membership club. Those designing new communities can create structures and support systems to ensure the availability of a wide range of roles. As museum visitors read the inscriptions on the rivets, they reflect on the stories and people behind them. Customers … Carrie Melissa Jones is a community leader, entrepreneur and researcher who has been involved with online community leadership since the early 2000s. The Harley-Davidson Museum, for example, builds webs of interpersonal connections through features such as walls around the campus decorated with large, custom-inscribed stainless-steel rivets commissioned by individuals or groups. A community-based brand builds loyalty not by driving sales transactions but by helping people meet their needs. That means the online experience must seamlessly tie into Harley’s other brand experiences if it's to deliver on these projections. Online networks are just one tool, not a community strategy. Further, the common meaning that holds members together often becomes diluted if the brand attempts to grow. Excessive control has been the norm when it comes to community management. Mentor: Teaches others and shares expertise, Learner: Enjoys learning and seeks self-improvement, Back-Up: Acts as a safety net for others when they try new things, Partner: Encourages, shares, and motivates, Storyteller: Spreads the community’s story throughout the group, Historian: Preserves community memory; codifies rituals and rites, Hero: Acts as a role model within the community, Celebrity: Serves as a figurehead or icon of what the community represents, Decision Maker: Makes choices affecting the community’s structure and function, Provider: Hosts and takes care of other members, Greeter: Welcomes new members into the community, Guide: Helps new members navigate the culture, Catalyst: Introduces members to new people and ideas, Supporter: Participates passively as an audience for others, Ambassador: Promotes the community to outsiders, Accountant: Keeps track of people’s participation. To find out, take our online “Community Readiness Audit.”. DX Summit Conference That is how Harley Owner’s Groups (H.O.G.) People have strong one-to-one relationships with others who have similar or complementary needs. Which shoes are best for rocky terrain? Think, for example, of the script you’d follow for a date at a fancy restaurant or a job interview in a CEO’s office. The company launched 70 new stores in 2017 alone. Vans, the famed maker of skateboarding shoes, has proved adept at building community through support rather than control. Online social networks can serve valuable community functions. And through skateboarding clinics and demonstrations, the company added features of the Sewing Circle. People are more interested in the social links that come from brand affiliations than in the brands themselves. A gathering at which people with common interests share experiences, provide support, and socialize. On the basis of our combined 30 years of researching, building, and leveraging brand communities, we identify and dispel seven commonly held myths about maximizing their value for a firm. Often, people are more interested in the social links that come from brand affiliations than they are in the brands themselves. Brands of conversation thrive on social interaction and engagement. Vans originally sponsored the Warped Tour, a traveling music festival appealing to young adults, as a way to support its customers’ love of music. There’s nothing wrong with listening to customers, but this isn’t a community strategy. From Coca-Cola’s pulling of its beloved soda off the shelves in 1985, to Microsoft’s stifling of internal blogger Robert Scoble, to Hasbro’s suing of fans for publishing content based on its brands, community managers tend to put corporate interests over those of their customers. Through commitment, engagement, and support, companies can cultivate brand communities that deliver powerful returns. [CMSWire Webinar] The Future of Work is Here: Is Your IT Help Desk Ready. Advertiser Media Kit Further, the company established a stand-alone organization reporting directly to the president to formalize and nurture the company-community relationship through the Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) The Harley Owners Group introduced elements of the Fort (an exclusive place where insiders feel protected) through members-only events and special perks. Community is all about rivalries and lines drawn in the sand. Harley’s local dealer network is the heart of the company’s H.O.G. They argued that it did not have the requisite racing heritage and painted Cayenne drivers as soccer moms who did not and could not understand the brand. Harley could train dealers in all kinds of key community-building areas, such as effective outreach, inclusion (a lesson Starbucks learned the hard way for its storefronts), event management, and how to identify and nurture leaders in their local communities. Companies with existing communities can evaluate the roles and behaviors currently being demonstrated and identify gaps that could be filled to improve community function.