The idea guaranteed to fail in meetings with any client is a message board. Companies in general fear public dissent from real people. They say things like, "So if we ship the wrong thing, or our customer has a bad service experience - then everyone in the community is going to hear about it? That’s bad." No, that’s good.
The reason they don’t like the idea is that they spend so much money on advertising, telling people how awesome they are - they don’t want to build a platform that will allow real people to compromise that illusion. But why? If you’re doing nothing wrong, people won’t have anything to complain about - and if you are doing something wrong then don’t you want to know about it so you can fix it? In my opinion a community where your customers rule is a must for any business going for perfection. Communities are human business debuggers. Why not know the problems, address them and prove that they’re fixed all in public? The idea is pure genius.
Okay let’s not get carried away. Many people use the word ‘community’ when talking about websites, but let’s define exactly what we’re talking about here. On Dictionary.com the word ‘community’ has the following definition:
com·mu·ni·ty
n. pl. com·mu·ni·ties
- A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
- The district or locality in which such a group lives.
- A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community.
- A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the community of color.
- Similarity or identity: a community of interests.
- Sharing, participation, and fellowship.
- Society as a whole; the public.
To be honest, there was more to the definition but it went on to cover ecology so until plants learn to type we’ll leave it there.
From my point of view what defines community is interaction. Just being part of a society doesn’t mean that you interact with the rest of the people in that group. For me it’s the interaction that turns a group of people into a community.
Do you have a community or just a customer base?
Many site owners claim they have a community but all they have is a customer base. It’s easy to see the difference between the two if you think of them in the following terms. Imagine that your brand is a planet with both satellites and asteroids orbiting around it. What the satellites and asteroids have in common is the orbit - a relationship with the brand. What’s different is that the satellite can communicate with both the planet and other satellites. An asteroid just sits alone, only aware of the planet it orbits.
If your customers are like the asteroid they can float into your brand’s orbit with minor disturbance - and float right back out again. That’s a pretty weak relationship; don’t you think?
Is your business ‘community compatible’?
Let’s get one thing straight, a community-based business model is not good for everyone. Some businesses are not in a position to apply the model, nor should they try.
I was recently speaking at MIT with Jake and Jacob of skinnyCorp on the topic of User Innovation. We were talking to a small group of people who represented some pretty big businesses. The Jakes and I were approached by a couple of representatives from a large food manufacturer. They were interested in picking our brains on how they could apply user innovation as part of a community to help them decide which foods should come out next and help brain-storm ideas for new foods. After speaking with them for a while, I was still unsure whether the community model would actually work for their company - regardless of intention.
I imagined them walking into a boardroom and telling their boss that they will no longer have the authority to make decisions without the participation and agreement of their customer base. I could almost see the fury on the boss’s face from there.
Indeed most companies wouldn’t trust their customers to make important decisions either. Yet in my opinion how can a company expect to have a relationship with their customers without truly trusting them? The missing link for the food company was trust. If you don’t trust your customers then you won’t be able to build a community. It’s as simple as that.
A community is not just for Christmas…
It’s very important that you determine whether your business is truly community compatible. Because once you start, stopping is not an option. Building a community and then withdrawing from it will compromise the trust that glues your community together. And that will cause irreparable damage.
While attending the CustomerMade Conference in Copenhagen recently, I listened to a presentation by Paul Gerhardt, Joint-Director of the BBC Creative Archive. His presentation was about a program the BBC has whereby they allow free access for non-commercial purposes to medium-resolution versions of all of their original video content for use by the public. Needless to say, this is a huge deal. The program was in response to the overwhelming (possibly illegal) use of their material by artists and VJs in the UK. (Read the press release about the BBC Creative Archive). Mr. Gerhardt referenced the loyal, trusting audience of adults in the UK who were happy that their children had access to this. Someone asked Mr. Gerhardt what would happen if there was an overwhelming use of the material in a fashion that wasn’t inline with BBC’s values. The response? Essentially that they would consider pulling the program. Whoa! Hold up. Pull the program? A move like that could seriously compromise the trust of the program’s community who also happen to be the future loyal, trusting, adult BBC audience.
Granted, the BBC Creative Archive is still a hugely successful project and will most likely continue stay that way. It’s an important example though, because once you make the decision to create a community extension to your business, be aware that if you remove it the potential for damage is extremely high.
