Enough About Communities Already

Okay, I'm getting older. Not super old, just older. As a result, one of two things is happening. I'm not exactly sure which. Either I'm getting more cynical about the latest-and-greatest marketing and PR hype, or I'm finally experienced enough to see things for what they are and not what they could be.

Case in point: online communities. They seem to be all the rage these days with marketing and PR types. "Create a vibrant customer community and the world shall be yours" the experts say. On the surface, it makes perfectly good sense. If a company can organize its customers into a community, then they can "Share, Learn, and Network" as BMC's community web site professes and maybe, just maybe create more loyal customers interested in buying more.

On the surface, BMC's community site looks as complete and content-rich as any I've seen. They offer blogs and podcasts from experts, include links to useful white papers and even offer chat areas for community members to collaborate and talk amongst themselves. Despite all these great things, I struggle with one simple question: "Who is so bored in life that they'd willingly and actively participate in this community?" I simply cannot come up with a good answer for that question.

In all fairness, I'm not BMC's target market. I'm a PR flack, not a CTO or IT manager. It would be more fair for me to evaluate something that would be a bit more relevant to me and my own occupation. Unfortunately (and ironically), PRSA doesn't have an official "community" site for fellow PR professionals to share, learn and network. If ever there was a group who "should" want to network 24x7, you'd think it would be PR people. Now, the website is chalk full of useful information, white papers, case studies and more. All stuff that should be of interest to me and other PR pros. Even still, I only find myself visiting the web site once or twice a year.

By now, you're probably thinking, "Okay, you are old and just don't get it Charles!" That may be true, except for the fact that I DO in fact belong to several online communities and participate in them daily - sometimes hourly. But here's the thing. None of the communities I belong to have anything to do with work. And they certainly don't have anything to do with a particular product. In fact, none of them have anything directly related to my job or even the tools I use to do my job. The only reason I'm a member of these communities is because they're fun. For me, they're a form of entertainment. Granted, some offer great information. But even these sites are fun. Call them "edu-tainment" communities.

All of this leads me to a fundamental belief about online communities: If they're not entertaining or edu-taining, people simply won't show up often or show up at all. They key to building community is making them fun. One way to do this is toss out any notion of creating a community around your product or company. Instead, find a passion or cause that inspires, motivates and fuels your customers life.

There's plenty of powerful examples. There's a vibrant community of Harely Davidson enthusiats called HD Talking. But it's no an official Harley Davidson site. It's simply a group of people who have a passion for riding. I'm sure there are other examples of communities where the "passion" or "cause" supercedes the product or company.

Communities are no doubt powerful things. But as a consumer myself, I just can't imagine joining a community for everything I own and use? If I can't imagine that, how could I possibly imagine the same thing for my own customers?

Again, maybe I'm just getting old.