My job entails creating online communities for my clients – but just what is an online community?

Facebook Group – says Mr. Green confidently

Twitter Following – says Mr. Pink with relish

Blog – says Mr. Blue satisfied that he is correct

Forum – Says Mr. Red knowing he had the right answer

Well fellas, while these are all social media and community tools, none of them are a community. So close but no cigar sir!

But these answers are where things tend to go wrong, and where people end up steering their social media campaigns in the wrong direction - generally towards a creek with no paddle.

A community cannot be defined solely by a tool or the newest flashing javascript feature – it does not exist entirely in an online vacuum – but will spread out from your computer/phone/ipad screens into the offline world of flesh, paper and mizzle!

You must create the community before you need the tools to fuel it.

You need to collate a community around your company /product using a passion that unites your customers. (Bear in mind that it may not be possible to find a passion that spans across all your clients, and your product may mean you could/should create a few communities – depending on who the customer is and how your product is used by them.)

‘What is sexy about kitchen appliances?’ cries Mr. Green

‘How can I get people excited about plumbing?’ Sneers Mr. Pink

‘A courier network as a passion?’ Mr. Blue snorts in disbelief

‘There is nothing thrilling about scissors’ scoffs Mr. Red

Well this is the challenge that your online marketing departments or companies will face.

‘Well Mr. Green, you are right kitchen appliances aren’t normally sexy, but cooking is. You could look to building your community around cooking/recipes/baking’

‘Mr. Pink sir, plumbing is not exciting, but maybe a community of avid DIYers swapping stories, sharing tips and generally chit chatting is – especially is they are all from your plumbing company catchment area?’

Maybe backloads, couriers, return loads, owner drivers are not a passion Mr. Blue– but courier driving is a way of life – and a lonely one - a community can built around life on the road – a site with driving tips, swapping amusing stories, giving advice, the best cafes near the UKs motorways.

Maybe scissors don’t produce a thrill but next month I will be presenting a case study looking at the company Fiskars and their community The Fiskateers, which I recommend you taking a look at Mr. Red

Once you have this community – this collection of people who share a passion – then we can begin to add and choose our tools. A Facebook group here, a Twitter account there and perhaps a splash of a forum and a dash of blogs.

Over the coming months I will be creating a series of social media case studies and looking at community building campaigns that have captured my attention in both good and bad ways, and through these case studies I will discuss the issues and debates that surround online communities – their uses and their limitations. The first will be looking at The Fiskateers, a leading global supplier of branded consumer products for the home, garden and outdoors, and showing how they made scissors sexy and turned them into a passion for their online community.

If you are busy running your own social media program, or know a campaign that has similar views on community building to mine, then please send me details and I will be happy to analyse and discuss it for everyone’s benefit: helen@leadgenerators.co.uk