This morning's panel discussion featured moderator Sherri Dorfman of Stepping Stone Partners, along with Stacey Gutman of American Express, Becky Carroll of Verizon and Nestor Portillo of Microsoft.

Each of these panelists is involved in a different sort of branded community that they leverage to see a return:
Open Forum at American Express connects small business owners to three things, information, education, and each other. Inspired by offline speed-networking events, this community helps members share and make connections that can lead to off-line experiences.

Microsoft identifies influencers, independent experts, and invites them to a MVP community where they serve three purposes: magnify the voice of the customer, catalyze conversations and provide feedback on products. Members are segmented based on their activity into connectors, critics, creators and collectors. MVPs have been involved in developing applications, writing brand-related books and other activities that drive connections between Microsoft and the community.

Verizon community forums started as a peer-to-peer support community and has grown into a branded engagement community. The community serves as a communication channel for technical FAQs and blogs, an idea exchange for innovation suggestions and more. The "Room to Learn" site provides users with education that enables them to live a better digital lifestyle. Product sales are not pushed here, rather it is content about digital technology that anyone can learn from (not just Verizon customers). In this way members may share about Verizon in other, non-branded communities, and become evangelists for the brand.