5
Success Communities
Hannon Hill Corporation
950 East Paces Ferry Road
Suite 2440, Atlanta, GA 303
www.hannonhill.com
o: 678.904.6900
f: 678.904.6901
5 Benefits of B2B
Success Communities
Hannon Hill Corporation
950 East Paces Ferry Road
Suite 2440, Atlanta, GA 303
www.hannonhill.com
678.904.6900
678.904.6901
Benefits of B2B
Success Communities
Hannon Hill Corporation
950 East Paces Ferry Road
Suite 2440, Atlanta, GA 30326
www.hannonhill.com
678.904.6901
Benefits of B2B
Success Communities
6
Benefits of B2B
Success Communities
Benefits of B2B
Success CommunitiesSuccess Communities
© 2008 Hannon Hill Corporation, all rights reserved.
950 East Paces Ferry Road ∙ Suite 2440 ∙ Atlanta, GA 30326 o: 678.904.6900 f: 678.904.6901 w: http://www.ecrowds.com
Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 3
Build Transparency & Credibility ............................................................................................................................ 3
Improve Quality & Depth of Content & Make it Relevant ..................................................................................... 3
Give Your Best Community Members a Voice in Shaping Your Company ............................................................. 3
Now is the Time ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Drastically Improve ROI .......................................................................................................................................... 4
About eCrowds ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
About Hannon Hill .................................................................................................................................................. 5
5 Benefits of B2B Success Communities 3
© 2008 Hannon Hill Corporation, all rights reserved.
950 East Paces Ferry Road ∙ Suite 2440 ∙ Atlanta, GA 30326 o: 678.904.6900 f: 678.904.6901 w: http://www.hannonhill.com
Introduction
If you're in marketing, chances are you're always looking for ways to add value to your organization, its
community, and its message. While there are many distinct applications on the market that provide some of
the tools needed to build an online community around your product or service, there are some solutions that
combine the added value of community building with the convenience of consolidating the systems that
power your web presence. Building an active customer success community can benefit your organization in
countless ways; we've outlined the top five reasons to engage customers and build brand with online
corporate communities below:
Build Transparency & Credibility
Allowing your users to vote ideas both up and down, suggest product ideas without censorship, and make
their voices heard affords your organization two benefits: improved transparency of information and opinions,
and added credibility. Eliciting both positive and negative product and service reviews improves your
organization’s reputation in the eyes of prospects by showing them you have nothing to hide. This creates an
immediate sense of trust between prospects and your organization. In addition, by being open and honest
with product and service-related information via the use of wikis and discussions, you will earn respect from
stakeholders. Beyond simply gaining stakeholder buy-in though, embracing all types of user reviews and
feedback, will also earn your business respect from prospects and the most cynical of web browsers.
Improve Quality & Depth of Content & Make it Relevant
Most content and community management solutions out there allow you to select to which people you do
and do not grant community access. Limiting access ensures the right community members will contribute to
your success community. In many cases, a user community limited to those members that actually have a
vested interest in your offerings, is best. Private customer and prospect communities result in active and
invested contributors who continue to add to discussions, ideas, content, and comments. Additionally,
assuring contributions and activity form the right group ensures your community will be a dependable and
relevant resource in addition to reassuring your community that they are dealing with a credible organization.
Solutions that provide the ability to tag and rate content also afford added-value by tying content together
with keywords, enhancing correlation, and strengthening your overall web content.
Give Your Best Community Members a Voice in Shaping Your
Company
With so many solutions in the marketplace, it may be difficult to determine which tools will be of most benefit
to your company. Think about what means you'd like to make available for community involvement. If your
company's offerings are best suited to be discussed via a corporate wiki, make sure the solution you choose
provides wiki functionality. Along these lines, providing a forum, idea exchange, discussion platform, blog, and
best practices wiki may also benefit your community and its communication about your products and services.
Make collaboration a click away and engage your community so you can tap into their collective wisdom. Keen
insight gained from suggested new features, product improvements, and new ideas can only benefit your
5 Benefits of B2B Success Communities 4
© 2008 Hannon Hill Corporation, all rights reserved.
950 East Paces Ferry Road ∙ Suite 2440 ∙ Atlanta, GA 30326 o: 678.904.6900 f: 678.904.6901 w: http://www.hannonhill.com
organization in shaping its vision and offerings in the future. Additionally, some platforms allow you to
recognize your most active and valuable community members, by keeping track of number of posts,
community ratings of each user's feedback, and the like. Furthermore, improve relevancy and "stickyness" of
your web content by allowing your community to draw correlations between different ideas, tag content, and
rate contributions to give further momentum to the best ideas and insights.
