Joshua Paul

I am willing to bet that the question, "how can we find ways to grow?" is echoed through the halls of corporations and membership organizations over 10x more than a call for ideas to keep current customers.

One may be surprised by the impact that losing a customer can have on a business's performance. Not only do the strategy, marketing, and sales hours it took to get that customer to give you their money go down the drain, but there are many other long term consequences of weak customer retention.

This makes customer retention job #1 at any organization. Companies and associations must strive to meet and exceed the expectations of both individuals or business customers. It doesn't generally require large overalls or massive expenditures to engage and retain these customers, but holding onto customers or members is vital towards the stability of any membership organization and corporation. As the statistics below show, going after new customers...

You may have been one of the millions of people who experienced first-hand one of the most effective political protests of our generation yesterday. Due to the courage of companies like Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, and Wordpress, if you didn’t know already, you now know what SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) are. They are the bills in front of the US Congress right now that could drastically change the way that organizations of all sizes use the Internet.

SOPA would allow the US Department of Justice, as well as...

The beginning of the year is a time for fresh starts, goal-setting, and new commitments. One of the most common resolutions is to get to the gym more consistently. However, this promise often fades before we see spring.

Health clubs and the fitness professionals are increasingly employing community management tactics to improve customer satisfaction and retain members. What can online community managers learn from this approach?

Lesson #1) Make It Easy

According to fitness pros, you will use the gym more if it is close to your house/job, easy to park and check-in, use the locker room, and find the equipment you want to use. Make is easy for your customers or members to find information and engage with your organization and others in your online community.

Lesson #2) Community Plays a Large Part

One of the biggest reasons that people join and remain in fitness classes is a sense of community. It is easier to stay committed to being worked to...

Implementing a sustainable social business model can be complicated. When building community into your strategy, you are not only empowering and motivating employees, but relying on customers, prospects, and partners to engage each other and your organization.

Online communities that don’t successfully engage customers, help control support costs, or win new business don’t fail because of the social technology platform. They don’t provide a return on an organization’s investment due to decisions that were made long before an online community platform was selected.

Socious co-founder, Paul Schneider, recently spoke to IT executives at a national conference on what it takes to build a successful online community. From that presentation, here are the slides and the major pitfalls that executives can avoid when putting together a social business strategy to increase customer or member engagement.

Trap #1: Improper Planning

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