One innovative way companies are building an audience and promoting their content is by hosting their own online community.

Of course, it takes a lot of patience and planning to develop a community that can have an impact on your company’s bottom line. For Eloqua, a pioneer in the marketing automation space, building an active and engaging online community called Topliners, has produced generous results.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Topliners, it’s a place where members can learn, share and discuss valuable content within various platforms and groups. Topics of discussion cover a broad range of interesting and relevant information including marketing strategy and best practices, success stories, and even technical questions about the Eloqua platform. Community members can even earn points and badges as an incentive for being an active participant.

Here’s a sample of a few of the interesting conversations happening now on Topliners:

Eloqua9 vs. Eloqua10  Side by Side Guide

Switching from one platform version to another can be daunting for many customers. To guide Eloqua users as they transition to the new, updated Eloqua10, a side by side guide of Eloqua9 vs. Eloqua10 was created in Topliners under the Eloqua Insiders group.

This side by side guide provides users with an inside look at some of the noticeable differences between the two platform versions.

What’s great about this guide being accessible in an online community is that registered users can constantly add to the conversation by offering tips and best practices to the discussion thread as they are discovered. Users can also post and answer questions in the comments section with screenshots to help the community effectively transition to the newest platform.

Share Your Success

For registered users who want to learn, share and discuss success stories, the “See It” space is the place to be. This is where community members can discuss how other companies are experiencing success using Eloqua systems.

One of the many shared successes include a company called ZoomInfo, a subscription based company that provides in-depth profiles on businesses and employees, discussed its success with implementing an Eloqua marketing automation strategy to increase renewal rates. According to the post, the end result was “a 17% drop in low usage numbers and a significant increase in renewal rates”.

Can You Imagine It?

While most of the conversation within Topliners is centered around Eloqua’s marketing automation platforms, the social network is also chock full of interesting ideas and trends in the creative marketing industry. In the “Imagine It” section of the community, users can take part by creating or participating in discussions on a wide range of topics such as strategies on increasing Twitter followers, how to measure lead flow in the sales cycle funnel, video best practices and more.

One of the recent discussion threads, titled My first campaign, asks the community for advice on how to set up a specific campaign and tips on getting the sales team engaged. Do you have any advice to offer? Head on over to Topliners and share your thoughts.