Customer and employee communities have quite an impact on the organizations that run them, according to a Leader Networks survey of 271 marketing and community leaders primarily from B2B (41%) firms and Associations/Non-Profit Organizations (34%). Among the almost three-quarters of respondents with a customer community, customer listening and research emerges as a far bigger goal than sales.
Indeed, more than two-thirds (69%) of marketing and community leaders said that they use their customer community to listen to member needs in order to market better. A majority also use their community to identify customer champions and/or detractors (55%) and to surface trends for potential future development (52%).
This suggests that communities can be leveraged for innovation, as more brands look to collaborate with customers on new products and services. In last year’s study, Leader Networks similarly found that one of the top reasons for launching a branded online community was to gather ideas to fuel future products and services. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
The e-Strategy Academy covers all aspects of digital marketing including search optimization & marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing & public relations.