A small group of people who are extremely interested in let's say, collecting all kinds of Coca-Cola bottles, over the years and from around the world, are scattered right now all around the globe. They might be pursuing this 'quirk' individually, possibly even thinking that they're 'weird' for doing so. Until one of them decides to create a Facebook page to upload their stories and before they know it, 500 people joined in over a week!
What you just read and witnessed was not the birthing of a new community in the world, but rather just connecting it to the power of technology (A Facebook page in this case).
We're all pretty sure in our heads with what communities are, but we seldom find ourselves giving it the due credit. Simply defined, communities are like-minded people that come together because of a common interest which over time finds a way to become the most important part of their lives. Much like culture, on which we've had a discussion earlier, communities give people validation- A single person collecting Coke bottles is probably weird, but the minute it's a Facebook page with over 20,000 members, you know you just can't discount it.
From a marketing POV, communities often exhibit 'evangelism' (a state where the customer is almost devoted to the brand and goes on to convince others to buy-in). That's why certain brands like Harley Davidson or Starbucks actively disseminate marketing through their communities. This, in turn, gives them quite an edge over their competition, and if you're a marketer you know just how tough it is in today's world to retain customers when other brands are doing all they can to steal them.
For me as a fragrance enthusiast, the community of 'Basenotes.net' is where I thrive. It's probably the most frequented bookmark in my browser and also where I go to feel myself and hear like-minded fragheads banter about vintage perfume, reformulations, pairing the right fragrance with the weather and much more. In my life, it represents my 'home away from home' and I'm pretty sure some intelligent marketer has found ways to creatively influence me when I had my guard down. And you know what? I don't mind that. Don't we all have that one area where we let ourselves off the hook about how much time or money we spend on it? (Trust me, limit it to just one lol)
Communities also illustrate an interesting thing about us. Our need to thrive under extremely homogeneous/like-minded groups. Our tendency to gravitate towards 'sameness' is the currency that fuels communities. It's that 'home away from home' feeling that helps us kick back on a tired day and tune in to the fandom of our choice.
There's so much more that we explored in-depth on the pod and if you're looking to end or begin your day with a conversation between friends, you know where you'll find that :)
(We even talk about why Sheeples started out as a community and that's something that many of you might resonate with!)
You can listen to our conversation here: https://bit.ly/the-sheeples-community
This was Zee, signing out! Until next time Sheeples!