My eye was caught on on article in the Harvard Business Review of last april. ‘Getting brand communties right. The authors gave seven myth about communities.
Myth #1: A brand community is a marketing strategy.
The Reality: A brand community is a business strategy.
Myth #2: A brand community exists to serve the business.
The Reality: A brand community exists to serve the people in it.
Myth #3: Build the brand, and the community will follow.
The Reality: Engineer the community and the brand will be strong.
Myth #4: Brand communities should be love-fests for faithful brand advocates.
The Reality: Smart companies embrace the conflicts that make communities thrive.
Myth #5: Opinion leaders build strong communities.
The Reality: Communities are strongest when everyone plays a role.
Myth #6: Successful brand communities are tightly managed and controlled.
The Reality: Online networks are just one tool, not a community strategy.
Myth #7: A brand community is a marketing strategy.
The Reality: Of and by the people, communities defy managerial control.
Myth #6 is an interesting one. Online people often think online is the only thing there is. Fournier and Lee give great examples for non-web communities. Apple enthousiasts, Republicans or Democrats, Ironman traithletes are part of a so called Pool community. Oprah or Deepak Chopra followers are part of a Hub community and Facebook members of the Web community. Here you find also a video about the video.