Businesses Can Engage People In Community

Social Media is the platform that leverages our human capacity to be social within online communities.  As  business owners, we can leverage communities as part of customer support, product innovation, thought leadership and public relations.  

Why Do People Join Communities?

We have all joined and been part of  face-to-face groups.  For similar reasons people join online environments or virtual communities. Social psychology has found that people join communities for two main reasons.

The most frequently cited reason in the research literature that people join virtual communities is to access information.  Knowledge and information are a valuable currency or social resource in vital communities. 

The second most frequently cited reason is to gain social support that the community can provide.  People are first and foremost social creatures and seek social support.   Friendships and social support are a central part of human life and interactions with others.  

The structure of social media platforms makes it easier for people to find information they need within communities, and at the same time, find others in similar situations.  These platforms are where people get emotional support, social support and develop companionship with people who have similar.

People are at the Centre of Communities

As business owners, we need to think of members in communities not based on individual characteristics, like women between the age of 30 - 40 but as  groups of people who like to hang out with one another and share passions (quilt group), share pain (parents with kids with cancer), share a sense of duty and dedication (military wives), and have similar common traits (targeted client groups). 

It is important to remember that whatever drives members of a community together becomes the centre of the community. A mistake that business owners make is that their products become the centre and they push their product onto the community without first engaging with the social humans that make up the group. 

I recently read a case study about a large office supply company that wanted to creat a community in order to  to market their products which included shredders, staplers and paper to small business owners. They invited people to join their Facebook Page that was a community for small business owners. This ‘online space'  was meant to be a place where customers could be part of a community of like-minded small business owners.   The mistake that this company made was that they kept at the centre of the community their products rather than the members.  They did not acknowledge the reasons that people join communities. Small business owners have issues, set-backs, challenges, and successes.  When becoming part of communities we need to identify with the humans in the communities and not focus on the product that will be used by these people.

Building Community 

When building communities we need to remember that communication is a reciprocal process.  When we engage people in online conversations through community building we are asking people to invest in us.   We too need to invest in them.  They will expect something in return.  Solutions to their problems, good advice, an opportunity to network, entertainment or a place to be inspired and motivated.  

When building community with our customers and suppliers we need to remember that people are first and foremost social creatures. I frequent my local petrol shop, ensuring that I time my empty tank to coincide with connecting with the business owner that engages with me as a person.  Each time I fill up my car I have a short friendly conversation. This prompts me to return.  I then get assistance with bike tires and windshield wipers, I pick up a loaf of bread when needed, I  display my notices on the community notice board, and I network with other customers in his small shop.  

Friendships and social support are a central part of our interaction with others. Research shows that this natural human tendency happens in face-to-face environments and in virtual ones as well. 

How can we as business owners provide a ‘virtual place’ where people can access services and information, as well as, receive social support?

References

Ariely, D. (2008) Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. New York: HarperCollins.

Gossieaux, F., & Moran, E. (2010) The Hyper-Social Organization. New York: McGraw Hill. 

Ridings, C. M & Gefen, D. (2004) Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. 10 (1), Article 4.

Online Presence - Making the Neighbourhood Bigger

It is the school holidays, winter in New Zealand, and the teenagers are enjoying movie marathons on these cold wet days.  Yesterday we were watching ‘The Internship’ with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.  The comment they made when trying to convince a small pizza shop owner to expand his business and move to online marketing resonated with me.  “We are not saying to change the quality that you offer, we are just trying to make your neighbourhood bigger.”

That is exactly what we need to do as we develop an online presence. Developing an online presence is about involving ourselves in different communities.  We do not change who we are or the ‘quality’ of our presence but we get to know who is in the neighbourhood in a virtual way.  We do this by being ourselves, by being authentic and adding value to those around us.

Moving to a new town a few years ago I didn’t know anyone.  In order to get to know people I needed to get involved and find out who was in the area.  It was in this way that people would in turn get to know me. The easiest way to do this was to become a member of different clubs,  to join the local gym and to involve myself in the local events.  It was in this way that people got to know me and I got to know different people.

Moving to a new town and getting to know people and expanding the neighbourhood that we live in is exactly what we do as we develop an online presence.   We involve ourselves in different communities.  We become a member of LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Quora.  We find people that we like to hang out with and have similar interests that we have.  We allow people to get to know us by being authentic and adding value.

