Tenet 4 of Customer Evangelism is Creating Community. This is one of the benefits of blogging that I hadn’t expected. On the occasions when I’ve written a buzzworthy post (like the recent series on positioning), people come from out of the woodwork to post comments and debate amongst themselves on the subject. I love that I can become a host for a community of like-minded individuals, and our combined thinking ends up benefiting everyone.
Ben and Jackie say... The blog world is a self-organized community. We know -- or can easily find -- the bloggers on any given subject. Look at a blogroll and find the community. "The blog is the community, and the community is the blog." You're part of the community even if you're a lurker, since you can learn a lot from the other members. Sometimes we talk about the "echo in the chamber" because members of a community share similar ideas and values. Chances are, if your beliefs are divergent from the rest of the group, you won't be a member of that community. The key is to attract members, not convert them. That's the Customer Evangelism model. Using the Krispy Kreme example, not everyone loves donuts. That's ok. Just build a community of people who do love donuts. Invite them to join the echo chamber.
As another example, Todd at A Penny For... created this Business Blog Book Tour (BBBT) to form a cross-blog community of business book readers. Terrific idea! How are you building -- or contributing -- to a blog community? How have you benefited from the blog community?
Ben and Jackie are, as usual, right on target with the quote above. In my case, I'm pretty passionate about gadgets, especially my Sony Clie. I'm a very active member of two online communities organized around a shared passion for these devices and I post frequently on discussion boards, answer questions for others, write reviews of software, and do anything else I can to contribute to the community. It pays off in spades!
Posted by: Marc Orchant | March 19, 2004 at 04:47 PM