"We’re an emerging niche in the software world," says Chris Warner, VP Marketing, JackBe. "I often equate that to being a Jesuit priest going into the Amazon, taking a new religion to people who have never heard of it before."
JackBe’s niche is "enterprise mashup" software -- tools that help developers create applications that combine data from multiple sources. Because enterprise mashups are relatively obscure, Warner and his team have an even bigger role than other marketers in educating prospects and creating awareness about their industry.
The challenge seemed ideal for a Web 2.0 solution -- in particular, a branded B2B community. Warner and his team launched the JackBe Mashup Developer Community in fall, 2008 to focus on mashups in general and the interests of the developer community -- not just on the company’s products.
Since launching the site, they’ve attracted more than 2,000 members who share mashup examples, discuss coding problems, and interact in a host of other ways. While observing that activity, Warner was surprised by the ways the online community is benefiting the company.
Here are five benefits Warner and his team have in received from their online community:
Benefit #1. Customer supportOne of the inspirations for the Mashup Developer Community was the team’s past experiences offering a free, developer edition of their software.
Before building the community, users could download the software and experiment with it, but had no efficient means of asking questions or sharing ideas with their peers and the company.
Now, users who download the developer edition of the software are also automatically registered as members of the community. There, they can find developer resources, such as:
o Video tutorials
o Product documentation
o Demos
o Q&As
o Tips on developing mashups for specific applications, such as portals and databases
o Forums, where users can ask specific questions about implantation and using the team’s software
Benefit #2. User input during product developmentWarner’s team also invites community members into private beta tests of their software. Feedback from a recent private beta test with community members caused the team to add at least two major features into a new version of their software launched in June.
"Without our community, we would have put out our product and hoped we matched needs of people," says Warner. "I can’t imagine putting products out the door without having that kind of conversation with even a small set of your community."
Benefit #3. Building a knowledge baseThe need to create educational content around products and services is even more acute for marketers in emerging sectors.
"Early adopters are extremely eager, high users of content," says Warner. "If I always have to generate the next video on my own, it doesn’t scale. But when community members contribute their own content back to the community, it really does scale."
The team created new videos, blogs and other content for the community, but also included features and programs designed to encourage user contributions. That tactic has helped Warner and his team build up a knowledge base around their product.
Here are a few examples of how they did it:
- The team made sharing examples of mashup codes a centerpiece of the online community. The site header has icons representing three core community actions:
o Join
o Download
o Share
The "share" icon invites users to upload examples of their own mashups. The team also uses contests, such as a "Mash for Cash" contest that awarded a $2,500 gift card to the community member who submitted the best mashup.
These code demos are especially valuable to community members, says Warner.
"One of the ways we think our market will evolve is to help early adopters understand what it took to be successful, showing them how to implement our product and apply it to their own particular problems."
- The community’s FAQ section is generated by user-submitted questions and problems.
- Community forums allow users to post questions about the company’s software, share advice on creating mashups, and discuss the emerging technology.
Benefit #4. Big SEO boostCommunity-generated content isn’t just building a knowledge base -- it’s also boosting the site’s search engine visibility.
Forum posts, FAQs, mashup samples, blog comments and other content are tagged or loaded with very specific, niche keywords that are highly relevant to the developers who are Warner’s top prospects.
Since launching the community, the site’s natural-search traffic has increased 20%
Benefit #5. Influence on sales pipelineWarner and his team avoid aggressive, overt marketing tactics within the Mashup Developer Community.
"A community is not about marketing," he says. "The minute you start marketing to these folks, they leave, and you don’t want to lose anybody."
However, they were curious to know what influence the community has had on closed sales. When the compared recently closed deals with community activity, they found that nearly every sale came from a lead who had visited the community.
Having nearly 100% overlap between the community and closed deals showed Warner that a good online community is still a vital marketing resource -- without being a venue for marketing campaigns. Prospects are visiting the community, reading forums, watching videos, viewing demos, and interacting with other users at some stage of their buying process.
Useful links related to this article:Acquia Drupal: The social publishing platform JackBe used for its community
http://acquia.com/
Enterprise Mashup Developers Community
http://www.jackbe.com/enterprise-mashup/JackBe
http://www.jackbe.com/
