state of online branded communities webinar

State of Online Branded Communities

Third Annual StudyOctober 2011Sponsored by

ComBlu

© COPYRIGHT 2011, COMBLU, LLC.

2© COPYRIGHT 2011, COMBLU, LLC.

Overall Report Stats

• Three more industries– Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP) is net-new– Divided insurance and

healthcare into sub-industries

• 14 more companies than last year

• Joined 10 more communities


Community Pillar Breakdown

Note: Many communities had multiple pillars, so sum will not equal the total number of communities.

75% = Advocacy20% = Feedback33% = Support

Advocacy Support Feedback0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Community Breakdown by Pillar

Num

ber o

f co

mm

uniti

es


Study Aha’s

Good News• Engagement tools increased from 76% to 96%

– Much better job of matching mission and engagement approach• Better sunsetting practices• Some brands are integrating gamification engines across multiple properties• More brands are incorporating multiple engagement pillars in community strategy

Surprises• No huge gains year over year in best practice adoption

– Fundamental changes to study sample– Community management is a difficult skill set to find– High Performers (42 or more points) stayed flat at 33%

• Content practices not as high as expected– Only two had over 90% adoption (featured content and content aggregation)– User reviews (most closely associated with VOC) dropped from 54% to 27%


Missed Opportunities

Rewards and Recognition: Up to 43% from 39% last year• NBC’s FanIt/My NBC Community is a great model of an integrated rewards platform

across multiple NBC communities.• EA offers a traveling navigation bar that follows members cross-properties.• Some brands, such as P&G, align rewards to purchase, requiring consumers to enter

a product code. While we believe P&G could also award “community points,” this method gets to ROI of driving purchase behavior.

Mobile• Not yet on the study’s best practice list; started to note use of mobile to extend

community beyond desktop.• 16%, or 40 of the 251 communities, we scored offered a mobile community app.


Missed Opportunities

Recommendation Engines• Automated way to configure a combination of the consumer’s

buying habits, product reviews and information from others with similar purchasing patterns to recommend other products that the person may enjoy or need.

• Amazon uses a recommendation engine to recommend such diverse purchases as building supplies and baby clothes.– “People who bought this forklift strap also bought this two-

person lifting dolly.”

Advocates: • Still only 20% adoption rate


Brands That Get It: General Mills

Good model for recruiting customer advocates• Pssst… and MyGetTogether stimulates product trial and

story sharing• Lengthy registration and surveys capture deep profile

info

Outreach to members when new opportunities arise to try products or host get-together


Click-to-commit allows members to earn badges that translate into matched donations to a charity

Brands That Get It: General Mills (continued)

• Good use of community with CSR• Interesting partnership with Merck

and Care

Members earn badges by getting informed about the charity through defined engagement activities


Overall Classification

• Cohesive Strategy increased from 33% to 41%

• Majority of brands still in Experimentation Phase

• Big drop in Community Ghost Towns

Cohesive Strategy Experimentation Community Ghost Town

Community Overload0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Overall Classification2010 2011

Cohesive Strategy Experimentation Community Overload Community Ghost Town

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Average Score by Classification2010 2011


2011 Top Performers

• No brand = Highest scoring tier– Minimum score: 57– Verizon just missed

• Three new brands on the list:– SAP (new to study)– Intel (new to study)– Xbox

– HP– AT&T

• 33% of brands in study are High Performers– All are Cohesive Strategy

– Kimberly-Clark– Activision

• Brands that fell off:


2011 Contenders

• JetBlue Airways and Intuit also on most improved list

• 19 brands = Contenders– Between 42 and 49 points

• Technology and Gaming Industries had the most High Performers (42 to 56) and Contenders, followed by Entertainment and Retail Industries


2011 Low Scorers

Brand Name Brand ScoreEli Lilly 22Walmart 20GlaxoSmithKline 20Novartis 20Honda 19Johnson & Johnson (OTC) 18

Bayer 14Novartis (OTC) 13Merck 13Aetna 7

• 8 of 10 of the lowest scorers were in the healthcare space

• Most are either Community Ghost Towns or Experimentation Phase


Most Improved Brands

Brand Name Current Brand Score Previous Brand Score ChangeHome Depot 41 18 23Pfizer 26 8 18JetBlue 44 27 17Intuit 46 31 15Walgreens 35 20 15


Average Best Practice Use Overall

• Community manager (CM) lost a few points since last year:– Studies show that CM

increases engagement; still missed opportunity

New/Featu

red Conte

nt

Miss

ion Appro

priate

Engagement

Content A

ggregation

Easy N

avigation

User P

rofiles

Rich M

edia

Facete

d Search

Share Featu

res

Integra

ted w

ith Socia

l Media

Comm

ents

Site Sta

ts

Content R

ating/Ranking

Avatar

Welco

me/G

etting Sta

rted

Personal D

ashboard

Blogs (co

mm

ents)

