Expectations for technology have rapidly escalated for customers, partners, and employees alike. The user experience of platforms like Amazon, Uber, and Netflix is no longer a novelty – it’s becoming the new bar for all our businesses.
How does your organization stand apart from the competition to achieve this? How do you service, reward, engage and inspire your community in a way that drives business and financial results?
Jody Hamlett, our CEO and Founder, took on this topic at our most recent webinar “Building Your Tribe with Community Cloud.” View the recording or read on to learn more about how companies are using Community Cloud to differentiate and get ahead.
Where Today’s Technology Falls Short
The concept of a community isn’t new. Many organizations have experimented with portals to share information with customers, partners, and employees. Others have tried to leverage websites, Facebook groups, or Linkedin groups to build connections and share information with their tribe.
But today’s technology falls short. In many cases, companies find themselves trying to make a square peg fit a round hole and realize that the technology simply wasn’t designed for what they’re trying to do.
Whoever your target audience, we find 3 things critically important for success:
- Connection to business data
- Personalization
- Interactivity
Success Factor #1: Connection to Business Data & Results
Community Cloud -- when used to its fullest potential -- is built for action. Not only does it have a beautifully branded UI, it is completely connected to your business processes, so that users of that community can effortless take action right in the community. This includes the ability to:
- Access, update and create Salesforce records and objects
- Support processes and workflows unique to the business
- Integrate third-party data with APIs
- Share files in the context of your business operations (mobile, social, and connected to 3rd party platforms)
- Linked to your security model
Success Factor #2: Personalization
If you’re on the Salesforce platform, you have a wealth of data on your customers – sales opportunities (Sales Cloud), online behavior indicating areas of interest and engagement (Pardot), cases and support needs (Service Cloud.) Use this to your advantage! Customize with functionality to:
- Tailor home page with custom news and topics
- Filter content that’s relevant to each user
- Recommend groups with social intelligence
- Capture personal information and endorsements
- Gamify with leaderboards and badges
Success Factor #3: Move at the Speed of Business
Your customers move and evolve quickly -- and so should you! Lightning Bolt makes it easier than ever to get a community off the ground quickly. Bolt solutions exist for almost every use case, and allow you to build your platform with point and click configuration. Additionally, you can feed your organization’s need for speed by:
- Making the community available through the Mobile SDK or Salesforce 1 App
- Deploying templates with out-of-the-box responsive design
- Empowering the community manager with pre-built reports & dashboards
Where to Start with Your Community
Wondering if Community Cloud is right for you? Sign up for a Salesforce health check for a quick audit and review of your opportunities.