For a long time now I’ve really been thinking hard about the issues revolving around social media and brands/businesses. It doesn’t matter who you talk to, everyone has an opinion, and quite frankly, they should. But as these discussions continue to evolve and change, there is one key ingredient that keeps coming up.

Communities are the catalyst to social media.

Plainly put, communities, no matter what size, shape, or form they take on, represent the actual catalysts for how social media is played out. I know you may be thinking.. “it is the conversation”, or “it is the free give-aways”, but really, those are all what are stemming from communities. The question that comes to my mind however, is where do brands build, versus when do brands join?

Let’s take a look at ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover. Any ways, the premise of the show is centered on good will towards others who may be less fortunate, have gone through a hardship, or whatever else. Basically, Ty Pennington and his team of carpenters and designers come in, tear down your old decrepit house, and build a new one centered and personalized to your specific needs. Great premise, but what does this have to do with community? I say lots.

First, it is important to realize that this team travels every week to the location of their new project. They aren’t  just building an apartment complex and waiting for people to get up and move. They’re actively seeking families or individuals whom they can help.

Secondly, they focus a whole hour on each and every project. Now because they’re on ABC, they do have a little bit of an advantage of spreading their word and distributing their success, but still, one week, one hour, one project.

Finally, the level of personalization, makes the end-all-result, all the more special for the family they are helping. Maybe a little too personalized in some cases as the show takes every detail and every concern the family has, and somehow incorporates that into their projects. When the family returns, they ultimately feel that the house is personalized just for them.. and it is!

Coming back to the main question at hand, Extreme Home Makeover seems to be finding and reaching out to these individuals in order to help. They aren’t building the community, but joining ones that already exist. Even though they are specialized in their services, they understand that as soon as they go about building their own community, the overall impact on the outside individual diminishes. Not good!

So let’s compare this to Twitter!

Back in the day, when brands were experimenting with new approaches to using Twitter, companies would have a Twitter account and broadcast news, updates, and whatever else was associated with the brand. As this theory became a foundation for how many brands used Twitter, a new approach, a more specialized approach, began to evolve. Instead of relying on @NYTimes for your New York Times news, you now have @nytimesbooks, or @nytimesstyle, or @nytimessports… and so on. (There has got to be at least 100 NYTIMES accounts out there now) Essentially, @NYTimes had the idea that by splitting up their sources (Music, Television, Business, etc. etc) they could essentially build the communities where only certain people could be ‘fans’ of certain groups. Doesn’t this seem like that ‘we build it, you come to us’ example I mentioned earlier?

So what is the solution?

Try not to make things overly complicated! Instead of creating complex networks of Twitter accounts that people just have to keep following, go out and search for where your help is needed! If I received a Tweet from someone saying “Hey I see you’re into this, why don’t you check this out” – I would definitely go and check it out. Actually, that just so happened with a new restaurant, Smashburger, in Tempe, AZ. About two weeks ago, I received an email saying I was invited to their Social Media/Blogger’s night… In the end, I had some good free food, got to speak to their VP, and now I’ve got a new place I can eat in Tempe! It was really quite a simple, and quite an enjoyable experience. (Makes me want to write more about restaurants Any ways, when you are waiting for people to come and talk to you, you risk losing a big ‘ol heap of discussions later on. You aren’t the new kid at school anymore! New kids deem themselves successful these days by introducing themselves and explaining why ‘friending’ them would pay off in dividends. (I’m going to make sure my future son or daughter does exactly this).

Peace