• Social Community Shortcuts

    Posted on June 30th, 2008 by and currently 5 commenting.

    They don’t work.

    So many companies want the popularity of a Facebook or the reach of an Engadget so badly, they that jump right in without doing any of the heavy lifting. Then they expect people to flock to them and can’t understand it when they don’t.

    But you know what? Facebook started with a tiny handful of people. And Engadget started out with a small audience. Then they grew. Organically.

    It’s tactic-itis people. It’s throwing applications against the wall and hoping to god that one of them sticks. When you jump in the middle of the process, you sacrifice the most important component of what makes a community work (and what makes it sustainable, too) ” the groundswell. The legwork of going out and talking to people and asking them what they want from you. How you can support them. Connect them. Empower them.

    When you try to bypass the heavy lifting and jump right into tactics, you’re doomed. You’re creating MORE noise.

    So know before you embark on creating word of mouth movements online and offline: there are no shortcuts. The road to long-term, sustainable movements might be a little longer than the quick-fix, but the ROI blows it out of the water.