Online Communities: Creation, Development & Management

1. “Storytelling that Drives Business
Results”
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Online Community
Creation, Development & Management
William Morassutti
VP, Content & Editorial
Loopmedia

2. ONLINE COMMUNITY CREATION, DEVELOPMENT
& MANAGEMENT

3. YOU INC
*Content-driven Online Community for Canadian entrepreneurs
*Page views up 240.22% and Unique Visitors 182.17%
*Won Microsoft, Scotiabank, UPS and Telus sponsorships

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“YouInc.com” | Online Community for Entrepreneurs
GOAL: To re-launch and re-invigorate YouInc.com, a startup online community for entrepreneurs (founded by Arlene Dickinson) that was
struggling to gain traction.
INSIGHT: Entrepreneurs are passionate, driven, and “always on” – and they’ll respond enthusiastically to lifestyle content that celebrates the
message, “When Life Is Work.”
RESULTS: In the months following the re-branding and re-launch of YouInc, page views rose by 240.22% and Unique Visitors by 182.17%.
Membership on the site rose from less than 1,000 to 10,000 members in the first 4 months.
WILLIAM MORASSUTTI:
*Led the YouInc team in developing a content strategy that saw original content published daily.
*Helped develop the lineup of tools and resources that allowed the YouInc community to collaborate, share and learn from one another.
*Led all content marketing initiatives for the content-driven/ad-free site, acted as editorial/client relations lead for major sponsors like
Microsoft, Scotiabank, UPS and Telus.

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11. TAKEAWAYS:
*Entrepreneurs want to be inspired: we created content that delivered
a strong aspirational pull (i.e., our video profiles featured iconic CEOs
and Founders.)
*Entrepreneurs also want practical, utilitarian content: we developed
a lineup of tools and resources that they could access and apply.
*The community itself, built around a spirit of connection and dialogue,
helped entrepreneurs to collaborate, share and learn from one another.

12. TORO DIGITAL MAGAZINE
*Online Community Creation, Development & Management
*Peak monthly audience of 543,000 unique visitors
*Fastest growing men's lifestyle platform in Canada

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“TORO Magazine” | Print (2003-2007) & Digital (2008-20011)
GOAL: To create a compelling men’s lifestyle brand for a target audience of urban, trend-setting Canadian males.
INSIGHT: Hight production value, exemplary design, and a tongue-in-cheek tone helped make TORO an iconic print magazine. But
greater success emerged from taking the brand digital, where daily content fuelled a social media marketing engine that generated a
monthly readership of over 500,000 unique visitors.
RESULTS: TORO Magazine was nominated for over 60 National Magazine Awards during its 4-year print run, reaching a national
audience of 220,000 per month. After the print magazine was shuttered, the re-launched digital TORO more than doubled the print
magazine’s readership.
WILLIAM MORASSUTTI:
*The first person hired in 2002, Morassutti successfully laid the business and editorial foundations of the print TORO.
*In 2008, he guided successful transformation of TORO from print to web-only publication, increasing the readership by 60%.
*Established the web-only TORO as the fastest growing men's lifestyle platform in Canada, with a peak monthly audience of 543,000
unique visitors (comScore: October, 2010).

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20. TAKEAWAYS:
*The digital magazine was the platform but the growth engine was
social channels powered by two-to-three pieces of daily content. This
formula resulted in a peak monthly audience of nearly 600,000 unique
visitors. Highly shareable social content accelerated community growth.
*Our audience could often see themselves in our content (i.e., the
Stylebook franchise). It’s important that the audience either relates to or
feels inspired by the content lineup; in TORO’s case, it was both.
*Every audience has specific types of content that click; for the TORO
audience of young urban hipsters, we created a graphic novel from scratch
– we knew that the format was on-point and engagement was high.

21. PASCOE CANADA
*Social Content & Influencer Campaign
*122% increase in year-over-year Sales
*Community Development & Management

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“Pascoflair” social media content marketing campaign | Pascoe Canada
GOAL: Create a content-first social media marketing strategy to help Pascoe Canada’s organic sleep-aid, Pascoflair, gain market share and drive awareness
to a targeted niche audience (women 35-55, living in GTA) over the course of a three-month campaign.
INSIGHT: The target audience was consistently engaging with lifestyle content (Beauty, Fitness, Health & Wellness) on social channels. Pascoe could leverage
this by aligning Pascoflair with the benefits of sleep via lifestyle content, presenting Pascoflair as a key ingredient of any health, beauty or fitness regime.
RESULTS: Sales of Pascoflair increased by 122% over the same 4-month period from the previous year.
WILLIAM MORASSUTTI:
*Conceived of key insight and wrote the Content Strategy.
*Pitched concept to Pascoe Canada senior management.
*Oversaw execution of campaign, including management of Influencers, Social content (original and curated) and digital media buy.
*Presented successful results and analytics, which led to 2 subsequent digital content campaigns for Pascoe Canada.
LINK TO CONTENT: https://vimeopro.com/user14549557/l2014054pascoflairall

