Communites Count

Talk of communities is all the rage on the web these days. But does building a community really matter? Isn’t having a company website enough to reach my customers? The answers to these questions are yes and no respectively.

To understand why building a community matters we need to understand an idea called the Law of the Few popularized by the author Malcom Gladwell in his popular book The Tipping Point. According to Gladwell, a tiny percentage of people (called connectors, mavens, and salesman) do the majority of the work to build momentum. It turns out that this is a restatement of an old idea, the Pareto Principle (or better known as the 80-20 rule). The main concept is 20% of your customers are able to reach 80% of your customers. That is a reach that beats a typical e-mail marketing campaign. So how do I reach the 20% that are the buzz makers?

It turns out all you have to do, if I can steal a phrase from the movie Field of Dreams, is build it and they will come. Create a community, engage that community, and then sift your data to identify your buzz makers. Once identified, a little care and feeding is all they need. You have just extended your marketing reach well beyond traditional methods. Traditional marketing is important, but people rely on the recommendation of friends when purchasing products. Here is a way to influence that opinion.

If you want expert advice on community building contact us here at Envano and we will create a plan that will extend your marketing reach.