Ant's Eye View - Latest Comments in “Your Community Already Exists”

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Sean ODriscoll — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:16:55 -0000

Fair enough...I do think this is a bit of semantics. I think the larger point is that for (dare I say) most products and services the community does already exist. How you define it might depend on your goals. What I think companies need to think about with caution is not assuming they are the ones building the community, it is there - the corp needs to participate in it and maybe support it with venues/destinations/etc, but to the extent it is possible to hand "ownership" or stewardship of that community to the community itself, you should. Perhaps a litmus test...everytime you here someone say "our community"...check them. Did they just make a statement of possession/control or did they real mean the "collective" our?

sean

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Steve — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:07:59 -0000

Yikes, bad HTML! Please excuse the bold text.

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Steve — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:06:51 -0000

That's my point: "You BET Coke is working SUPER hard to drive participation from people like you in that community." If I just buy Coke everyday, that's good consumer marketing and delivers some small incremental return to the company. If they persuade me to actually engage -- join a mailing list, enter a contest, create a video -- it's community building, increases my CLV and begins the journey to transform me into the kind of "defender" you describe above.

It's all about identification. If I buy Windows, you may see me as part of a community that uses Windows. But that's irrelevant until I see myself as part of that community, and, at least for me, that's not in the act of purchasing, it's when you compel me to engage and particpate. Like I do in this blog. :-)

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Sean ODriscoll — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:45:36 -0000

I do think those scenarios are still community. You are part of a community of consumers who drink coke. It just so happens that little to no communing is taking place (for you) so niether the community participants nor coke is gaining from it. You made me think...check out www.coca-cola.com - there is A LOT of community going on there, including a pretty cool user generated challenge. You BET Coke is working SUPER hard to drive participation from people like you in that community. No different actually than MS products. More customers just use our products and never join/participate in the community than do. There is some semantics in here and/or chicken/egg discussion that may or may not be useful, but I like the thought.

sean

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Steve — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:20:54 -0000

In fact, I’d say by definition, a group of individuals who have purchased your product/service are a community.

Does an act of consumption - and I don't just mean buying stuff, but also reading a book, listening to a record or watching a video, etc -- really make someone a member of a community?

Consumption is essentially a solitary act; when I read the new Ian McEwan novel, I am communing with the author -- if I've read his previous novels, this is actually part of a continuing relationship with him through his work. But if I don't join a book group to dicuss it, share my thoughts on a blog, write a letter to the NY Times Book Review, the consumption is solitary. If I buy a Coke, drink it and discard the can, my relationship to the Coca-Cola Company and the community of Coke drinkers is a closed loop.

I think there's gotta be some secondary action on the part of the consumer, a self-defined barrier to entry, for identifying with, and becoming part of, a community; even lurkers have to take the action of typing and URL in a browser or registering for a site.

If you accept that, the focus then becomes on motivating people to take that next step beyond simply buying your stuff. Ideally, they do that voluntarily because of what you discuss in points 2 & 3. But even if it's through necessity and forced by a negative experience -- like having to call for support -- it's still a step into the community, as Damon well points out.

Love your perspective on 3rd party communities, incidentally. I hope that philosophy enters the mainstream of corporate thought during my lifetime. ;-)

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Sean — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:54:05 -0000

In fact, if you were doing an amazing job with your communities, how many customer service calls might not materialize as people self solved through search or better navigation to peer answers.

sean

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Damon Billian — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:33:26 -0000

"Know that your customers are already a community."

And many organizations seem to miss the fact that Customer Service contacts should be considered "community". Just because they aren't operating on a public forum when contacting you doesn't mean that these folks aren't part of the broader definition of community.

Re: “Your Community Already Exists”

Chuck Boyce — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:09:10 -0000

good stuff.