Pros and cons of community
Communities are an amazing entity to revolve your business around. They help take the guesswork out of business and product development, because if you want to know what it is that your customers want - simply ask. Furthermore, not only do your customers tell you exactly what they want, they essentially create and perpetuate the market for you. Community building is not just about slapping a mesageboard on your site, there are all kinds of inventive ways to get your customers involved in your business. FedEx for example introduced the ‘track your package’ service which enables users to see where their package is at any given moment. The transparent nature of FedEx’s shipping is a brilliant move that has been copied by others - it also makes the customer feel empowered.
There are downsides of course. It’s all very nice to get cosy with your customers but they may have unfavorable things to say about you and your service. The success of your community is a matter of your flexibility and ultimately depends on whether your business is truly ‘community compatible.’ Communities aren’t an ‘add-on’, like a plug-in for Photoshop. You can’t expect that by simply adding community features to your site your success is guaranteed. You have to think about how your customers want to connect with you, or indeed if they want to at all.
It’s also a scary ride. By allowing a community to be responsible for your development you’re essentially putting yourself in the passenger seat of your own vehicle. You can suggest where you would like to go, but ultimately the direction you go is not up to you. This can lead to a potential issue if your business becomes something you didn’t intend it to be. Or it can mean that you end up somewhere that is fantastic for your business - somewhere you would have never reached alone.
Links
If you’re interested in learning more about user innovation and customer co-creation, I recommend starting with the links below.
- User Innovation
- Customer Co-Creation
- Eric von Hippel is an expert on these subjects. His books are available for free online via Creative Commons license
Part Two:
Jeffrey’s next article will delve deeper into the topic of community. He will talk about ideas for integrating simple community features into your business, and also how skinnyCorp built a successful community-based business.
[…] Communities - Good Or Evil? Some solid business advice from Jeffrey Kalmikoff on Vitamin. […]
Sometimes community is a means to say something wrong and bad about business rivals. Especially if anyone can post messages.
[…] So I started rambling about Threadless for a little there, so now I’ll go back to the original topic I was talking about. An article on Vitamin by… (*shock horror*)… Jeff Kalmikoff (remember, the guy from skinncorp). He discusses in the article why so many big businesses are so afraid of having a forum for their customers, and why they shouldn’t be. I was going to base this blog entry around quotes from it, but I’ve spent so much time talking about my love for the threadless community, I’ll just link to the article. Enjoy! […]
I believe communities are good for business they just need to be watched for haters.
[…] Jeffrey Kalmikoff has a great post about communities over at Vitamin. I suggest you read it. […]
I believe communities are good for business they just need to be watched for haters.
Censoring your community isn’t that hot an idea either. Users rapidly see through forums and blogs with nothing but positive comments. Constructive feedback is important, and having somebody monitoring the discussion to reply on behalf of the company is a must. Simply deleting all negative comments isn’t the way to go.
I believe communities are good for business they just need to be watched for haters.
I agree. It doesn’t make sense to allow your competitors to deface your product, on your own website. This idea is interesting, but not practical for everyone.
Great article - keep ‘em coming! If I may, I’d like to suggest a book for people interested in this topic, cause, well, I wrote it: Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places.
There’s a chapter that’s especially relevant to this piece, all about commerce communities: Successful companies encourage community. It’s a few years old now, but still as relevant as ever. My only regret is writing the book before amazing examples like Threadless were around.
Business veri communities with suspicion?…..
I dont think so….whe the eehhf else would myspace bring in enough adverts to be sold for 580 mill….?
its a common standard now that most companies ARE CULTIVATING these spaces. like www.nokiasnowboarding.com
…i dont think this article correctly puts perspective on things.
[…] Vitamin Features » Communities – Good or Evil? Why are businesses so frightened to hear what customers think? Communities are viewed with suspicion but they’re pure gold when it comes to customer relations. (tags: community business) […]
[…] UPDATE2: Justin has pointed me to a good little article on communities. Worth a read. […]
Censoring your community isn’t that hot an idea either.
True. I was just refering to blatent slander. Not someone saying that there item was shipped a day late or what have you.
An excellent article that brings up a great point. We seem to deal almost exclusively in companies that underutilize their web presence, and this is a perfect example of how the Web is paving the way for a new business model.
