Communities are undoubtedly the flavour of the season in the Indian online space, thanks to the likes of Facebook, Orkut (and our very own Ibibos and Big Addas) on which we have spawned relentlessly. Watching hundreds of thousands of our consumers has most of us licking our lips at the possibilities. Building a ‘brand community’ seems to be the God given solution to building brands online. Or is it?
And before you contemptuously dismiss me as a Doubting Thomas or Devil’s Advocate and consign my views to the Recycle Bin, let me assure you that I personally don’t subscribe to the views of either of the aforementioned gentlemen. At LBi India, we’re firm believers in the undeniable power of Interactivity and User Generated Content to build brands and businesses online and we’re building quite a few community led websites for clients. The combination of Web 2.0 and the incredible accountability of the web can be an awesome weapon in any brand’s armoury. If used judiciously.
However, it isn’t a magical key to success in the online space. Like any great idea, it is right for some, righter for others and absolutely perfect for another lot, but downright wrong for some! So how do we know?
We at LBi India have a simple guide that helps us decide whether a community should be the way to go for any brand or company. A set of simple questions divided into three buckets. So here goes:
Consumer motivations to adopt the community
It should ideally lie in at least one of these four areas:
Does the brand fulfill an inherent consumer need or passion?
Passions like travel, music and films or niche interests like wildlife, philately can make for very vibrant communities.
Will the community enable a business transaction?
Ideas that bring people together to interact, showcase work and do business. Where the website gains by providing services that enable this transaction.
Does the brand already have a captive user base?
Brands with active and rewarding loyalty programmes can enhance the relationship further.
Is it a Cult Brand?
Legends (like Harley) already have a cult following in the offline world, but limited interaction with the brand itself. An online community can enable the brand to do just that!
The strategic imperatives for the community
Is this part of a long term, strategic, brand imperative?
Unless we’re convinced about this, the community will be the flavour of the season idea, and eventually be seen as a waste of money.
What constitutes success for the community?
Set clear, actionable and ideally, empirical targets.
Are we prepared to invest time and money?
Building communities is much like creating and launching a product – requires commitment to invest time and money, now and in the future.
Building and sustaining the community
What are our differentiators?
Consumers make choices and stay with what they like best. If we aren’t better or different from what they have currently, we don’t have an idea.
What is our plan to bring people to the community?
Building a site is like creating a product. Unless we promote it, no one gets to know, and hence no one adopts.
How do we manage monitoring and rejuvenation?
Communities need to be constantly monitored to flush out objectionable content. Also, successful communities are never static and need constant intervention to keep the community fresh and vibrant.
Is it flexible and scalable? Consumer priorities change all the time. Is our model nimble enough to evolve with consumer tastes?
And if the answers to these questions don’t look convincing enough, it’s better to invest the time and money on something else. After all, there is life in the online space beyond communities, improbable as it may currently sound!
(Sarathy is National Head, LBi India)