping your content fresh (and SEO-ranking high), Young urges community managers to keep their TMCnet team in the loop: If content changes, be sure all links are still current and relevant to avoid dead links or an empty page. Managing multiple sites is a continuous process of improvement, and one that requires a quick eye during sometimes rapid changes.
Supporting Social Media with Content
Soffront is focused on creating great content powered by SEO-juice in order to stake their claim in an extremely competitive industry space. Their content is very PR-focused, with their press releases, blogs and website content focused on generating buzz around their products, all the while staying in contact with industry analysts to support their efforts.
Making connections with industry influencers is vital to getting your messages to your target audience; a tip would be to follow these analysts on Twitter and LinkedIn and see which groups they subscribe to. Then, subscribe to and contribute content on those groups, and direct message certain experts when you have a new case study, white paper or other resource released and see if they’d be interested in analyzing or reviewing the piece.
In addition, Young explains that content must be created to “highlight challenges current customers face, and give people the answers they are looking for.” The more solution-focused the content, the more likely it is to be shared across multiple social sites and industry-related communities.
Sites are Set Up…Now What?
Now that Soffront’s social media sites are up-and-running, and a regular content-sharing routine is in-place, Young is now focused on boosting engagement on the multiple sites. She explains “now we’re trying to get interest and engagement; get people interested, talking about us and asking us questions.” This engagement will help create a better buzz about the company than advertising on its own can, and also is viewed as more credible than paid ads.
How does she keep track of all these initiatives? Young states that she does something every day according to a schedule developed at the beginning of each month. This strategy creates a map for other people within the company who also blog, tweet, engage with LinkedIn or post content. In addition, once new content is released, Young works with her TMCnet editor, Juliana Kenny, to get the content covered on the Cloud CRM online community.
Measuring What Matters
With multiple initiatives comes hoards of data, and Young is constantly looking at the metrics to see their site traffic and conversions. It’s important, however, to be clear internally on what you’re measuring. For example: For Soffront, a conversion means someone who schedules a demo online, whereas for other companies it may be a closed deal or downloaded asset. By clarifying this internally you’ll be better equipped to speak to your statistics in a measurable way and assess which activities you should stop, start or continue.
Connect with us and join the conversation: What ways are you using social media to share your content efforts? How do you encourage discussions on your multiple social sites? Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
About Soffront
Soffront Software Inc. is a pioneer in the Customer Relationship Management market since 1992, and offers an integrated CRM suite spanning sales, marketing, service and operations. Soffront was one of the first cloud-based CRM providers beginning seven years ago and has many satisfied cloud CRM customers. Soffront launched its first customer service application in 1993. Soffront integrated CRM is truly different because it’s a complete suite of applications that means companies don’t have to purchase expensive add-ons for complete business functionality. Moreover, cost of implementation is lower compared to value added resellers who have high upfront fees. Soffront is designed to be easily customizable bringing projects to completion faster and at a lower cost. All these benefits make Soffront particularly attractive to small/mid-market customers. To learn more visit http://www.soffront.com/.
Anna Ritchie is product manager for TMC's Online Community Program. Previously, she worked as a change and communications practitioner for a global consulting firm, and as a freelance marketing and communications specialist. She received her master's degree in English from Seton Hall University and her bachelor's degree in English from Loyola University.
