Thinking aloud

You are what you share.

What is "community" anyway?

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We talk so much about communities, Chris Hughes (the co-founder of Facebook) thinks that...

"the word is overused, particularly on the Web. Everywhere you go someone's trying to build a community. And I think we don't pause long enough to think about what community is exactly and what we're doing." --- "the deeper the connection goes and the more that people understand one another and what values they have or what goal they share, then the closer you get to a true community."

I agree with Douglas Atkin, (the former chief community officer and partner at Meetup.com) 

The idea of a community is very appealing for brands, but it is difficult to commit to imagine creating a community around your product.

The truth is, a brand doesn't have to start from zero. 

Sometimes the consumer creates the community (The smart Car) sometimes the brand enables (Sharpie and Autotexpink) Sometimes you can sponsor it (Meetup) or just lead it (the Obama campaign)

Whatever the right start is for your brand, keep this in mind:

1. Don't fake it. Communities have to be authentic. Don't pretend that people are passionate about your product when they're really not. Find something they can be passionate about and champion that.

2. Enabling is often better than building. Following existing behavior is generally a better and easier strategy than trying to generate new behaviors. Some of the most successful brands have spotted existing passions and needs, and observed people's attempts to share them. Then they've simply made it easier to do what they're already trying to do. 

3. The golden rule in the brand-community business: BE USEFUL. Work hard to prove that you care, that you love the fact that your customers love your product. Support their communities with money, ideas, content and publicity, whatever they need. Prove that you're genuine and that you care about the people off whom you're making money. If you do, the social networks will enable people to tell others. If you don't, they'll also enable people to tell others.

4. Be a partner or supporter, not a dictator. Most companies get this now. But until recently the posture of most brand managers was "command-control" not "support and nurture." With consumers more or less in control, the old marketing attitudes are dead. You're now a co-creator with the consumer of their brand experience and, nowadays, even larger society-changing effects should you choose the strategy of championing social change.

5. If you want a community, then you need members--not fans or followers. There's a difference. Receivers of tweet and fan-blasts are not members of a thriving, sticky community that acts together, buys into the goals and values, and feels responsible for each other. They're an audience, often on the receiving end of just a new form of mass media.