Building a Community is Like...
I've been talking to a lot of different people in the past few months in diverse industries, from healthcare to IT the word on everyone's lips is, "Community". I've started to ask the question, "So, what does that mean to you? What would be your goals to having a community?" and from those answers start articulating what the word "Community" means to the person sitting across the table from me.
I've been thinking a lot about the role that a community of people can play in an organization, particularly in the for-profit world since companies are what I come in contact with every day. The conclusion? Building a community is closer to a political campaign or managing a team of volunteers than anything else. In both cases reliance on the passionate converted to carry the message back to their network is the holy grail and the way is to use the passion and energy for the brand. At the heart of every successful viral marketing campaign are the people, period, end of story.
Anyone else have thoughts?
