With the recent rise in popularity of content marketing, brands understand the value of building communities and having authentic conversations with their customers. There are glaring examples of how — and how not — to do this. Success often hinges on whether the brand has chosen the right tool for the job. How should a brand think about that question?

1. Brands as Community Builders
Monday, December 9, 13
David Fleck
GM
DISQUS

2. DISQUS
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3. DISQUS (dis·cuss • dï-sküs') as in discussion.
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4. Disqus Network Numbers
3 million
community
sites
1.3 billion
uniques a
month
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9
billion page views a
month
200 million
commenter profiles

5. Online Community:
a place where people come together
to talk about what they love.
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6. Creating Unique Content is Hard.
So they’re more likeAudience is Harder.
a meet-up
Growing a Sustainable
of enthusiasts.
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7. Or fans of their favorite
band at a concert.
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8. And less like a noisy airport, crowded
with people whose only common
interest is
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9. And less like a noisy airport, crowded
with people whose only common
interest is to leave.
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10. Characteristics of Great Communities
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11. Characteristics of Great Communities
great content that gets
people talking.
they have a unique
personality.
they’re self-policing.
people engage with
each other.
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often use pseudonyms
or nicknames to
express more freely.

12. Dogster
Girls Gone
Child
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Top Gear
Descrutoid
World Star Hip Hop
Eat Your
Kimchi

13. Monday, December 9, 13

14. Before
Audience:Monologue
Today
Community:Dialogue
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15. Dove’s Real Beauty
Sketches Campaign
Top three-word phrases:
“buy dove products” and
“brought tears eyes”
Top two-word phrases:
“thank dove” and
“self-esteem”
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16. Rate the business value of the following marketing channels
On-site ratings and reviews
3.84
Search marketing
Email marketing
3.74
Branded community
Word-of-mouth marketing
3.73
Branded blog
Online display advertising
LinkedIn marketing
Mobile marketing
YouTube marketing
Source: Q3 2013 North America and UK
Digital Maturity Online Survey
Google Plus marketing
Twitter marketing
Facebook marketing
1.0
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3.57
3.54
5.0

17. Brands
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places where discussions take place.

18. And hosting their own @
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19. Because the destination discussion networks
are unfettered and unpredictable.
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21. #AskJPM
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22. Monday, December 9, 13

23. What might it look like to host live discussions
and events on brand sites…
at scale….
while reaching the talking type….
but with just a little more control?
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24. (not a live example or client)
(for demonstration purposes only)
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25. Client: Nike
Brand: Nike Football (US: Soccer)
Event: World Cup 2014
Goal: Reach soccer-obsessed fans
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26. 1
COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS
Discussions on the web’s largest community network
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28. Real discussion with passionate fans on
Disqus’ community network.
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30. Verified brand reps can authentically
connect with fans in community.
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31. Push Content to Relevant Disqus Communities
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32. Pull Discussions From Cross-Communities
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33. Pull Discussions From Cross-Communities
DISQUS.NIKE.COM/WORLDCUP
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34. 2
SPONSORED COMMENTS
Engage within organic discussions across communities
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36. 3
PROMOTED DISCOVERY
Find the perfect audience for your unique content
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39. David Fleck
@davidericfleck
fleck@disqus.com
Monday, December 9, 13