In today’s podcast, we are talking about using social and forums for customer interaction: the benefits and challenges of running a forum on your online store, as well as creating a social community. And who could help us better than one of the lead developers of bbPress and BuddyPress for WordPress, John Jacoby. John not only is a genius in the tech side of things, but he also has first-hand experience and understanding of what it takes to create these kinds of communities. Today he is sharing and shares some thoughts on how all of this can help you as a store owner.

We chatted about:

* The real differences between offering a forum vs. building a social community on your store.

* How an online store benefits from having a forum

* The advantages to building a social community on an online store

* Pros and cons of choosing between using site-based social, using a Facebook page, or a combination of both

* John’s other recommendations for store owners

Thanks to our sponsor, Bluehost.