The sense of belonging and identification “involves the feeling, belief, and expectation that one fits in the group and has a place there, a feeling of acceptance by the group, and a willingness to sacrifice for the group.” Identification is key; members of a community feel “’It is my group’” and “’I am part of the group’”.
Sustainable marketers will attract members into their brand community by consistently demonstrating to outsiders that you and other members share their core values. Show them you’re like them or like who they aspire to be. Be welcoming to new members and remind everyone they matter. Even better, and more credible, motivate your brand evangelists to do this.
Tips for using belonging and identification to create Sense of Community:
- Create roles for your brand community members. Community is about engagement, both giving and receiving. Give your community an opportunity to do something more or different with your products or services, and reward them for it. Motivate action with contests, crowdsourcing, community service projects, or referral incentives.
- Motivate members to take an extra step and reward them. Give your community an incentive to refer, share a testimonial, post a wiki, or contribute forum advice. Reward them for sacrificing their time and effort to go out of their way to enrich the community. Examples: freebies, special discounts, special gifts, members-only (pre)sales or access…
- Develop opportunities for your community members to communicate. Reinforce identification with the group by offering ways for your community members to interact, both online and offline. Online social networks, forums, or events are some of the vehicles for your community members to get a sense that they’re not alone and that they belong to a larger unit comprising people like them.
Quotes: McMillan and Chavis, “Sense of Community: A Definition and Theory”, Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 14, 1986.
This post is part of Creating Sense of Community series.
