The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success

Chapter 39. The Four Pillars of Social Media Strategy

This chapter helps you:

• Understand how the four pillars of social media strategy apply to your business and the creation of successful online communities.

• Define your business in the context of content.

• Generate initial ideas for creating a successful community around your content.

• Make your content "sticky."

• Differentiate between the different kinds of communities:

  • Metropolis Communities

  • Affinity Communities

  • Intra-company Communities

  • Vertical Communities

  • Horizontal Communities

• Understand basic online community management strategies.

Christian Lander wasn't rich or famous when he decided to start a blog dedicated to "stuff white people like." Some people find his class-bashing perspective hilarious; others aren't sure what to make of this former PhD student turned cultural commentator. The publisher Random House thought his perspective might make a good book. They also liked the fact that his blog had excellent traffic. The result: a $300,000 advance to write a book based on his blog, www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com. Through 2008, his blog had over 51 million hits. If you visit his site, you can link to Amazon.com and buy his book, or you can browse several Google ads targeted at his particular audience. Although he may not be a household name nor excessively rich just yet, Christian Lander has discovered a strategy that works for him: entertain your audience and have them invite their friends.

Michael Buckley isn't a household name either, ...