As I continue to help companies build their Web strategy of the future working alongside a team who builds these experiences, I uncover green territory brands can claim to become the focal point for communities or groups of people who resonate deeply with what is on offer: the ability to see each other.
Where it used to take several months and even years to organize impact at scale just a few years ago -- I remember organizing social network events when there was only a listserv provided through Fast Company -- today, it can happen in quasi real time online.
And it could happen around you or without you.
What "helping your fans see each other" means
A few short months after launch, I said Google was drawing together content and sharing with G+:
The share layer will follow what you consume. It will also be where you create, communicate, and schedule. The best part is that they share your data about activity with you. Brilliant.
Some brands have been able to do help passionate evangelists see each other. I wrote about the Ducati tribe, Apple evangelists, and Pixar, for example. They leaped ahead and in many cases nuked their competition by finding their fans and serving them.
When you start looking into it, you may discover your brand already has passionate evangelists. You just have not seen or found them through a siloed approach to marketing. In that case you have a customer learning curve ahead of you.
Or, you may find that your digital presence needs some refreshing or rethinking to align with the way your fans are now used to interacting, sharing, and searching for content they can use to convince themselves and their friends that you are it -- the catalyst they were looking for.
They want to hang out at your place, yet they don't.
Maybe it's because of a broken digital experience, maybe your site is so content-heavy that it's not leaving any room for them.
Or maybe you're just not speaking to the right people. After all, I get pitches every day for content/services that are completely unrelated to what I do when a simple Google search would illuminate the disconnect rather quickly.
To help fans see each other, you need also to start seeing them and speaking with them appropriately first.
[chart from Forbes Insights survey that highlights the disconnects between what marketers believe and what consumers actually do]
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Valeria is an experienced listener. She is also frequent speaker at conferences and companies on a variety of topics. To book her for a speaking engagement click here.