Emotiva Audio has managed to maintain a strong relationship with their core customers, who use and advocate their products, by establishing an open online message board for people to interact with the company, other customers, and most interestingly, the engineers that made the very products that are being discussed. The forum, The Emotiva Lounge, is hosted on ProBoards, a popular message board host that has been widely used.

“We were looking for the best and fastest way to introduce and market new products, learn about our customers’ needs and better serve them, and using ProBoards has allowed us to do just that and more,” explains Jessica Gordon, Director of Marketing at Emotiva.

Every day, there is evidence of  much activity on the forum’s pages, with over 14,000 topics posted since the board’s inception in 2007. There are hundreds of registered members logging in regularly along with a slew of guests hitting the webpage too to check it out, as well as up to 500 posts a week.

Clicking through the myriad sub-sections of The Emotiva Lounge reveals a wealth of discussion on the ins and outs of products or even just general FAQs. There’s a lot of ground covered when you really delve into each little sub-section of the forum and it seems to be working for Emotiva.

“The open engagement we get from our forum has translated into happier customers and has helped boost sales because we’re able to learn what our customers want and create solutions to fill their need, while fixing possible problems,” she adds.

“Our customers have direct access to the engineers and product developers through The Emotiva Lounge,” says Jessica of the bridges built between customer and business. “It’s enabled a direction connection between our company, fellow enthusiasts, and our customers, and the creation of a really wonderful and powerful user community. The value is hard to quantify. We wouldn’t be who we are today without it.”

How Emotiva Audio has maintained their strong presence and customer relationships with their message board is something of a paradox. Message boards aren’t the hubs of conversation like they used to be a number of years ago, falling prey to the sheer enormity and vast reach of social media. Of course, Emotiva Audio still has a Facebook page and a Twitter account but let’s compare numbers.

At the time of writing, Emotiva’s last tweet was on October 30th 2012 and their account has 866 followers, and it’s important to note that only three tweets were posted in 2012 with the last sight of regular tweeting being in July 2011. Their Facebook page is much more active however, with regular, almost daily posting and the numbers reflect that, with over 3,700 likes on board and comments on each post, but the numbers pale when compared to those discussing the latest news or equipment on the hive of activity that is the company’s ProBoards forum. Jessica explains why this works for Emotiva.

“Forums are meant for people with specific interests and that’s not what Facebook and Twitter deliver,” she says. “We found that sites like Facebook and Twitter allow you to get a message out, but don’t always encourage intimate two-way communication. We want our customers to feel like we’re listening to them, not dictating to them, and a forum provides a more intimate interactive conversation,” adds Jessica. “Forums are the primary way we interact with customers.”

The effect of social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, on business is a hotly discussed topic, especially as it is always evolving. So does Emotiva have plans to harness these social media channels more in the future?

“We are already fully harnessing social media with our forum.  Facebook and Twitter are not going to drive our sales – it’s talking to our customers and that’s what a forum allows us to do because it creates a conversation.”

Emotiva may now have a chance to expand on the methods that have been serving them well. In late 2012, ProBoards released the BETA version of their ProBoards 5.0, with the official release date coming on April 29th. The update will add some new feathers to its cap that companies like Emotiva can take advantage of, like Live Search and one-click navigation.

“Broadly speaking, we will continue to grow and be one the leading audio companies selling directly to consumers. You can only buy Emotiva products through our site or on Amazon. We do not sell through traditional retailers or dealers,” says Jessica to finish. “The community we built with our forum, created using ProBoards, will continue to be an important aspect of how we communicate with our customers and audio enthusiasts. We recently hired a community manager, so you can expect to see even more social engagement from us in the future.”

The post Emotiva Audio Increased Sales And Survived Industry Changes By Using Technology To Interact With Their Customers appeared first on Small Business Technology.

Using his iPhone and the SoundCloud app, Travis was able to record the 2 minutes session and upload it to the web so we can share it.  Check it out:

This podcast is a GREAT example of how using very simple and easy (and sometimes free!!) apps can help you to amplify your business by creating great content for your audience.

Technology gives small businesses the power to compete and have themselves seen and heard.  No longer does it take large marketing budgets to make that happen.  The tools and opportunities are all around…you just need to search them out!

The post Podcast: Technology Is Always Changing And Small Businesses Should Take Advantage appeared first on Small Business Technology.

Since podcasts are downloadable and can be listened to through a computer or on a mobile device (iPod or similar), you’re not stuck with your focus on a single article; you can play it in the background while you do other things. The beauty of a podcast lies not just in the content it presents, but in its portability and convenience.

Here are a few of the more interesting small-business-related podcasts out there. A good place to start is the iTunes store; in the “Search Store” field type “Small Business Podcasts.” You’ll get many to choose from.

• Smallbiz Brain. (Also in iTunes.) Hosted by David Wolf, this show focuses almost entirely on having small business experts as guests on the show. Most focus on big-picture ideas, but overall the ‘casts are interesting. I would particularly suggest “Is cash flow management a distraction for you?” and “Disciplined Dreaming.”
• Work Awesome Podcast. (Also in iTunes.) The podcasts available on this site are older (last published in September of 2011), but most are very pertinent to you and inspiration for your business. The last one posted, “Uncertainty,” is an interesting primer on getting over things that might hold you back.
• Entrepreneur People. (No iTunes access.) This one is packed with experienced entrepreneurs and too many business types to list here (check the site to see the list).
• Small Business, Big Marketing. (Also in iTunes.) This is one of the more “colorful” podcasts out there. It is the top marketing podcast in Australia, but don’t let that affect your judgment if you don’t live there; marketing is basically an out-of-the-box thinking style, and this podcast fits that bill well.

If you’re interested in creating your own podcasts and want to learn more, my favorite read remains Podcasting for Dummies. Published seven years ago, it’s not reflective of current technologies but the gist of it remains: how to think about podcasts and make them work for you.

When thinking of content, the article Small Business Podcasting Sadly Underutilized will give you an excellent starting-off point to jump from, including ideas for your podcast and tools. Personally, all you really need is a USB microphone and a free audio production program like Audacity.

If your eye is on producing your podcast for iTunes, they have an excellent resource to check into.

There are undoubtedly many more resources out there, but these should get you started on the right track.

The post Podcasting: Perils and Power appeared first on Small Business Technology.