Focus, Elements of Effective Community Building
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Focus. You can’t cater to everyone. Choose one audience and win them over first. The success of three of the largest social networks can be traced to a focused attempt to corral an audience and turn them into a powerful core group of early adopters. In Facebook’s case, this core group was university students, followed by savvy technical professionals at software companies and consulting firms. Facebook first focused their marketing at university students who would appreciate the “exclusivity” of a social network designed specifically for their needs, and then moved on to attract technical professionals at companies like Accenture and Microsoft who were comfortable online and, by the very nature of their jobs, dealt with multitudes of equally savvy contacts. LinkedIn, a professional social network with an initial focus on independent professional marketing and advertising consultants, formed a critical mass of members which radiated outwards to form the 35,000,000 strong community it is today. As with Facebook, the strategic insight was to hitch the vehicle to a group of members (independent consultants) who interact with a lot of people on a regular basis, like bees pollinating flowers. Today, LinkedIn welcomes members of all professions. MySpace made a well-considered strategic decision to embrace independent musicians and bands, and has since dominated the category. By providing the tools to host and play music, provide event listings, and communicate with fans, MySpace is now the de- facto place for an independent band to use to communicate with their fans. The importance of picking a target audience and delivering a specific message and feature-set that resonates with that audience cannot be overstated. Personalized, one- on-one communication forms the basis for effective marketing. Listen and respond to your audience’s needs, develop functionality specifically for them, shepherd them, and watch these people turn into raving fans.
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