Now is the Time
With the recent influx of popularity in social networking, social media, customer communities, and Web 2.0
functionality, so too has there been an equally impressive influx of vendors on the market selling such
solutions. While these vendors are competing for the limelight in the market of brandable content and
community platforms, now is the perfect time to capitalize on competitive pricing and market momentum.
Again, it is critical that your organization evaluate which tools it needs to truly build its brand and community.
Blogs, forums, idea exchanges, discussions, and wikis are all key tools to look for in a community and content
management platform. Make sure you have a functionality checklist put together before researching
solutions. For example, if your organization only needs one, or a handful of these tools, one platform may be
much better suited for you than another. Where some solutions provide true wiki functionality, for example,
others do not; this is something to keep in mind when shopping for a community and content management
platform.
Drastically Improve ROI
Countless studies have been conducted and conclude that organizations benefit tremendously by fully
engaging their communities. Not only are there inherent organizational and financial benefits to doing so, but
online success communities streamline prospect/customer/vendor interactions and collaboration. However,
one of the main arenas in which to look for improvement due to use of such a platform, is your organizational
ROI. For example, community users spend an average of 54% more than non-community users1. For these
members, the sentiment that they are attached and invested to your organization and its products or services,
is meaningful. These users come back consistently to contribute to your community, and end up bringing more
than just sales dollars to your company. These individuals display high levels of customer loyalty, another
aspect that is increased tremendously with creation of corporate success communities. In fact, community
users visit sites nine times more often than non-community users visit those same sites2. There is something
to be said for improving your community and its collaboration. Additionally, processes are streamlined by
doing so. Costs per interaction for typical customer support average $12 via a contact center, whereas support
via self-service options, such as success communities, is only $0.253. However, not only are there financial
benefits to using a content and community building platform at your organization; it is also the tacit and
intangible benefits, such as building loyalty, adding value, and gaining industry respect, that truly speak to the
benefits of using a content management and community-building platform.
1 Ebay, 2006.
2 McKinsey, 2000.
3 Forrester, 2006.
© 2008
950 East Paces Ferry Road
5 Benefits of B2B
© 2008 Hannon Hill Corporation
950 East Paces Ferry Road
About eCrowds
eCrowds is an on
management
their communi
platform provides an on
providing a realm for the sharing of ideas and content. eC
is ideal for businesses of all sizes, including: technology companies, mid
sized b2b organizations.
About Hannon Hill
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
and creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
manage their Internet, Intrane
Hannon Hill was recognized by
representing the top 500 fastest
Located in the high
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy
Hannon Hill's content ma
while decreasing associated costs.
Hannon Hill’s WCM solutions provide core content managemen
solutions have been implemented in all types of industries, including
education, energy, hospitality, and publishing. We provide a comprehensiv
modules to manage the complete content lifecycle.
enefits of B2B Success Communit
Hannon Hill Corporation, all rights reserved.
950 East Paces Ferry Road ∙ Suite 2440
eCrowds
eCrowds is an on-demand content
management and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
their community via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
platform provides an on-
providing a realm for the sharing of ideas and content. eC
is ideal for businesses of all sizes, including: technology companies, mid
sized b2b organizations.
About Hannon Hill
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
manage their Internet, Intrane
Hannon Hill was recognized by
representing the top 500 fastest
Located in the high-tech capital of the South, Atlanta, GA, Hannon Hill continues to deliver high
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy
Hannon Hill's content management solutions allow users to maintain up
while decreasing associated costs.
Hannon Hill’s WCM solutions provide core content managemen
solutions have been implemented in all types of industries, including
energy, hospitality, and publishing. We provide a comprehensiv
modules to manage the complete content lifecycle.
Success Communit
, all rights reserved.
Suite 2440 ∙ Atlanta, GA 303
eCrowds
demand content-centered community platform that merges the best of content
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
-demand means to capitalize upon the collective wisdom of web 2.0
providing a realm for the sharing of ideas and content. eC
is ideal for businesses of all sizes, including: technology companies, mid
sized b2b organizations. For more information about our
About Hannon Hill
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
manage their Internet, Intranet, Extranet and Portal content with ease
Hannon Hill was recognized by Inc. Magazine
representing the top 500 fastest-growing private companies in the nation.
tech capital of the South, Atlanta, GA, Hannon Hill continues to deliver high
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy
nagement solutions allow users to maintain up
while decreasing associated costs. Hannon Hill continues to accelerate its customers’ online success.
