What is community building?

A community is a group of individuals who develop a network of supportive relationships with one another. They share an identity and a sense of belonging. In community, individuals contribute their ideas towards a unified collective. Therein lies its greatest value.

• Community building follows a simple formula:
• 90-9-1
• 90% Are passive participants
• 9% Respond
• 1% Create.

Brands often cast a wide nets, marketing to the broader 90%. Community building, on the other hand, focusses on engaging the 1%. Both practices are equally important to building a good product and ultimately to the success of the brand.

Marketing v/s community building:

Marketing views people as an aggregate and seeks to communicate with them as a whole, efficiently. Community focused communications views people as individuals and aims to delight the few then extrapolate that experience to others.