SMC Seattle » passionate community http://smcseattle.com If you get it, share it Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:05:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Wrap-Up: Dec. Event with Veronica Belmont http://smcseattle.com/wrap-up-dec-event-with-veronica-belmont/ http://smcseattle.com/wrap-up-dec-event-with-veronica-belmont/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:18:14 +0000 JenCabala http://smcseattle.com/?p=875 Thank you to everyone who attended SMC Seattle’s biggest event yet!  More than 250 of you came out to Redmond to learn more about building community from Veronica Belmont. 

Many of you have asked for access to Veronica’s slides and she has graciously allowed us to post them here.

Building A Passionate Community

A big thanks to Windows Phone for being the premier sponsor of this month’s event!
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Thanks also to Alaska Air for being our travel sponsor!
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Next month will be SMC Seattle’s one year anniversary! Although a date has not yet been set, it’s sure to be a good time and another sold-out event.

We’ll post the details here, but to get notified first sign-up for our email alerts.

]]> http://smcseattle.com/wrap-up-dec-event-with-veronica-belmont/feed/ 1 Veronica Belmont Talks About Building A Passionate Community http://smcseattle.com/veronica-belmont-talks-about-building-a-passionate-community/ http://smcseattle.com/veronica-belmont-talks-about-building-a-passionate-community/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:19:34 +0000 JenCabala http://smcseattle.com/?p=848 How do you engage and build a passionate and community for your brand? Veronica Belmont, will be leading a discussion at Social Media Club Seattle’s December 8th event on how to build a passionate community that actively contributes and advocates for your organization. Before her talk at SMC we asked her a few questions about herself, and about building community.

Veronica Belmont A little bit about Veronica . . .
Veronica is a technology and gaming-centric video host based in San Francisco.  Currently her projects include Qore (a monthly interactive magazine about the PS3 for Sony) and Tekzilla (a weekly tech help and how-to show on Revision3.com), along with a bi-weekly column on MaximumPC.com.  She’s worked worked as a producer and on-air talent for CNET Networks (now CBS Interactive).  A social-networking junkie (with almost 1.5 million Twitter followers), Veronica has been a speaker at South by Southwest and New Media Expo, among other national tech events.

Why is a passionate community important?
Anyone can create a Facebook or Twitter account, but you’re not going to create a true community unless you put the extra effort into it. A passionate community wants to be involved — they care about your product and feel like they have a personal connection with the brand. When other people are evangelizing your brand for you outside of the company, it’s a lot more meaningful.

When did you first realize the importance of a passionate community?
Probably when I was a producer for the podcast Buzz Out Loud at CNET. We knew we had the good numbers for the show, but when people started creating comic books about it, drinking games, Photoshop contests… well, we knew we had something really special on our hands, and the type of passionate community that wasn’t typical of the CNET audience.

What are some first steps to building and recruiting a community?
Being prepared to put the time into it! It can be a full-time job for one or more people, depending on the size of the company. I spend upwards of 4 hours a day just maintaining my various networks online. You can’t be passively involved.

What is a common mistake brands make in building or relating to their community?
The soapbox syndrome, as I like to think of it. Companies just regurgitate PR stuff into their Twitter streams, and it never feels authentic. People are following your brand because they want to see a different, more personal side of it.

Is there a good way to deal with the trolls/haters entering your community?
If your community is strong enough, they’ll often take care of it for you. But there are usually two responses that I tend to give to trolls: Either you completely ignore them (until they get bored) or you respond to them directly, and in a very non-confrontational manner. Half the time they’re just looking for any kind of response at all, and once they get it they stop bothering. Other times, they’re just looking to get a rise out of you.

What do you hope people learn from your talk?
I hope people learn that although it’s very easy to get started with social networking for your brand, it can be a much bigger time investment than they might think. You have to put way more out there than you can expect to get back. It should be part of a bigger strategy, not something that just gets added onto the side.

Have a question about building community for Veronica? Please post it in the comments. We will try to ask as many of your questions as possible at the event!

You Can Find Veronica . .
veronicabelmont.com
twitter.com/veronica
www.facebook.com/Veronica-Belmont


December Meetup Event Details:

Date – Tuesday, December 8th
Time – 6:00-9:00pm
Location – Microsoft Conference Center: 16070 N.E. 36th Way, Redmond, WA 98052
Tickets – Sold out!

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