Getting connected with people who share the same ideas or philosophies and getting involved with groups who share similar missions or goals is critical for a brand or business reaching out into the world. Being connected to your brand’s interest community will give you market insight, market foresight, and market nimbleness.

The fast definition of an interest community is a loosely organized or unorganized group of individuals who share an interest in a particular subject, product, or activity in a common medium.

So why would these loosely or unorganized people matter so much to a brand? Because they talk. They share information and share experiences. The research the finest details and they discuss the smallest points. They do this not out of financial reward, but out of passion. They’re sharing their expertise and insight with others who are equally passionate. They spend lunch breaks and late nights hanging out on discussion boards or post reviews to retail outlet sites and without your business even knowing it—they rule your brand.

Who are they? They are everybody. Young and old, rich and poor, and from every race or culture. They are held together by two of the most overlooked threads of commonality—shared interest and shared medium.

The fifty-something African-American executive from Southfield, Michigan and the twenty-something white trades worker from Princeton, New Jersey both have a passion for all things Harley Davidson. They know details about every model that would make an engineer blush. These two very different individuals share the same passion. They share the same medium and they make a great example of an online community bound by interest.

If you are Harley, how would you reach them? What mediums to these two very different individuals share? Think of the shared interest online. Think how they may share their knowledge and thoughts online. Think of how that community of owners band together both online and offline. Finally, you (Harley, in this instance) and brands in general, must come down from the mountain and engage your brand followers—in short, you must join the community.

Chris Brogan from his article Audience or Community explains, “Community happens when people feel they’re among like-minded others and when they feel their contributions matter.”

Joining or engaging is paramount for interest communities. Communities are just that, groups that exist, communicate, and collaborate. To be a part of a community you (as a brand) must do all three.

Exist

A brand must exist to the interest community. Simply put, you must be visible. You must be real to your community. Your fellow-community members should know you’re there, but the reverse is also true. Acknowledge the people who make up the community by responding and connecting wherever possible. These are the people that will turn from simple consumerism or interest into real brand evangelists.

Here’s a great article on improving brand visibility from Social Media Examiner’s Denise Wakeman: click here

Communicate

Using social media as a broadcast-only platform isn’t communication. Communication is a two way street. A wise man once said to me, “you have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you speak.” While he had intended it for a leadership lesson, it applies to branding equally well. Brands need to listen and participate in conversations online. Not simply about themselves, but about the industry and the everyday lives of the community. Being engaged doesn’t necessarily mean being business only. Communication is personal. Make sure your brand is, too.

Brian Solis has a great article on this: click here.

Collaborate

The colorful Gary Vaynerchuk has repeatedly made the statement, “you gotta get in the trenches, bitches!” This statement can apply for any of these categories about engaging interest communities, but collaboration is an important point. There are many in your brand’s interest community who will have as much, perhaps even more, knowledge and expertise as anyone inside your business. Being open to opinions, experiences or ideas will give you the valuable position of getting feedback quickly and from relevant sources. Imagine the power a software company might wield with a community of developers that are able to spot the tiniest glitch? While “giving away” proprietary information isn’t recommended, communicating and collaborating ideas will give your brand the edge.

Take a look at Gary Vaynerchuk’s January, 2009 video really bringing this thought home: click here.

This concept is not ours, but it is a culmination of numerous influences. Chris Brogan goes into significant depth in his book, Trust Agents. He describes in riveting detail how relationships and trust is built in these interest communities. Brands must be true to their spirit. Brian Solis devotes an entire book, Engage, to interacting with interest communities. And the ever-colorful Gary Vaynerchuk perpetually reminds brands to “get in the trenches” with their consumer base. Don’t forget to pick up his book, Crush It!

Whether getting a new brand off the round or getting an existing brand out into better light, defining and connecting with your surrounding interest community is critical. Before running out and shouting to anyone who’s there, take the time to look, listen, and as Brian Solis puts it, engage. Becoming a part of your own brand’s interest community will be the best connection you can make.

Stick. Stay. Stretch. Snap back.

Sounds like a pretty good brand strategy?

So much of our message about social media revolves around being sticky. How well a brand message resonates or sticks to the consumer’s decision making process is critical in all mediums—especially social media where brand loyalty is hard won and easily lost. Could putting a brand message out, letting consumers carry the message with them, spreading the message by contact to members of their interest community, and eventually having them return with even more interested consumers be a winning brand strategy. I think so.

