The Engaged Consumer

There are a lot of brands out there chasing the same audiences. Consumer goods purveyors are pursuing the purchasing-power moms. Financial services and technology companies are after the small business owners. Just about everyone is trying to figure out Gen Y and the “digitally born.”

In our last post my colleagues Aaron and Bill touched on how to connect with a passion point to drive community – but what if everyone out there is trying to connect with that same audience, and as a result trying to tap into the same passion point?

There are only so many communities about healthy eating, managing your finances, owning a small business, travel, or even fly fishing that can survive on the web. And often this is a point marketers stop at even before they start. They see the benefits of owning a piece of the conversation, but are daunted by the large and successful communities out there already addressing their audience’s interests.

The key, in my mind, is to turn the analysis inward and ask “what is the unique, relevant value that my company or brand could bring to a community on the web?” Answering that question takes some imagination. Below, a few thoughts on how to tackle that issue and “bring the unique.”

A Bigger Budget

One of the biggest ways brands can offer something unique, especially in contrast to consumer-run online communities, is the resources they can focus on it. A site that is professionally designed and built, with content that is supplied by top-notch experts, and perhaps augmented by the presence of celebrities – these are things that a brand can create that can be truly unique and will attract consumers to commune. A key point here is that the budget should be employed to bring things to consumers that are non-self-serving and of interest to them, so no flashier product demos or buying guides please (though these things have their time and place!).

A Backstage Pass

A great area of community value is simply access to company and brand. People want to meet the people behind a brand or product. They want to know how things are made, and hear the thoughts and opinions of internal experts. Successful companies are unique in the market, and increased access to that can be a great source of fuel for community. Even if a community isn’t truly pulling back the curtain, some level of active participation is always powerful.

Go Niche

A brand can employ its considerable resources and access to a more focused audience than any of its competition does. By narrowing a community focus to a group of people that is of highest relevance to their brand, a company can create a more unique community. In the long run, the deepening of relationships with people who really belong with your brand, and the power of advocacy they bring, will serve you better than trying to lure those who aren’t a great fit with a broader community focus.

Know Your Place

Finally, a point of caution. Even though a brand can get an audience engaged, it doesn’t pay to invest heavily on communications tools for them. Allow them to use the email/IM/Twitter/Facebook that they already have in place and feed into those tools. Social marketing is about offering unique, relevant value in a community-powered environment – not about communications between and coordination of people. The quickest way to doom a community is to compete with the thousands of social networking tools out there. It’s more than just offering a competitive tool – it’s that people don’t feel truly comfortable communicating with each other when a brand is “in the room.” Why do you think display ads on Facebook don’t work well? If people find each other and want to take their new relationships out of the context of your brand, that’s great, it pays to let them – that’s where true advocacy begins.

Any other thoughts on how a company or brand can bring the unique, or reactions to the points above? Please sound off in the comments!

Image uploaded by Karl Wagner