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INFLUENCERS: Our Influencers had a cumulative reach of over 250,000 followers across Twitter, Facebook and
Instagram. Each Influencer incorporated PASCOFLAIR into their daily routine, posting regular updates – interest
peaking with a well-attended Twitter Chat.

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TWITTER CHAT: BEFORE & AFTER METRICS
*Tweets: increased by: 1,802%
*Timeline deliveries: increased by: 1,233%
*Contributors: increased by: 240%
*Reach: increased by: 150%

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TWITTER CHAT: ENGAGEMENT & AUTHENTIC DIALOGUE
The PASCOFLAIR Twitter Chat featured high levels of engagement and authentic dialogue
– the gold standard for social media initiatives aimed at long-term customer loyalty.

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TWITTER: ADDING INFLUENTIAL FOLLOWERS
Our goal with Twitter was quality over quantity. Over the past two months, we’ve attracted influential and high-achieving
followers (including Ballet of Canada’s Evan McKie, bloggers, broadcasters and editors) and also just simply people
interested in health products and the Pascoe Canada brand.

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FACEBOOK: CONTENT CURATION STRATEGY
Facebook posts jumped from 150 per post to 400 and 800 people
reached per post – an increase of between 160 to 430%.

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INSTAGRAM: LAUNCHED INSTAGRAM FOR BRAND
*34,064 impressions
*18,285 reach
*359 total likes

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30. TAKEAWAYS
*Our Influencers were already following Pascoe’s social channels – a
fact that I felt lent a stronger degree of credibility to their contributions
and participation. Their posts felt authentic.
*Our Twitter Chats and scheduled social posts helped us attract
well-known editors, bloggers and influencers – and their
participation helped to exponentially drive up the number of Pascoe
followers.
*Our Facebook Content Strategy revolved entirely around curated
content. It drove engagement and also, not insignificantly, was incredibly
cost-effective.

31. NY TIMES PHOTO ARCHIVE OF CANADA
*Digital content, VIP events, original art and photography exhibits,
bestselling book, and feature-length documentary
“In a multi-platform, multi-screen world, content marketers must
create content that resonates across multiple channels.”
*TIFF event generated 100 pieces of media coverage and
over 90 million media impressions

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“NY Times Photo Archive of Canada” | Multi-platform Content Initiative
GOAL: Creatively develop the photo archive asset across multiple platforms in order to: a) generate revenue, and b) raise awareness of the web-
only TORO.
INSIGHT: In a multi-platform, multi-screen world, content marketers must create content that resonates across multiple channels.
RESULTS: In 2010 William Morassutti spearheaded a multi-platform content initiative consisting of: digital content, VIP events, original art and
photography exhibits, a bestselling book, and a feature-length documentary – all of it leading to spikes in TORO’s readership and increased
revenue.
WILLIAM MORASSUTTI:
*In July 2010, began to publish a photo-of-the-day on the web-only TORO, generating 13 million page views in one year.
*In the fall of 2010, spearheaded TORO After Dark, an invitation-only VIP lounge that ran during the first four days of TIFF.
*TORO After Dark generated 100 pieces of media coverage and over 90 million media impressions.
*In 2012, Morassutti conceived of, pitched and edited a bestselling book of photos and essays for Random House: “Imagining Canada: A
Century of Photographs Preserved by the NY Times.”

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41. TAKEAWAYS:
*With a bit of inventive thinking, brands can position content initiatives
to live/migrate beyond just one platform or medium. Thinking laterally
can broaden a brand’s reach and help position the brand as an
industry thought leader.
*Everything can be leveraged to create net new content – events,
art exhibits, speeches, meet-and-greets, etc – but a nimble, agile,
content team must always be ready to capture content.
*Strategic partnerships – think book publishers, documentary
filmmakers, acclaimed media outlets like the Times – can elevate and
amplify content initiatives, connecting a brand with previously
undreamt of audiences.

42. Portfolio:
https://www.slideshare.net/WilliamMorassutti
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LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williammorassutti/

43. CONTACT:
WILLIAM MORASSUTTI
william.morassutti@gmail.com
416.937.4489
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