Spreading a brand’s message from consumer to consumer means that the message is personal. The brand message must identify with the consumer on a one to one level. It must also have an inherent vehicle to drive the consumer back to the brand (website, social media nest, etc.). This “snapping back to home” is not too different that a rubber band stretched out and snapping back, but with each snap back to home more consumers get brought in. In fact, I keep thinking of the “sticky hands” we’d get from gum ball machines when we were young.

What tools would you use to enhance the “elasticity” of brands? Social location networks (SoLo), or location-driven social media are great examples. In this instance, we’ll use the rapidly growing platform, Foursquare, as an example. Our early adopter, Allison, goes out with her friends on a Friday evening. Checking into venues over the course of the night and broadcasting her locations and opinions. These are passed along to Facebook, Twitter and other social media venues spreading her experience, visited businesses, and overall fun to all of her followers / friends. Conversations begin about the drink special she got from Club A or the incredible service at Restaurant B.

Allison is using SoLo networking to spread the word for these brands. She’s flinging out the sticky hand and getting her followers/friends to “snap back” to the brands she’s experienced. Those friends/followers of her interest community are now embracing the brands Allison “endorsed” in her night out. Suddenly, Allison’s friends/followers are going to want to repeat her experiences and share them through their own interest communities.

Allison’s adventure and subsequent spreading of brand messages is, of course, contingent on not only making the brand personable, but engaged. Brands must engage Allison while she is on her adventure. Brands must give her the tools to support her sharing of the brand message. Foursquare is a good example of how brands can engage consumers on a new level and spread their message to a wider consumer audience. This article on the success of restaurant owner, Joe Sorge, using this exact medium illustrates the effectiveness.

Brands are now faced with the possibility to integrating into consumer’s lives on an unprecedented level. Overt advertising for brands with small budgets is a challenge, but smart brands who are willing to engage consumers and help spread their brand message while doing so will ultimately succeed. However, that means brands must discover what, when, and how their consumers are communicating and sharing. As Gary Vaynerchuk puts it (in his trademark language), “you’ve got to get in the trenches, bitches!”

Giving interactive mavens and potential brand evangelists, like our fictional Allison, the tools to spread your brand will mean every time she goes out your brand message will stick to more and more consumers. Like the sticky hands, every time it goes out, it will bring something back.

Who Takes the Bigger Risk or Has the Greater Influence?
The Initiator or the First Followers?

Take three minutes to watch, there’s something to learn here.

The lone dancer is standing there grooving to the music, doing something he loves. He might look a little silly, but so do many of us when trying to dance. A couple people walk by and simply move on. Yet one person takes the chance to dance alongside the guy. Sure there may be some initial resistance, but no sooner than the two are dancing in peace come several more. Throw in some young women and you’ve got a small crowd. People notice and the crowd isn’t so small anymore.

I saw this video attached to an article by David Airey and while it was for another important topic, the video left me with a very different thought. Does the originator of the idea–the initiator, often seen as the big gambler, assume the largest risk? Or is it that first generation of consumers/clients? The “first followers” that embrace a concept and work to see it grow?

Looking at the video, that first knot of people all danced slightly different. The initiator was clearly moving to his own tune, but that first generation of users are who quickly defines what will attract the geometrically growing number of people. Within moments, one cannot distinguish between the first generation of followers, much less the initiator. It has a life of its own and the movement of dance shifts from individuals to a mob bouncing.

Do ideas (or brands?) behave any differently? Look at all the social media touchpoints. The original developer had one idea, the first followers used it for another. By time you have hundreds of thousands of users, it is a very different creature. Is it was the initiator had in mind—likely not, but that first generation of users were the ones that carried the idea or brand from “some dude dancing” to a crowd everyone wanted to be a part of.

Of course, making sure some of them are scantily clad, good looking men and women doesn’t hurt either.

Carrying this idea into the branding world, sometimes you do need to be the lone guy dancing shirtless, but that first generation of consumers/clients are what will really shape it. Those first followers are taking a risk with the brand/product. Work with them, turn them into evangelists. Let them wave the others in, but participate with them. Likely, that shirtless guy was in the center bouncing along with everyone else.