Turn your customer into your community

Lego vsMattel.

In early 2000, LEGO was on the verge of bankruptcy facing stiff competition from video games & internet. It turned to its user community and created fan clubs "LEGO ideas platform" inviting ideas from customers for LEGO products. This helped them effect a remarkable turnaround of the company, surpassing Mattel to become the worlds biggest toy making company.

Today with the internet, the product users can easily share their experiences in suitable forums. The companies have very little power to influence customer interactions. previously marketing department used to initiate all interactions between the company and its customers, today the customer can easily share his tips, experiences, success, failure stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and various other forums.

LEGO in their LEGO ideas platform welcomed their fans to submit new ideas for LEGO sets. These are voted by other fans and the top vote-getting ideas are reviewed by the LEGO staff. the chosen idea is turned into a product for sale and the fan designer gets 1% of the sale as royalty. Through this initiative built an engaged community contributing to new product ideas as well as suggesting improvements to the product.

Another example id PORSCHE with their community app helps passionate drivers to share their favourite routes and connect with other drivers over their love for driving.

Communities are more than a group of fans, they are fans who keep coming together over what they care about. There are 3 crucial lessons to consider.

Be willing to trust your consumer

Community building is an act of collaboration demanding trust from the company. TEDx is an example of this. It empowered volunteers to organise TED-style conferences in their cities, allowing a massive number of attendees to participate.

Before launching TEDx, TED organised the entire process. By trusting and empowering an external community they have been able to spread the ideas on a remarkable scale. It has been a massive success underlined by the trust od Chris Anderson finding people who are passionate about TED and really love and believe in spreading ideas. 

Some companies do not want this 2-way relationship with customers. It is important to understand the customers. Some brand customers may want the company to make products for them. This would help companies in deciding on the type of community involvement.

Start with "Who" and not "What"

Companies that start communities without thinking about the purpose may build a space where no one turns up and it may never take off. 

Start by identifying keen participants. It is an ongoing practice of trusting and collaborating with a group of passionate people who believe in your brand. Supporting them and encouraging them by a group of the cross-functional team would go a long way in nurturing the community.

Consider a sustained collaboration, not a short term investment.

Instagram was very popular before Facebook took over. It was the community that helped it grow and attain the level of popularity compared to other photo-sharing apps. Facebook after it took over reduced its investments in storytelling bout community members and automated its customer support. It stopped the Insta meets which the community members put up periodically. Yet it continues t grow.

Twitch Amazon, on the other hand, Continues to make deep investments in their community even as they have grown. Their ambassador programs fly the chosen members to the company HQ to speak directly the product team. It spotlights remarkable users in their editorial. The user community has grown from 50 million to 200 million today. The members give their time to organise and advocate on behalf of their brand. 

A company can continue to thrive without investing in their community (Instagram) but if you don't sustain relationships you are at risk of alienating the community. For any company, the set of loyal customers are their most important asset.

A community is alive and vibrant only if people keep showing up. So also the company need to show up regularly to sustain the interaction. They need to be consistent. they need to make sustained investments putting time and resources into sustaining the relationship.

Remember you will get out what you put in.

It requires trust instead of control, commitment instead of flightiness.

In the coming decade, customers will be acting on your behalf anyway, driving interaction themselves. We can either stand on the sidelines or take an active role by empowering them.

Turn Your Customers into Your Community

by Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh, and Kai Elmer Sotto

January 16, 2020, HBR

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When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage

In recent times community participation in civic organisations like religious groups, labour organisations, non-profits has declined. However powerful committees are getting organised around brands providing powerful opportunities for companies.

eg: Salesforce - while its innovative software has grown exponentially during the past, it has also created a community of 2 million members worldwide who support each other, organise events, produce content, is an international network of talent all supporting the success of Salesforce.

Harley Davidson has created 1400 local chapters around the world for enthusiasts to get together in person and discuss their bikes and share ideas.

Fitbit has a community of more than 25 million members who share and refine their exercise regimens. 

While communities generate tangible business it is the intangible value that members derive that makes them "sticky".

human beings are basically sociable creatures and we crave for a sense of belonging and meaning. The brand communities deliver these benefits creating a sense of shared accountability.

Benefits of communities:

1. Members acquire new members, resulting in lower acquisition costs.
2. Members stay in a community they join for a longer period leading to higher retention and improved lifetime value.
3. members support one another and help sort out any issues leading to lower cost of support.

This results in overall benefits of quick response, smarter community, global reach and more value as you have a rich data bank of experiences that the community can draw upon.

One of the key reason for the growth of communities has been the growth of the internet and the easy availability of communication platforms especially mobile-based. This has lead to an exponential growth of audience who are comfortable using the technology for their day to day life. many tools like Slack, GitHub, discuss have been developed making it effortless to form a community of like-minded individuals and share their experiences.

Customers today want a deeper relationship with the company and fellow buyers of the product. 

Seven patterns for success in community building.

It is not enough to set up a community platform. We need to create a platform that incentivises the desired behaviour, highlights the value generated and rewards active participation.

Successful communities have seven key elements.

1. A shared purpose and values: "why are we coming together?"
2. Simple and easily accessible value proposition: members should easily see the benefits - events, documentation, support etc.,
3. Simple value creation: members should be able to create value. It should be clearly defined, simple and provide immediate gratification.
4. Clearly defined rewards/ incentives: Quality contributions should be acknowledged and appreciated to build a sense of belonging.
5. Carefully defined accountability: There should be clearly defined peer-review to produce better results and increase collaboration.
6. healthy participation driven by good leadership: Leaders should embody good conduct and diversity.
7. Open governance: There is clear objective governance and members can play an active role in reshaping its structure.

Success measure

For companies building a community the areas to track to ensure success should be

• Community consumption and creation: Track the active participation by the community and the value that members create and consume.
• Delivery and execution: Track how well the company is building strategy, eliminating work and executing effectively. 
• Organisational experience: Follow the incubation and evolution of community skills in business - reacting to data, moderation, mentoring, conflict resolutions, delivering incentives.

Communities are changing the way we interact with brands, products and other people and requires a careful nurturing for mutual benefit.

When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage

by Jeffrey Bussgang and Jono Bacon

HBR January 21, 2020