The power of community in Business
What? After reading the first two publications, you still want impressive proven successful examples of businesses that have put Community at the center of their business and have had outstanding growth?
Fine… there are various.
Of course tech, once again beats all records in terms of the pace of growth, fuelled by the magic of the convenience of digitalization, the replicability of their model, the ease of collaboration, sprinkled with some internet (also known as the World Wide Web, sounds like the name of the global community to me…). Breathtaking numbers from open-source sites like famous Wikipedia (still increasing at a rate of 17,000 articles per month with over 43 Million users) or profitable sites like GitHub (expected to reach a 100 Million users by 2025) to social media giants that revolutionize the game on how we communicate, share and digest our information such as Youtube (acquired by Google in December 2006 for $1.65B with 25 million users), Canva (had 750K users in 2013, by 2021 it had 75 million users and by June 2021 it had raised of $200Millions at 39.8B Valuation), TikTok (in 2017 had 65million users by 2021 it had over a billion), or latest in the game ClubHouse (launched in April 2020 it was with 600K users, by 2021 with NO revenues, rejected a $4B offered by Twitter and had reached 10Million of users). Probably by the time I finish writing this article some other seed of giant is being groomed.
Almost seems like the magical world of the internet has granted the ability for tech start-up companies to grow into unicorns, we even shifted to calling them decacorns. I think there are new monsters of our imagination called hectocorns. Growth seems unlimited. Aside from whichever code, formula, or user experience, all of them have picked up on an essential ingredient to build their business: the importance of people, the relationship among them, therefore, creating community. Even though not all have achieved it, it doesn’t matter, they know it’s not guaranteed. Yet, they invest heavily in it because they understand the benefit of the practice, all are at least directionally pointing to the holy grail of achieving the social glue of a great community, a sense of belonging. An authentic brand backed by people that are aligned and can keep on attracting more talent indeed makes you feel like there is no limit to the growth. Whether that talent is a customer, an employee, or a provider when growth is backed by people willing to contribute that are clear with what’s expected, you start to really feel the sum of the parts is greater than the parts.
Every day, we’re seeing more examples of companies driving incredible results by building community. One recent study showed that over half of the Fortune Global 50 and the 50 highest-valued startups in the world are investing in community programs. Over 60 percent of startups valued at over $1 billion invest in community.
Consider closer examples to our industry, that yes, still powered by the new technologies of the internet, such as AirBnB and VRBO. AirBnB, who built a community around its hosts, is valued at $26 billion; while VRBO, a rental site that does not have a community, is valued at $3.6 billion.
These are incredible numbers and ROI, and unquestioned change in the way businesses are being run, are thought of, that are creatively using the power of the crowd to grow.
However, the internet had promised us connection, and transparency, yet instead delivered optimization, efficiency, scale, and with it superficial interactions at a great speed. Keep in mind, that not all are positive, with the ambiguity we started calling “community managers” people doing fantastic work, able to multitask yet with a tendency of being more concerned about “new media campaign management”, increasing followers, thoughtless engagement, quick clicks, and likes. It is an almost borderline perversion to call that role community management, which leaves us confused with shallow interactions.
The pandemic has accelerated and has amplified all these changes, and it also has given us the permission to feel more and design for a different future. It reinforced people’s concerns regarding sustainability and well-being. And it seems like the results are here to stay, the pandemic of loneliness is real. Contrary to popular belief, the antidote to loneliness is not togetherness, it is intimacy. It is not enough to put people together in the same space (physical or virtual) and expect a community to spontaneously occur. Artists are masters of intimacy, masters of expression, connection, vulnerability, and authenticity. They remind us of our free will, diversity, and something beyond ourselves that connects us all. So are good community managers, always keeping in mind the basic stages needed for community life to flourish :
- 1. safety: to develop trust
- 2. agency: commitment to the community
- 3. expression: necessary to be able to contribute
Something that differentiates a network from a community is a deep feeling of connection. As I hinted at the beginning of this series, it is much easier to build trust and form a genuine relationship when it’s done in person. That is why we love to work with Real Estate partners that care about their people and the role their space play in the social fabric.
Originally published by Marta Rocamora González at https://medium.com on May 20, 2022.
