From Zero to Community: Practical Advice for Growing and Nurturing an Online Community

Featuring Newell Rubbermaid, The Community Roundtable and Powered

A successful social marketing program requires the same comprehensive, well-planned approach that traditional marketing programs demand, and it entails careful consideration of how your company will participate. At the heart of most social marketing programs is some form of online community that can help integrate social media elements into a cohesive program aligned with your marketing objectives – from creating customer engagement to brand loyalty and advocates. Online communities take dedication, perseverance and commitment that go far beyond building a site or joining an existing social network community.

By viewing this Webinar, you will learn:

• How to drive ongoing, active engagement within a branded online community
• Tips for leveraging social media such as Twitter and Facebook to drive awareness of your community initiative
• How online communities help address the need of your customers at every stage of the buying cycle
• The importance of community management on the health of a successful online community

About our Panelists

Bert DuMars, VP E-Business and Interactive Marketing, Newell Rubbermaid
Bert joined Newell Rubbermaid in 2007 and is responsible for directing and coordinating eMarketing, eCommerce and Social Media Marketing initiatives for Newell Rubbermaid's externally-facing online efforts. Overseeing the eBusiness shared services that include a global, enterprise web platform, and standard processes, technologies and metrics across the company's brand sites. He also coordinates and integrates eBusiness efforts between business units, Corporate IT and strategic outsource partners. Newell Rubbermaid branded social media blogs and communities include: Sharpie Blog, Sharpie Uncapped Community, Graco Baby From the Heart Blog, and Rubbermaid Adventures in Organization Blog. Prior to joining Newell Rubbermaid, Bert was the Director, Electronic Tax Administration (ETA), for the IRS where he grew the eFile program by 30% from 61.5 to 80 million returns.  Prior to the IRS he was the Global Director, E-Business Group at Trend Micro, Inc. a content security and anti-virus company. Bert blogs at the Social Media Ecosystem Blog and tweets under @bwdumars.

Rachel Happe, Co-Founder and Principal, The Community Roundtable
Rachel has over fifteen years of experience working with emerging technologies including enterprise social networking, ecommerce, and enterprise software applications. Prior to The Community Roundtable, Rachel served as a product executive at Mzinga, Bitpass, & IDe.  In addition, as a technology analyst, Rachel initiated IDC's enterprise social software practice where she wrote groundbreaking research including The Power and Passion of Organic Communities: How Technology Can Be Used to Increase Discovery, Engagement, and Productivity;  The Social Enterprise: How Social Networking Changes Everything; and U.S. Social Networking Application 2008-2012 Forecast: Enterprise Social Networking Takes Hold. Rachel started her business career at PRTM as a Business Analyst focused on helping technology companies understand and improve their product development operations. She writes at The Social Organization and tweets under @rhappe.

Aaron Strout, CMO, Powered
As the head of marketing at Powered, Aaron focuses not only on day to day marketing activities but also provides a social voice for the company. In this role, Aaron continues with his speaking, blogging, podcasting and social networking activities with an eye toward creating awareness and lead generation for the company. Prior to joining Powered, Aaron was the Vice President of Social Media at Mzinga where he focused on tapping into the power of social media for business. In addition to his knowledge of the interactive and new media landscape, Aaron has more than 15 years of online marketing and advertising experience, with a strong background in integrated and online marketing. Aaron is a founding member and former president of (BIMA) and a member and former board member of the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX). Aaron was recently elected an interim board member for the prestigious Social Media Club where he will be part of a team responsible for creating standards around social media and community.