Anna Caraveli’s monthly column for SocialFishing focuses on “the building blocks for constructing new membership and business models” for associations. She will explain and explore for us how “d emand-centered models require a re-orientation of an organization from products and policies to people—customers, members, stakeholders” — and these are ideas which clearly relate very directly to the themes we’ve been exploring both in  Open Community  and in  Humanize. . I think this is why virtual communities resonated with me, in spite of my non-technical background. And why wouldn’t it? MORE >>

Sustaining a successful social sharing product with a small array of features is a challenge. For every success story like Pinterest , there are dozens more that have tried to gain traction, and, while possibly succeeding to a small degree, not seeing enough activity to convert into a healthy business. One of the more recent to close its doors is Amplify.com , which acted as a home for users to clip favorite sites from the web ( including on mobile ) and add their own commentary. But news came this week the site is being mothballed, and users are being pointed to Clipboard instead. MORE >>

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber. ll never forget the day the Counselors Academy brochure arrived in the mail. It was Jan 2009, and my PR business was almost five years old. had been growing it every year in double digits and had added an employee in 2008. And then it all hit the fan, and I lost about 40 percent of my business in one fell swoop, and let my one employee go. It felt like I was back to square one. realized at the time, I knew a lot about PR, but I didn’t have a clue on running a PR business. I thought long and hard about it. And you know what? MORE >>

Well known social media experts like to slough off tough questions about return on investment (ROI) with flip phrases like, “What’s the ROI of your mom?” ” Now it’s time to turn the tables and ask social media experts, “What’s the ROI of Pinterest?” ” For the past few weeks we have experienced a deluge of Pinterest [.]. Reality experts MarketingProfs outcomes Pinterest return on investment ROI Social Media MORE >>

Tweet With social media, we have the ability to listen to our target group and get insights like never before. It is an opportunity for brands to adapt to user expectations or the trends you see coming. With the ability to listen and gaining insights also comes the ability to improve, which in the end means that brands can become more appealing to their target group and sell more products adapted to consumer needs. case of user involvement. Domino’s knows the value of public brainstorming and customer input. ‘Think Oven’ has two parts: Projects and Idea Box. Study]. MORE >>