That’s not what community means
This is Part 1 of a three-part blog series on community and culture from the CMA Brand Council.
There’s a tendency for the meanings of words to change over time. Sometimes this is a positive thing, and other times there are consequences. Currently, we’re seeing what happens when we no longer have a consensus on the definition of “community.” Specifically for marketers, this is a problem worth recognizing.
Community can mean several things. It can be a geographical grouping, a cultural one, or a combination of the two. It can indicate a feeling of connection, or merely be a lumping together or people. Where things get challenging, is when we start conflating definitions. This happens often, when we’re talking about the relationships that groups of people, have with companies, brands or products.
When a brand confuses a community as in “a grouping of people” with a community as in “people who identify with a shared set of values, beliefs or interests,” this is a marketing error. While there are definitely brands that have a fandom, or even a community, it’s likely that your motor oil, toothpaste, or dry pasta’s loyal buyers would be confused if you referred to them as “our community.”
Misrepresenting an audience as a community has actual business consequences. It leads to decisions that don’t make sense, presumptions of loyalty or audience portability that aren’t rooted in reality, and sometimes overestimating what a brand means in the minds of customers, or broader culture.
So, the first question becomes clear: does your brand have an audience, a fandom, or a community? Here are some working definitions:
An audience is a group of people you are communicating with. They may communicate back, or may not. But that one-to-many or one-to-one communication is effectively the extent of the relationship.
A fandom is a group that has a deep relationship with something (brand, product or experience). They consider their relationship with that thing as important, and maybe even part of their identity. They will take actions or changes related to their thing personally, good or bad. They will advocate, celebrate, promote, but also hold you to account. They may engage with other fans (lightly or deeply) but the engagement is usually about the fandom; that’s the glue around the relationships.
A community is a group that has a durable relationship with one another. They can be around anything, but normally it’s not just a singular interest or trait. A community needs a set of shared values, behaviours and spaces, and they often have different tolerance levels for people just learning those rules. A community can definitely sprout from an audience or a fandom, but you can’t just decide that you’re going to have one. And if you’re lucky enough to have a community, it’s not an asset you control, it’s a living thing you interact with.
An audience only notices you when you’re sending them messaging.
A fandom might be engaged at all times, but when something new drops, there will be an activity spike.
A community might be engaging with each other, and your brand may drift in and out of relevance.
Rather than three distinct options, this is a venn diagram. Your audience likely overlaps with a few fandoms or communities, even if none of them are actually about your brand. These can be hugely valuable creative or targeting opportunities.
You probably do not have your own fandom or community. That’s fine. When Province of Canada released a collab Heated Rivalry fleece, they got to connect with the fandom of a hit book series, the fandom of a buzzy show, and a community of people who care about representation in media. It would have been baffling if Province of Canada had approached the entire thing with the idea their brand was at the centre of the communities or fandoms in play, but brands do this all the time when they define “community” or “fans” as “people who follow us on Instagram” or “people who subscribed to our mailing list.”
An audience is primarily recipients of one-to-one or one-to-many communication.
A fandom is a group built around a shared interest no matter how intense. Unless you are very lucky, that interest is not your brand.
A community is a set of shared values, interests and spaces that you need you understand to be able to interact with meaningfully.
When you confuse these concepts, you create problems for yourself either today or tomorrow.
Today, because you’ve confused an audience for a community or fandom, and are going to assume a level of commitment or interest that is not realistic. Tomorrow, because you’ve forgotten that actual communities and fandoms exist, and you’ll never think to engage with them as anything more than a demographic or psychographic target to broadcast at.
Which is why it’s important, to be clear on what “community” means.
Stay tuned for Part 2, which will explore how community and culture are evolving on social media and how brands can stay ahead.
