For five years, and with market leading customers, the Pluck team has proven the value of integrated social media, achieved through a broad community platform. The concept of accessorizing primary digital content with social media experiences was core to our initial API-centric architecture and remains critical to the Pluck platform now via our six SDKs, eight apps, and 150+ social data objects. And we’re honored to see others in the industry now also touting the importance of integrated community.

With the broader talk of integration these days, we felt it important to provide an updated viewpoint on key concepts, especially for those who might be considering an upgrade to, or expansion of, community features. In our opinion, the four pillars of an integrated community platform are:

·         Customers: the end user must be at the center of a community strategy. To maximize uptake, members need to be able to participate however and wherever they choose, either via an existing account (Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) or a unique display name for collaboration with your brand. And whatever they do, they need to be empowered to carry identity and relationships where they’d like while syndicating and sharing their and others’ content when they want. Integrated community platforms like Pluck offer unsurpassed, customer-centric, experiences.  

·         Channels: while classic websites still draw vast digital audiences, today brands must also execute across the Social Mix: mobile, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more. An integrated community platform must seamlessly merge with each primary content object, offering an optimized screen and feature experience for each channel. And it must manage user content appropriately per channel. Gone are the days of stand alone, corner case communities. Today’s world-class platforms must permeate digital destinations and offer services that are intelligently tuned to channel nuances.

·         Tools: while there are numerous point solutions, and some community platforms that claim breadth, only Pluck offers 150+ social data objects, accessible through six SDKs (PHP, Python, Objective-C, etc.) along with eight proven out-of-the box apps (Reviews, Comments, Forums, etc.). Importantly, all of these tools integrate with one another, making it easy for customers to seamlessly glide between research, contributions and discussions. And all tools are managed via a consistent back end experience with four Workbenches (Community Management, Application Management, Moderation, and Analytics) and robust documentation. In the last Wave report, Forrester gave Pluck a perfect 5 star rating for feature breadth, acknowledging integration leadership.

·         Technologies: while Pluck offers vendor agnostic tools to quickly deploy across third party systems, we also maintain partnerships to facilitate best practices. Demand Media maintains alliances with leaders like Apple (for iOS), ATG and IBM (for e-commerce), Facebook and Buddy Media, Endeca and Google (for search), JanRain (for social sign-on), Microsoft and more, ensuring repeatable deployment techniques and rapid time to market.

Through these four pillars of integrated community, Pluck ensures that our customers have unparalleled flexibility to drive results around engagement, conversions and advocacy, while providing unique and powerful insights. Please drop us a note. We’d love to discuss how we might help you leverage the first, and leading, integrated community platform.