People Buy People is a podcast focusing on the ever-closer relationship between people and brands. As its host, Laura Sutherland, says: “In public relations, it’s all about the human relationship and building human capital.”
Guild CMO Michelle Goodall joined Laura Sutherland to discuss the opportunities for PR and communication professionals in building communities.
They discussed what a thriving online community looks like, why community plays extremely well to the skill sets of professional communicators and why social media may not the best place for brands who are serious about building an online community.
The podcast highlights that there is an opportunity for comms and PR professionals to develop their community strategy/management knowledge further and to build valuable, viable communities.
Michelle and Laura discuss how Public Relations and communications agencies and consultants could create online community services for clients, and in-house comms professionals should generate value for their organisation or business through effective community strategy, community building and community management.
You can listen to their conversation online or below:
The key topics covered in the episode, with approximate timings, are:
2.10 - How community platforms and social media differ for business use
3.08 - The opportunities for PR to embrace community strategy / community management (and why the sector needs to act more quickly than it did with SEO, social media and influencer marketing)
5.30 - What skills PRs and professional communicators have that should make them perfect community builders
7.20 - Why social media encourages low-level interaction and a broadcast mentality
8.30 - The added value of community platforms for businesses over social media platforms
10.00 - Understanding who should manage communities and social media
11.15 - How can PRs and communications professionals demonstrate the ROI of community to clients and internal stakeholders
13.14 - Examples of volunteer engagement and employee engagement strategies through community
15.30 - Skills and training for community strategists and community managers
17.00 - Soft skills v technical skills and example educational resources
18.30 - Why engagement is not the only community success metric
19.20 - Behavioural science and communities
20.00 - How online communities can give agency to specific groups and under-represented people - including charities, people with disabilities and introverts
21.40 - The importance of investing in a community manager and strategy to make a successful community - recruitment and modelling good behaviour
24.40 - Where to find your community manager and how to kickstart and resource a community
26.30 - Why overnight success in communities is rare but two example communities that achieved this
28.00 - Summary
Michelle Goodall is CMO of Guild and hosts the Comms and PR Pioneers professional community mentioned in this podcast. It’s a great example of how a professional community can connect an industry, be a safe space to share expertise and learn from peers. Join Comms and PR Pioneers here.
Check out our case studies for examples of businesses, social enterprises, charities and other organisations using Guild for building professional communities and groups.
Header image Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
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- Just want to join some groups? Simply join Guild and then look through the discoverable groups and communities to find relevant ones to join
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