Hannon Hill’s WCM solutions provide core content managemen
solutions have been implemented in all types of industries, including
energy, hospitality, and publishing. We provide a comprehensiv
modules to manage the complete content lifecycle.
Success Communities
, all rights reserved.
Atlanta, GA 30326
centered community platform that merges the best of content
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
demand means to capitalize upon the collective wisdom of web 2.0
providing a realm for the sharing of ideas and content. eC
is ideal for businesses of all sizes, including: technology companies, mid
For more information about our
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
et and Portal content with ease
Inc. Magazine, placing 247
growing private companies in the nation.
tech capital of the South, Atlanta, GA, Hannon Hill continues to deliver high
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy
nagement solutions allow users to maintain up
Hannon Hill continues to accelerate its customers’ online success.
Hannon Hill’s WCM solutions provide core content managemen
solutions have been implemented in all types of industries, including
energy, hospitality, and publishing. We provide a comprehensiv
modules to manage the complete content lifecycle.
o: 678.904.6900
centered community platform that merges the best of content
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
demand means to capitalize upon the collective wisdom of web 2.0
providing a realm for the sharing of ideas and content. eCrowds is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, and
is ideal for businesses of all sizes, including: technology companies, mid
For more information about our platform, visit
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
et and Portal content with ease
placing 247th
amongst the prestigious
growing private companies in the nation.
tech capital of the South, Atlanta, GA, Hannon Hill continues to deliver high
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy
nagement solutions allow users to maintain up
Hannon Hill continues to accelerate its customers’ online success.
Hannon Hill’s WCM solutions provide core content management capabilities for managemen
solutions have been implemented in all types of industries, including
energy, hospitality, and publishing. We provide a comprehensiv
678.904.6900 f: 678.904.6901
centered community platform that merges the best of content
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
demand means to capitalize upon the collective wisdom of web 2.0
rowds is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, and
is ideal for businesses of all sizes, including: technology companies, mid-sized marketing companies, and mid
platform, visit www.ecrowds.com
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
et and Portal content with ease. Most recently,
amongst the prestigious
growing private companies in the nation.
tech capital of the South, Atlanta, GA, Hannon Hill continues to deliver high
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy
nagement solutions allow users to maintain up-to-date, accurate, and meaningful website content
Hannon Hill continues to accelerate its customers’ online success.
t capabilities for managemen
solutions have been implemented in all types of industries, including technology, health
energy, hospitality, and publishing. We provide a comprehensive tool set that provides all the necessary
678.904.6901 w:
centered community platform that merges the best of content
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
demand means to capitalize upon the collective wisdom of web 2.0
rowds is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, and
sized marketing companies, and mid
www.ecrowds.com
Founded in 2001, Hannon Hill is a leading provider of web content management software
creates web marketing solutions that give people and organizations the freedom to
. Most recently,
amongst the prestigious Inc. 500,
tech capital of the South, Atlanta, GA, Hannon Hill continues to deliver high-quality content
management solutions. Its products enable users to easily update their websites through an easy-
date, accurate, and meaningful website content
Hannon Hill continues to accelerate its customers’ online success.
t capabilities for management of online information. O
health care, marketing,
e tool set that provides all the necessary
http://www.hannonhill.com
centered community platform that merges the best of content
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
demand means to capitalize upon the collective wisdom of web 2.0 communities
rowds is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, and
sized marketing companies, and mid
www.ecrowds.com.
quality content
-to-use web interface.
date, accurate, and meaningful website content
Hannon Hill continues to accelerate its customers’ online success.
t of online information. O
marketing, real estate,
e tool set that provides all the necessary
5
www.hannonhill.com
and social web 2.0 elements. eCrowds allows organizations of all sizes to harness the wisdom of
ty via the use of blogs, wikis, forums, and idea exhange functionality. The eCrowds community
communities by
rowds is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, and
sized marketing companies, and mid-
quality content
use web interface.
date, accurate, and meaningful website content
t of online information. Our
real estate, higher
e tool set that provides all the necessary
www.hannonhill.com