I meant to post this yesterday and ran out of time. This is the follow-up to yesterday’s radio interview about marketing and online community (aka social networks).

Join online communities that interest you. Don’t just do it “for work.”

Contribute to the community beyond just talking about your product. The Sex Drive Forum has several “official” people in it but they all participate as regular members. They don’t shove in our faces that they work for the companies they do, that they rep the products they do, etc. They participate in conversations and share their own experiences and so on.

Use your email sig as a subtle marketing tool. Put your URL and title in it. That lets other community members check out your stuff on their terms, when and if they want to, rather than their feeling marketed to.

Give it away. We’ve had great success in the Sex Drive forum with free samples, discounts, calls for beta testers, and so on. Again, the marketers participated as community members, “Hey look what I’m working on, I’d like to share!” rather than making people feel used.

Don’t post press releases unless the community exists specifically for such things. Most don’t. Press releases are impersonal and make the community feel like you’re just there to use them, and they will turn against your product/service and you personally. It’s okay to announce events and whatnot, but do it like you’d announce to your friends that you’re having a BBQ.

Online communities and internet-savvy folks are highly suspicious of marketese, marketing, marketers. Respect that.

To find communities you want to join, lurk for a week and see how the discussion flows, who posts most often, how much moderation is involved. If you feel comfortable with the community, introduce yourself. And participate.

Remember that this is a community, not a focus group.

Be positive, don’t flame, post only when you have something valuable to contribute, and otherwise comport yourself as a fine upstanding community member, and you will create a positive aura about yourself that other members will respect. That will spill over into their opinions of your product/service/company.