We love communities 

Online communities are quickly becoming the big secret to many business’ and social movements’ growth and success. Today, the power of community, something that we have leaned on since the dawn of time, is what smart companies are relying on to nurture customer relationships, inform their strategies, develop better products and conduct market research - all in a meaningful, appealing and customer-centric way.

Maartje Blijleven cracked the code for this secret and shows you step by step how to start a community and bring it to fruition. She gives inspiring practical examples and reveals the tricks of the trade. In interviews, 37 well-known community experts reveal their tips and tricks, with which you turn strangers into fans and get the visibility and expert status you deserve as a community leader. The book will be released in September 2019 in Dutch. For everyone who has a good idea for a community. Or if you want to make your existing community even more successful. We have plans to translate it in English too. 

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In the media:

Maartje Blijleven 

Founder We love communities

‘Maartje not only is extremely knowledgeable in all things digital, she is able to simplify subjects depending on the audience, increasing knowledge fast and effectively for everyone.’

Tomas Centeno, managing director benelux Dyson

"In this individualistic society, people want to belong somewhere. The challenge is to create a meaningful community that is a win-win situation for both community leaders and members. Maartje is the thought leader in this area."

Jessika Lynch, TEDx organizer and speaker coach

Maartje Blijleven has been building successful online communities for two decades, including her work for Endemol, KLM, National Postcode Lottery, Heineken, Peugeot and Schiphol. And the co-founder of the communities IncludeNow. & WomenTalkTech. She knows how to start and grow a community for different companies, people and purposes. Maartje is international keynote speaker and regularly appears in the media as a digital community expert. 

More about We love communities
Maartje Blijleven, founder of We love communities, worked for, among others:
What is a community? 
A community is a group of people with a common passion or care, who like to connect with people who share the same passion or care. For example, a shared passion for motorcycling, or a shared concern about the lack of good health care facilities, or a shared ambition as a young professional.

Both brands and media companies, agencies and entrepreneurs nowadays have a huge problem with consumer confidence and engagement. That huge problem stems from the fact that their audience is so overwhelmed by the huge amount of messages. They are overwhelming and people no longer know what to believe. As a result, it is very difficult to cultivate a group of people who really trust us and want to connect with us.

What problem does a community solve?
As brands and marketing communication professionals we have a huge problem these days: we are not relevant enough, people just don’t believe us anymore! 
 
Why? Because consumers change: every day they spend an average of 2 hours and 15 minutes on social media and decide for themselves what they want to read or see. They install ad-blockers because they don’t want to see any commercial campaigns anymore. And the spreading of fake news is at lighting speed since the social media took off. That makes it really hard to know what’s real and what’s not; which news you can trust and which you cannot. 

We need communities to continue to stay relevant in the fast-changing world that we live in today. 
We trust each other more (62%) than the media (32%), according to independent research (CBS). Based on this, it’s safe to conclude that communities are twice as likely to convince us to buy something or behave a certain way than the media is nowadays. In communities you can start a conversation right away with your loyal customers, you are more aware of what’s going on and therefor you can communicate more relevant and more authentic with your clients.

Win-win situation
Communities are a win - win situation for both leaders and members. They are great for members, ideal for sharing information and they help brands create trust and connect with their most valuable audience.

Communities are also a trend. Mark Zuckerberg has modified the mission of giant Facebook and will focus primarily on communities over the next 10 years. We go from "To give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected" to "Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together."

There is a reason that such a giant as Facebook focusses on online communities: the future lies in communities. In this individualistic society, people want to belong somewhere.

There are many facts about this which I will discuss in my book, but in short: it has never been more important than right now to be personal, meaningfully connect and be transparent. We need to leverage communities in order to be and stay relevant in this fast changing world we live in today.

How do you start and activate an online community?
Through a master class, my book or during a personal VIP day with me, you will learn how you can (expand) communities as a media, brand, person or organization. Including lots of relevant practical examples with secret tips & tricks.

All my knowledge comes from 2 decades of work experience and through conversations with other successful international entrepreneurs and community leaders. For my Dutch book about online communities I did research and interviewed many different community experts. 

What strikes me through all those research and expert interviews is that it is now the ideal time to leverage communities to achieve, maintain and grow our business goals.

The challenge is to set up and activate your community properly. And I can help you with that. In my free summary you can read the most important steps to success.

Coming soon: you will soon find the inspiring video interviews on this website. Sign up for the newsletter if you want to be notified when they are online.

Testimonials

“Maartje showed us why the time has never been better to leverage communities in order to achieve, maintain and grow our business. I would strongly recommend to ask Maartje as keynote speaker at your next event.”
Rik Ledder, managing director TBWA/Neboko
“Maartje gave us an energetic speech about the power of communities. She shared relevant cases and interact with the group effortlessly: the ideas generated during the interactive part are very valuable to us. As a passionate keynote speaker to empower women, Maartje earns my highest recommendation.”
Coco Seignette, Event manager MediaMonks HQ
“Maartje gave such an inspiring talk to our associates, which we're hearing so much positive feedback about. One part in particular that we loved about her talk was stressing that we should have fun with what we do, as that's so important for engagement and an underlying theme we stress at Nielsen Netherlands. Thank you for reinforcing that so well!”
Stephanie Manning, Marketing & Communications Leader Nielsen
“Maartje Blijleven worked together with me at KLM. The projects we where operating where online business clubs KLM Club China and KLM Club Africa. She conducted different aspects of these two communities such as, managing content, member support coordinating offline events, etc, etc. She is very motivated and flexible to work with.”
Stuart Makosi, Manager Online Business Communities KLM
“Maartje has been an exceptional help on our digital journey, delivering quality, on time and above expectations. Maartje not only is extremely knowledgeable in all things digital, she is able to simplify subjects depending on the audience, increasing knowledge fast and effectively for everyone.”
Tomas Centeno, Managing Director Benelux Dyson, about Maartje's keynote speech about digital technology trends
“Most CEOs have overcrowded agendas with little additional time or energy to keep ahead of developments in the digital field - social media, digital marketing, website technology and other business opportunities. If you are also overburdened with digital developments and how they impact your business, I can wholeheartedly recommend Maartje.”
Boudewijn Poelmann, founder Novamedia and Dutch Postcode Lottery

 Experts interviews

For We love communities we only interview the very best and greatest community experts. For the Dutch book which will be published September 2019, we've already interviewed some of the most famous and interesting community leaders of the Netherlands and beyond. We are still looking for 10 international community leaders who really make a different and are an example for all of us. Do you know a great community leader with an amazing story to share, who should be included in the international We love communities book? Please let us know.

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