So this morning I was on a conference call with an organization who is developing a new online community and a question came up about the right balance between content and marketing message: Is it okay to promote my brand through my community?

This is an important question and my answer is that you are promoting your brand just by virtue of the fact that you have a community. Now the key is to offer your community a valuable space that they want to be a part of. It's not okay to have a "If you build it, they will come" mentality. You need to set up the right environment for your audience and incorporate the right content and technologies. If you do this and you engage with your members so that they are gaining value, then you make them a fan and they associate your brand with the experience.

That does not mean that you can never mention a product or service that you offer but if you bombard the audience with a sales pitch, they will go away. So if you do mention your product/service, it should be in the context of the discussion.

Cheers,
Renay

I read a great post today by Vanessa DiMauro. In this post, she discusses "Social Media Predictions for 2009." There are some great insights here and it really echoes everything I have done over the past few years but typically in dribs and drabs. I particularly like the concept of reaching out to a few contacts per week to stay connected to them. I mean, how many of us have contacts out on LinkedIn or elsewhere who they barely recognize by name?

Take a read.
Cheers,
Renay