When left (mostly) to their own devices, these communities are pretty much self-regulating. Yes you will get haters who want to nitpick or outright fabricate poor customer service stories, but the nature of the community also allows those who support the company to defend them. And a rebuttal from a paying customer will hold far more weight than a tidily prepared corporate statement.
A great example of communities benefitting big business is the video games industry. Most gaming communities aren’t regulated by the publishers themselves, but they do kibitz about the message boards and find out what players liked and hated about their latest games. Wish lists for future software is practically written for them in these communities.
live threadless. hey, community not bad, right?
Keeping in mind that nothing says “Our product is dying” like an empty message board. Especially an old, empty message board.
Most companies have online support - but when you actually need to fix anything, or complain - you have the good and bad companies.
So even when companies have a forum - you need to probably register, pay a fee for this extra service in most cases. It just depends on company policy - if they have automated all and are big companies - dont expect support or feedback to be cheap. Just seeing the practical side ….
Those wishing to engage with their community and get feedbacks should have a look to our upcoming web app…Feedback2.0 ;-)
Nice article. Not only are on-line communities valuable to todays businesses, they are more cost-effective by leaps and bounds than traditional advertising mediums.
Compare the cost of a social media campaign vs a 30 second spot during the super bowl. Blogs and other social medi cost next to nothing. Some fortune 500 companies have figured it out and are not just listening to their consumer, they are inviting them to help shape their brand.
Social media rocks!! Check out www.areyoufrank.com
They have some very interesting ideas on the subject of social media and some of the things this article touches on.
This is a great article! Building a community around a business is what keeps it going and develops a better relationship with clients.
I’ll definitely be looking to the second part of this article :)
In the end it’s about managing the edge where your clients meet your company.
There’s two ways to approach the edge - 1) inclusion 2) exclusion.
If you include clients in the edge you are essentially adding value to their experience by creating community with other users and with your company.
Exclusion, the standard corporate practices, creates secrets along the edge which seeps internally into the corporation. This is a lose lose situation.
Start Thinking Community!…
Why are businesses so frightened to hear what customers think? Communities are viewed with suspicion but they’re pure gold when it comes to customer relations.
Do you have a community or just a customer base?
Is your business ‘community compatib……
Power to the… community…
…Not only do your customers tell you exactly what they want, they essentially create and perpetuate the market for you. Community building is not just about slapping a mesageboard on your site, there are all kinds of inventive ways to get your cu…
[…] Over at Vitamin, Jeffrey Kalmikoff has written a superb article about building communities. They key points that he raises are: […]
[…] Vitamin published an interesting article recently entitled “Communitites: Good or Evil?” which raised some interesting points about community website development for corporate gain (and it’s perceived dangers). What caught my eye, however, was the mention of the BBC’s ‘creative archive‘ in which select resources form BBC’s programming is made available on the web under a series of Creative Commonsesque public licenses. What a fantastic move! [and how the hell did this evade my notice so long?!] I’ve never been able to understand media broadcasters and distributors’ litigious approach to online sharing. Well that’s not entirely true - I understand it, I just think it’s overwhelmingly stupid and uninformed. Take for example two situations of broadcast content being distributed on the internet; Sky One’s ‘real life Simpsons’ clip and NBC’s ‘Lazy Sunday’ sketch from Saturday Night Live. […]
There’s one big difference between the BBC and most businesses - it’s that most of the BBC isn’t a business (I doubt there are that many organizations on Earth that are quite like the BBC). One of the main motivations for the Creative Archive is that Licence Fee payers (ie, tax payers, as the TV Licence is government enforced and mandatory for any TV owning household in the UK) get something back from thier “investment” in the BBC. The BBC needs to be community focused, because they are a part of the community in the same way schools and libraries are. The BBC exists to “inform, educate and entertain” and not to make a profit - except for the profit making parts that sell programme rights outside the UK and sell DVDs and magazines in the UK, but then the profits go back into the non profit parts of the organization and not to any shareholders. It’s these commercial parts that might be threatened by misuse of the archive - but the commercial parts are suppossed to be subserviant to the “public service” core of the BBC. So while there is something to be learned by businesses from the BBC’s Creative Archive and it’s other online community activities, it should always be remembered that these activities are effectively government funded and the normal rules of business don’t apply.
Buon luogo, congratulazioni, il mio amico!
Excuse, and what you think concerning forthcoming elections?
nice photos of this blog
gary…
I Have Met Salesmen And Women Who Don’t Actually Practice What They…