June 8th, 2010
by Eric Burgess

Today, we’re happy to share a blog post by Eric Burgess, a Social Media Strategist on the team that works with Microsoft’s Startup Business Group. This was originally posted on his blog, but offers some grounded advice about how he does great work for our clients.

Being a Social Media Strategist at Microsoft (by way of Projectline) involves much more than just tweeting and maintaining a Facebook page. It’s about building community. Our product, one in the educational sector, requires a lot of online networking. I work hard to establish and build trust with educators around the world. While you think the Microsoft name alone would give you a shoo-in to any community – it simply doesn’t.

Teachers want to know that you are just as passionate about education as you are about the product you are marketing. To show them this, when I tweet out something, I usually always sign my name at the end to help give it that personal touch. Many Social Strategists and Community Managers sign only with their initials in this fashion: ^EB. I go the extra mile and sign: -eric. On Facebook, I will send them personal emails and comments with my own profile (Eric Burgess) as well with my Mouse Mischief profile. It’s absolutely crucial in this day and age to be as reachable as you can to your customers. The old way of conducting customer service by way of 800 numbers and expensive CMS email software is on its way out. People want immediate access to you – so why not give it to them? It’s all a part of the community building I mentioned earlier. How can you build a community without making you and your product as transparent as possible? You can’t. Below are some important things to consider as you work to build up your community.

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tags: online communities, social media

March 17th, 2009
by Projectline

Do you pride yourself of being ahead of the game in social networking?  Does ‘digital life’ mean something to you?  Does your expertise go beyond the already well know sites such as Facebook and Twitter?  Is your ultimate goal to find new ways to get in and influence various communities and conversations?  Do you like to track the success of your efforts?  Are you the person that everyone goes to when wanting to learn how to use the tools of social networking sites?  Do you like being given a direction or task and then over achieving on execution?  If so, then keep reading.

Projectline is hiring a contract online community manager to work with talented strategist that values continuous evolution and innovation.   Join a fun team in a fast-paced, creative environment that is utilizing social media to execute social marketing programs.  To assist in both the launching of new businesses and helping improve campaigns by the collecting and reporting on customer/community chatter.  Your dream job should be researching and finding new communities to influence online conversations by understanding the community’s needs, where to find them and the roles they will play with each marketing strategy.  [read more]

tags: blogging, marketing, online communities, social media, social networking, user generated content

November 26th, 2008
by Anika Lehde

How the community was born:

Our goal was to build an online community where people who live and breathe customer references, (more…)

tags: CRKSN, customer reference knowledge sharing network, customer reference programs, Facebook, online communities, twitter