Module 8 : Building a community
MEET THE INSTRUCTOR :
NAME : RICARDO MOLINA COMPANY : BRIGHTBULL MARKETING JOB TITLE : CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
Ricardo Molina helps to grow and build online communities . He ’ s been in the events industry for 23 years and launched BrightBull in 2009 as a way to help organisers set up online communities , monetise them and leverage what he calls the ‘ 365 ’. He advises entrepreneurs , CEOs and managing directors of conference and exhibition companies on driving visitors and delegates through inbound and content marketing and says his mission is to shake up the B2B and events environment .
Are virtual events going to feature heavily as part of the event mix going forward ? What evidence have you seen ? calling online events , ‘ virtual ’. They are just events . The fact is that events today have to have digital elements as well physical elements for them to be truly engaging and effective . At last , companies have bought into this idea that virtual elements are important to increase the lifespan of event content , broaden the audience and enrich the sponsor experience . The big piece that ’ s missing currently is the event networking aspect . How do you foster peer-to-peer networking at virtual events ? Nobody has cracked it yet . The digital format is great for distributing content and slicing and dicing it for future purposes , but the hybrid model will remain in place so that attendees can benefit from the social and networking aspects of a physical event .
Provide a top line overview of the module and what it covers .
Our module is all about online communities , how you can foster and generate them for the benefit of your event . We cover the different types of online communities , both on bespoke platforms but also
“ I ’ M A BIG ADVOCATE OF NO LONGER CALLING ONLINE EVENTS , ‘ VIRTUAL ’.”
on community-based platforms such as LinkedIn , Facebook and WhatsApp .
We talk about ‘ top of the funnel ’ communities who may have signed up to receive your newsletter or form part of your online platform , plus ‘ bottom of the funnel ’ communities who may have simply attended your event and what differences exist between the two .
We also discuss how to leverage and grow these communities and most importantly , how to engage them and what constitutes good engagement .
We then talk about the difference between cyclical events and events with built-in communities that need to be engaged all the time . Basically , virtual events foster the development of online communities because when the event
Absolutely . I ’ m a big advocate of no longer