It seems every single brand or marketing campaign seems to have the goal of ‘reaching out’ to their community.

I think the community approach to brand management and brand experience in principle, shows that more corporations are prioritising the customer relationship or at least seeing the opportunity in doing so. However in reality- far too many approach it as a marketing gimmick rather than an integral part of business strategy.

What I have found as a consumer and in my observations of several brands is that far too many companies approach many of these campaigns with a fundamental misunderstanding of the motivations of the members of the community and the role of the brand as a part of that community.

The sad truth is that many companies spend millions on developing online communities that fail dismally. The motivation seems to be: “lets create a community so our customers can all talk amongst each other and discuss how great we are”. Is it really any surprise that they fail?

The problem is that in an age of information overload where attention is one of the scarcest resources, your customers don’t want to split their time on yet another destination online if there is no benefit to them.

Brand communities fail because they don’t understand the fundamental motivations and needs of their customers.

Brand communities are not about what you want them to do, rather marketers need to understand why the members of the community are motivated to 1) connect with other members of the community 2) connect with the brand 3) what role the brand needs to take to provide value and facilitate those interactions.

For brands managers that have ‘controlled’ rather than facilitated conversations for decades and where open or uncontrolled conversation has been equated with fear and failure, this can be quite a significant shift in perceptions.

Freshbooks connects freelancers to work together or find jobs, Harley Davidson creates an community for motorcycle owners and Vertical Response has a community for email marketers which helps them share tips and best practices.

The common thread is that these brands have influence on their community because they own the conversations. They own the conversations because they create an environment that facilitates the fundamental needs and motivations of their community. The community members took ownership because it directly assists them and provides value.

Who are you customers and who is your community? Are you providing value and engaging in the conversation or just trying to farm email addresses?

Photo credit, CBGB Hoser