Stop measuring the value of community. The community isn't for your business. The community is for your customers. It's something you do FOR them. The return comes later. The value comes because when your customers feel a sense of community and are motivated to want to give back. They'll want to help you achieve your goals. They will become part of your team. Your success becomes their success. They'll become advocates referring new customers, they'll create content, they'll test products, they'll share feedback and ideas, they'll answer questions for other customers, they'll be an army that gives your business a competitive advantage. Which business wins?: Business A: 100 employees Business B: 100 employees + a community of 1000 loyal community members contributing to biz goals The business with an engaged community wins every time. The community do things employees can't do and at a scale teams can't reach alone. This is a fundamental shift in how businesses function. Marketing isn't one-to-many, it's customer-to-customer. Product isn't built in a silo, it's built collaboratively with customers. That's the value you measure. The value of the contributions made by the members of the community, not of the community itself.
I think it's hard to imagine a business not considering the value, to me this is separate from the team or the people building the community. I think both need to be considered. A community built without considering the impact or business value for the company, will probably not have the support it needs long term to survive. I've seen failures like this happen too many times to count.
I really like this. It encompasses Richard Millington's points about measuring impact without throwing the baby out with the bathwater and saying the community doesn't matter (which, incidentally, I don't think you are saying, Rich, but I have seen people interpret your point as).
Jeffrey Roe
5y
Love this! Couldn’t be more true.
please give us more of this :-) https://giphy.com/gifs/funny-applause-clapping-doUu2ByZDbPYQ
Working on that every day. Thanks for your thoughts. What about metrics to show in order to get buy-in? How to measure a customer-to-customer marketing? How are you sure that is an outcome of a community strategy?
Developer Relations @ Sei Foundation
5yI think we are at an interesting time for community, marketing, and business. I have been wanting it to happen for ages, and now that Alexis Ohanian Sr. is saying that we have reached "peak social" I think we have a shot to really shift how we interact with people - customers, users, community members. Seth Godin says that marketing has changed from something that we do AT people, to something which we do FOR people - cf. what you said about community. My ideal world is where we do both WITH people instead, because how can I do something FOR people when I don't know them??? My electronics aren't just products I buy and use. I use them to work, to connect with people, to relax and to enjoy myself - but for another person it could easily be a yoga mat, a guitar or a bottle of whisky. So as a user/customer/community member, I will share my stories and help others and offer feedback. But not because I care about your ROI or your success metrics or even your bottom line. I'll do it because I want to feel like I'm part of something.