A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Identify online brand advocates. Use reputation management tools to identify 

influential social network members who are already brand advocates. Approach 

the most significant ones directly. Consider using contextual advertising such as 

Microsoft content ads or Google Adsense to display brand messages within their 

spaces when brands are discussed.

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The golden rule: behave like a social networker. This means:

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Being creative

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Being honest and courteous (ask permission)

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Being individual

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Being conscious of the audience

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Updating regularly.

Mini Case Study 9.4

To encourage online community participation is a challenge since the majority of visitors to a community lurk 

or don’t participate. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen gives examples of participation on Wikipedia (just 0.2% 

of visitors are active) and Amazon (fewer than 1% post reviews). He explains:

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90% of users are lurkers (i.e. read or observe, but don’t contribute).

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9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time.

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1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can seem as if they don’t have lives 

because they often post just minutes after whatever event they’re commenting on occurs.

Nielsen’s 90‑9‑1 rule of participation inequality: encouraging more 

users to contribute

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Part 2  Strategy and applications