The story of Jack
In the beginning there was Jack, and Jack had a shop (No, not a ?groove?, if you recognise the lyric.) Jack had a shop that sold fashionable clothes, and with these clothes he made a brand, and from that brand he built fans. The fans loved Jack?s clothes that he designed and produced himself, many people would come from afar to buy his clothes and their friends would envy them in their new suits and dresses.
One of the things that made Jack such a nice businessman is that he loved his work. He would talk about clothes day and night. When you walked into the shop, he would get to know you, advise you on the latest cloth, cuts, what was deemed to be in fashion and his opinions ? even show you radical designs that he himself was designing! Jack had a passion and it went everywhere with him.
As the years went by, the world grew and so did Jack?s brand with it. Eventually his clothes shop expanded and he had stores in London, New York and Paris. Later he started selling by mail order and then came along the internet! Now Jack had a website and sold many items from his website, but he wasn?t entirely happy. Things had changed a lot for the better but he no longer got to talk to the customers as he once did. He even stood in his own shop in New York and people would walk past not saying a word to him. Jack truly enjoyed talking to his customers, but in this new big world that had been lost.
By luck, Jack happened to be talking to a friend one day about his predicament and the friend said he may just have the answer. He asked Jack many questions about his website, how many visits he was getting, was it making the business money, etc. Jack replied that it was doing well on all fronts, could be doing better, but he didn?t see how that solved the problem. Jack?s friend talked to him about starting a forum attached to the website that would allow Jack to talk to his customers again. Jack was pleased with the idea as he knew that internet sales were steadily increasing and he would be able to connect and offer his expertise to his customers once again.
One step forwards, two steps backwards
As the years went by, Jack?s forum became very popular but trouble lurked around the corner. Social networks started popping up and less and less of his customers came to talk to Jack on the forum (and what was now a collection of the brand?s ambassadors helping him moderate the site). As much as he tried, for many reasons he couldn?t build the same type of community on these social networks as he once had on the forum. Sure, some people still used it, but hardly any new sign-ups were being registered each week, let alone in a day.
When he asked his fans on these various social networks why they didn?t use the forum they said ?We have everything we need here!? What could Jack do?
One step backwards, two steps forwards
Jack was sure that the fans still needed his advice and loved his banter. He was a genuine, funny guy after all! He had a team that excelled at being social too, but Jack really was not happy about the level of engagement on these 3rd party platforms, and then there were the silly things like paying to promote his posts to his very own fans ? the fans that he had earned from his hard work in the clothes shop in his home town all those years ago!
Jack had years of business experience and he wasn?t short of a few bob or two either. He?d be damned if he was going to just sit there and sulk about such things. So Jack started researching about social network platforms with the thought ?If they can build one, I can too surely!? Jack read many blog posts about building your own social network and decided to invest in building his own. After some time the new site was launched replacing the old trusty forum.
Jack was happy, many old faces returned and, with his social team still using the 3rd party platforms, they had new users signing up every day. Jack was able to create different user profiles and let people say who they were and what they did if they were involved in the fashion industry or simply a shopaholic. The brand?s community was thriving once again!
It wasn?t quite like being in the shop all those years ago when working in his home town, but it did mean that when he stood in his New York store again Jack was recognised by his customers. Oh, and sales were up and the investment into the new platform paid for itself many times over which kept the shareholders happy.
Note from the author Stuart Wooster?
This, to me, is where social for many businesses is heading. It is happening right now all around us; brands from across the world with a large following are looking at how they can provide a social community that they hold the keys to ? not Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest! They are going with the saying ?Build it and they will come.? (which comes from a misquotation from the movie ?Field of Dreams? by the way).
As a Facebook user I?m fed-up of seeing grumpy cats, hypochondriac updates, X-factor chatter, etc. For many people large social networks are the perfect fit for them, but personally, I?m looking forward to joining separate social networks based on a specific topic that I care about.
This doesn?t mean every business will succeed in building their own community, but for those with a cult following, an already highly engaged fan base and/or are fighting a worthy charitable cause, this could well be the answer to embracing your community and being able to communicate with them on a much deeper level.
I?m not saying ?Social networks have no place in your online marketing.? No, not at all ? that is where the crowd is and you do need to be there hanging out too, of course.
So will this be the demise of social networks like Facebook? No. Will it change the landscape of social media and social networking? I think so!
Source: http://www.redrocketmedia.co.uk/blog/building-a-brands-online-social-community/
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