Society for Scholarly Publishing 2014 Annual Meeting, Session 4C: Building Vertical Communities and Connecting with End Users. Publishers see the opportunity to engage more deeply with their audiences, develop new business models, and reduce marketing costs by building online communities of interest for their end users. This session will bring together a technology provider and professional and academic publishers to discuss individual community-building efforts alongside the findings of two recent surveys into the growth of online vertical communities in our industry. The surveys reveal which publishers are investing in online communities, how this has grown over recent years, what resources publishers are currently putting into this area and why publishers feel it is important to create a direct rapport with end users in this way. Panelists will talk about both the pitfalls and successes, and how direct engagement with readers is creating new business opportunities and changing their marketing and product launch practices. Moderator: Toby Plewak, Publishing Technology Speakers: Michael Cairns, Publishing Technology; Daniel Smith, Institution of Engineering and Technology; Paul Guinnessey, Physics Today

1. Online Communities
Academic Publishing Perspective
Michael Cairns, CEO, Publishing Technology
@publishingtech

2. Defining Online Communities
 What is an online community?
“A publisher-owned website/platform that offers a
common interest around which the community is
themed, with interactive communication between the
organization and community members and between
the members themselves.”
@publishingtech

3.  Why investigate online communities?
 PCG’s research builds from an earlier study conducted
with Bowker
 Online survey of 15 questions primarily geared toward
academic publishers
Background and Methodology
@publishingtech

4. What Does the Research Address?
Questions the research is looking to answer:
 How many publishers currently have online communities?
 Reasons for development of online communities?
 Measurable benefits achieved from online communities
 Opportunities for growth of online communities
@publishingtech

5. Key Findings – Current Market
21%
10%
8%
14%
47%
1-2 communities
3-4 communities
5-6 communities
7 or more
communities
None
@publishingtech

6. Key Findings – The Motivation
Top 4 reasons to develop online communities:
 40% Increasing direct relationships with end users
 40% Increasing audience engagement (social networking)
 35% Increasing content usage
 35% Increasing knowledge and understanding of the reader
@publishingtech

7. Top 3 reported benefits of online communities:
 37% Generated increased knowledge and understanding
of the end user
 37% Developed direct relationships with readers
 32% Serves as a platform to increase content usage
Direct Feedback:
“Our online community capabilities are helping committees
and special interest groups to collaborate.”
“Growth of audience engagement but not sales.”
Key Findings – The Benefits
@publishingtech

8. Key Findings – Current Success & Future Opportunity
 About 50% of publishers believe online communities have
been successful in achieving the company’s goals
 Nearly 80% of all publishers view online communities as
an area of growth for their company and the publishing
sector as a whole
 Early 2013 study showed that 84% of all publisher
respondents think their investment in online communities
will increase over the next two years
@publishingtech

9. Summary
 Online communities are on the up
 Primarily focused on relationship building with end users
 Many publishers are still experimenting with online
community strategies
@publishingtech

10. Conclusions
Publishers see online communities as:
 a way of getting closer to their readers
 a way of becoming more customer focused
 a way to gain understanding of what audiences want
(access to metrics)
 a way to make to their content go further
 a way to support marketing efforts, not generating direct
sales
@publishingtech

11. Questions?
@publishingtech | publishingtechnology.com/blog
@pcgplus | pcgplus.com