Every self-respecting communications agency nowadays has a Chief Community Officer. The CCO is responsible for the nurturing of a brand community. Every self-respecting brand wants a community of users, aficionados, evangelists and anyone else remotely engaged. The reasoning behind this craving is costs and exposure. What is more convincing then an unsuspected group of people proclaiming their brand preference? Word of Mouth and Peer to Peer is the best recommendation you can get as a brand. And it is free of charge!

The task of the CCO is stirring brand conversation, brand referral and brand experience. Not an easy task, if you imagine that most brands are hardly top of mind or lack a social context. The number of true love marks, brands with a strain of hard-core aficionados, is limited to a few icons as Apple, Disney, Lego, Nike or Porsche. Upon visiting the spaces where these brand fans congregate, you will see that the brand is indeed at the center of the conversation.

If you look closer however, you will see that these communities act in a slightly different way than is often assumed. Sure, they provide tons of brand legitimacy and its members enjoy high status among ‘light’ users. However, the members may not be very interested in advocating the brand. Worse, they look with disdain upon outsiders, who simply do not understand the codes of the inner circle. They prefer to remain among themselves, drawing a line between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Furthermore, the community members do not slavishly follow the line stipulated by brand management. Instead of obedient soldiers, they may turn out to be ferocious criticasters, making life hard for brand management intent on taking a short cut. So depending on your views on brand management, having a vibrant community can be a mixed blessing…

A vibrant community is demanding, but it is also a rare phenomenon. Most brand communities are websites loaded with branded content, while exhibiting some interactive features. These websites contain games, contests, videos and other gadgets to engage their target groups. In other words, the brand deploys an imposing battery of entertainment to prompt user response. Without these triggers, it is doubtful whether the ‘community’ would emerge and enter in any meaningful dialogue. One of the defining characteristics of a community is a common urge to engage. If this is wonting, there simply is no community, but an amorphous group of individuals.