Simon Mainwaring

We First provides consulting and training to help companies tell the story of their good work in ways that build their business

Community

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Here’s the full video from the WireDrive-sponsored, Blog Out Loud, “Belong: Building a Blog Community” event. It features a series of industry panelists discussing the practice, merits and value of blogging and using social media. Here are some things we discussed: Why blogging and social media channels are essential for your business How to set […]

Here’s the full video from the WireDrive-sponsored, Blog Out Loud, “Belong: Building a Blog Community” event. It features a series of industry panelists discussing the practice, merits and value of blogging and using social media. Here are some things we discussed: Why blogging and social media channels are essential for your business How to set …

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This week something extraordinary happened. Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor, apologized. Actually, he did far more than that. Here’s what he did: 1. He came clean. Akio admitted Toyota was shamefully unprepared for the global economic crisis and is a step away from “capitulation to irrelevance or death.” 2. He confessed declaring that the …

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My first post in the series focused on conceptual and design fundamentals when planning to build an online community. These came from my experience with brands like ONE.org, Brine and the E.I.F. This post ranks design priorities and outlines the role of the landing page. Ultimately, the success of an online community turns on whether …

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Too often online efforts raise awareness but fail to motivate behavior. Yet that’s what brands need to do whether they want to sell more widgets or change the world for the better. And when those efforts fail, brands understandably become disillusioned, cynical or suspicious of online community building. Yet they have never experienced the power …

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Wafaa Bilal, NYU professor, Iraqi and performance artist, got famous by locking himself in a small, Chicago gallery with an automated paintball gun pointed right at him. The gun was hooked up to the Internet, and viewers at the gallery and online could shoot him with yellow paint balls from point blank range at any …

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