Social B

ookmark

ing

Polling/F

eedback

Forum

s

Comm

unity M

anager

Content T

agging

Social N

etwork

ing

Rewards/R

ecogniti

on

Leader B

oard, M

ember S

potlight

Campaigns/C

ontests

Content C

ustom

ization

Emotico

ns

Offline Engagem

ent

User R

eviews/Conte

nt

Mobile

App

Advocate

or Experts

Progra

m

Tool bars

or Custo

m W

idgetsW

ikis

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Average Best Practice Use Overall2010 2011

• Good news, too:– Jump in content

aggregation– Mission appropriate

engagement– Personal dashboards

• User reviews and user-generated content (UGC) took nosedive from 54% to 27%:– One of biggest stimulants

of preference


Comments

Avatar

User P

rofiles

Content A

ggre

gation

Foru

ms

Blogs (co

mments)

Content R

ating/

Rankin

g

Share

Featu

res

Socia

l Netw

orking

Emotico

ns

Community M

anag

er

Easy

Naviga

tion

Content C

ustomiza

tion

Advoca

te or E

xperts

Progra

m

Campaig

ns/conte

sts

User R

eviews/C

ontent

Mobile

App0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Best Practice Use by Top Scorers

Best Practice Use by Top Scorers

SAPBravoEAIntelVerizon

• Only seven best practices (BPs) ≤ 74% adoption rate

• Content aggregation = 95% vs. only 32% among last year’s top five. Important activity for decision journey; other content practices also had high usage:– New/featured content– Personal dashboard– Content rating/ranking– Content tagging– Content customization– Faceted search

• Low rate (42%) of contests and campaigns may mean more meaningful interaction

• Advocates adoption is higher than entire sample (53% vs. 20%), still potential


Brands That Get It: EATied With SAP

as Second Highest Scorer

Overall

Personalizes experience and offers SSO

Fun and captivating engagement (e.g., leaderboards, avatars, videos, etc.)


Brands That Get It: EA (continued)

Offers sub-portals for game types such as sports

Surfaces appropriate forums on game-specific pages and offers centralized, searchable hub for all forums


Best Practice Adoption by Pillar

• Important BPs for feedback:– Polling– Rating/ranking– Forums– Leaderboards– Personal

dashboardM

issio

n Appro

priate

Enga

gem

ent

User p

rofile

s

New/Featu

red C

ontent

Content A

ggre

gation

Comm

ents

Easy

nav

igation

Polling/

Feedbac

k

Site St

ats

Share

featu

res

Avatar

Face

ted Se

arch

Rich M

edia

Socia

l Bookm

arkin

g

Content R

ating/

Rankin

g

Personal

dashboard

Inte

grate

d with

socia

l media

Blogs

(com

ments)

Welco

me/g

etting s

tarte

d

Socia

l Netw

orking

Foru

ms

Content T

aggin

g

Comm

unity M

anag

er

Rewards/

Recogn

ition

Emotico

ns

Content c

ustom

ization

Lead

er board

, mem

ber spotli

ght

Campaig

ns/co

ntests

User R

eviews/

Content

Advoca

te o

r exp

erts p

rogra

m

Offlin

e enga

gem

ent

Mobile

App

Wiki

s

Tool b

ars o

r custo

m w

idge

ts

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Best Practice Adoption Rate by Pillar: Feedback• 20% are Feedback

communities


Brands That Get It: Starbucks

zzLeaderboards

zzForums

zzPolling

zzPersonal dashboard

zzRating/ranking



• Support = 33% of communities

User p

rofile

s

New/Featu

red C

ontent

Miss

ion A

ppropria

te En

gage

ment

Content A

ggre

gation

Face

ted Se

arch

Site St

ats

Foru

ms

Avatar

Easy

nav

igation

Personal

dashboard

Rich M

edia

Comm

ents

Comm

unity M

anag

er

Socia

l Bookm

arkin

g

Welco

me/g

etting s

tarte

d

Content R

ating/

Rankin

g

Blogs

(com

ments)

Inte

grate

d with

socia

l media

Socia

l Netw

orking

Content T

aggin

g

Share

featu

res

Rewards/

Recogn

ition

Lead

er board

, mem

ber spotli

ght

Content c

ustom

ization

Emotico

ns

Polling/

Feedbac

k

Advoca

te o

r exp

erts p

rogra

m

Offlin

e enga

gem

ent

Campaig

ns/co

ntests

Wiki

s

User R

eviews/

Content

Mobile

App

Tool b

ars o

r custo

m w

idge

ts

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Best Practice Adoption Rate by Pillar: Support

• 76% = Content rating; critical for support experience

• Rewards and recognition and leaderboards both low for support

• 46% = Advocates; big miss for support

21

Brands That Get It: Verizon

Centralized engagement approach: All three pillars of community

Highest Score

Overall = 55VZW offers rich engagement through Verizon Insiders and has advocate corps as product testers


User Profile (top)