Developing an online presence is all about making our neighbourhood bigger.  Certainly when we move to a new town we are apprehensive about joining a club where we do not know anyone or going to an event by ourselves.  These feelings are similar to how we feel when we make efforts to join online communities.  It is one of the main reasons that I choose to offer workshops on 'building community together online'.  It takes the apprehension out of moving into the online neighbourhood.  It connects us with people that ‘watch our back’ because sometimes it takes time to develop trust in new communities.

Developing and building an online presence is about building community.  It is about making our neighbourhood  a little bit bigger.  When we do this with others then it is a journey shared. 

References

Gossieaux, F., & Moran, E. (2010) The Hyper-Social Organization. New York: McGraw Hill.  

Hardwired to be Social

As Humans, we are hardwired to be social.  When we hear the words ‘social media’ the first thought to come to mind should be ‘social’.  Social media is not about the technology or the media, it is about our human capacity to be social. 

In the world of Web 2.0  technology is often the focus as we wrestle with coming to grips with all the new advances on our mobiles and laptops.  This technology is triggered by our natural capacity and desire to be social.  Gossieaux and Moran emphasise the need to focus on Human 1.0 to understand Web 2.0.

Reciprocity in Communities

Human 1.0 centres on our natural inclination to live in communities.  Evolutionary biologists highlight that  people naturally want to help others and to be helped.  This exchange of services is caused by a reflex called reciprocity.  In modern day online forums and communities that continue to form we see this reciprocity in action.  Just the other day I was struggling to understand an issue with my LinkedIn profile.  I found my way to the Help Forum on the LindedIn site, posted my question and frustration, and within minutes had the answer to solve my issue.  Reciprocity in action.

Platform of Participation

Tim O’Reilly refers to ‘social media’ as a ‘platform of participation’.  Online communities are growing with advances in technology that allow us to connect in mobile ways like never seen before in human history. The social applications that we download and use are allowing us to behave in a way that is in line with who we are as humans.

The technological tools allow us to be human, to be social, are accessible and affordable.  I mentor speakers in Toastmasters and have found that an easy way to assist is through the creation of YouTube videos offering advice and suggestions.  This blog I am writing at the moment is a way for me to transfer reflections from readings.  It allows me to share my thoughts with a wider, potentially global, audience to encourage discussion and collaboration on similar issues.

In summary, the main driver for what is happening today is not the technology but our natural human desire and capacity to be social.  As we become participants in these platforms we are narrowing the gap between when we think and when we communicate.  Knowledge and information is in a state of flow and allows us to assist each other in the communities join and form.  Social Media, spurred by advances in technology, is allowing humans to do what they do be, to be social.

References

Gossieaux, F., & Moran, E. (2010) The Hyper-Social Organization. New York: McGraw Hill.

Revolution of Knowledge Flow

Communication Moves from Channels to Networks

The advent of the Internet in the 1990s was the beginning of a revolution of modern times.  It has moved us from using ‘channels' of communication to developing the flow of communication through 'webs and networks'.  It has moved us from stock piling knowledge to realising that the movement of knowledge within networks is most useful.

At first the Internet was seen as a revolution in the new way that businesses could market their goods and reach out to global audiences through these new widespread networks of communication. But the REAL revolution was not so much about organisations stretching out to reach consumers in new ways but about consumers and people using the Internet to reach out and connect with one another in increasing new ways.

Technology Fuels Developments

The ‘knowledge’ or ‘internet’ revolution has been fuelled by new advances in communication and collaborative technologies that facilitate social connections.  These changes continue to transform our lives and can leave us feeling overwhelmed.  We should continue to remind ourselves that the changes that have taken place have done so at great speed. We must take heart in that it takes time to make such adjustments.

We humans are a species that have an innate drive to live in groups and to work together for common goals. We are social by nature.  We can take heart that this push of social media is not about the technology but about our natural human tendency to be social. We are evolving from a species that socialises and collaborates face-to-face to one that can now also extend this to global and virtual platforms.

References

Gossieaux, F., & Moran, E. (2010) The Hyper-Social Organization. New York: McGraw Hill.