1

2

3

4

5

12

3

4

5

6

6

• Detailed user profile tracks recent member activity and Kudos

• Displays member stats and badges earned

• Rollover feature allows members to easily view other members’ profile stats

• Shows member’s friends and their availability (offline/online)

• Displays member’s tagged content

• Member’s recent posts and messages are linked to the original discussion

1

2

3

4

5

6

Brands That Get It: Verizon (continued)

User Profile (bottom)

Support Communities = Core Strategy


• Active forums with thousands of views

• Live Twitter stream shows Verizon support team actively responds to questions

• Top Taggers leaderboard, top Kudoed posts and recent solutions to member issues

Forum Forum Sidebar (top) Forum Sidebar (bottom)

1

2

3

1

2

3

Brands That Get It: Verizon (continued)




Some best practices that drive affinity showed low adoption rates:• Community manager was the

lowest in this pillar at 43%• Leaderboards and rewards and

recognition were also the lowest in this pillar; both practices are high return motivators and could help boost longer-term engagement

• Content customization was also very low; the ability to self-curate the members’ community experience impacts time spent in the community and return visits

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Best Practice Adoption Rate by Pillar: Advocacy

75% = Advocacy communities


Home Page Top Chef Just DessertsMillionaire Matchmaker

• Single login• One gateway to every show

on Bravo

• Each show has its own page that offers visitors consistent engagement tools, setup, rich media and navigation

Brands That Get It: Bravo

• Ritualized experiences:– Common ways to

engage cross-property

• Integration across multiple social assets


Brands That Get It: Bravo (continued)• “Talk Without Pity” tab aggregates all

Twitter conversations about a specific show

• “Get-Glue” functionality via Twitter– Check in while watching shows– Live chat with other viewers

Multiple screen engagement


Activity Levels

NOTE: 2010 data not shown because “medium” designation did not exist in 2010.

• This year, activity levels—high, medium and low—vs. only high and low in previous studies:

– Captured more nuanced view of community activity

High Medium Low0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Overall Activity Levels2011

• As a result, this data point is not compared to 2010 data

• In addition, we changed how the score was calculated to reflect a more accurate overall brand score for activity level


Percent of Communities with High, Medium, Low Activity by Industry – 2011

• Telecommunications and Entertainment Industries both consistently had high activity levels

Telecommunica

tions

Entertainment

Insurance

- Health

Travel and H

ospita

lity

Gaming

BeveragesRetail

Auto

Insurance

-Auto

Enterprise Reso

urce Planning

Technology and Consu

mer Electr

onics

Package G

oods

Banking and Financial S

ervices

OTC Drugs

Pharmace

utical

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

High Medium Low

• Travel and Hospitality Industry also high

• High activity in Health Insurance industry was surprise:– Wellness education

and policy support


Social Media Integration

Most are simply streaming Facebook and Twitter:• Few are integrating

engagement cross-channel• Distinct engagement

approaches without any reference to community strategy

• Few are integrating with YouTube, LinkedIn or SlideShare

Integrated Not Integrated0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Overall Social Media Integration2010 2011


Social Media Integration by Industry

NOTE: ERP industry new for 2011. Healthcare industry split into OTC/Pharma.

Auto

Banking

Beverages

Package G

oods

Enterprise Reso

urce Planning

Entertainment

Gaming

Healthca

re

Insurance

- Auto

Insurance

- Health

OTC Drugs

Pharmace

utical

Retail

Technology

Telecommunica

tions

Travel and H

ospita

lity0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Social Media Integration by Industry2010 2011


Average Scores by Industry

NOTE: ERP industry new for 2011. Healthcare industry split into OTC/Pharma.

Thresholds0-41 low/red42-56 high/green57+ best/black

Gaming and Telecommunications is highest scoring:• Both are early adopters of

community• Gaming = Advocacy and

Support• Telecommunications =

Primarily SupportAuto

Banking

Beverages

Package G

oods

Enterprise Reso

urce Planning

Entertainment

Gaming

Healthca

re

Insurance

- Auto

Insurance

- Health

OTC Drugs

Pharmace

utical

Retail

Technology

Telecommunica

tions

Travel and H

ospita

lity0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Scores by Industry2010 2011

Lowest scorers are highly regulated industries

© COPYRIGHT 2011, COMBLU, LLC. 33

Are You Interested In…

Steve Hershberger

ComBlu

[email protected]

312-649-1687

Kevin Lynch

ComBlu

[email protected]

312-649-1687

• Our website: www.comblu.com

• Our blog: www.comblu.com/blogs/Lumenatti

• Twitter: @ComBlu

• Learning more about community best practices?

• Getting a customized best practice review?

• Finding out how ComBlu can turn your communities into High Performers?

We’d love to talk!

You can also check out:

K:\Thought leadership\CB Research Projects\2011 Study\Marketing Materials\Webinar deck (PPTminimizer).pptx

mailto:[email protected]

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