Many-to-many: the "new" power of community for brands

There was a time when the best thing brands could do to reach a massive number of people was to monopolize the attention of the mass. People didn't have as many channels as we have now, so it was relatively easy to capture the attention of a great deal of the population using one unique channel; there was no dispersion. The main ways were the radio and, later, the TV.

If you ask the Xennials (1975-1985) and the Millennials (1980-1994), they will recall a bunch of slogans or brand names that transcended the ads world and became part of their lives: Got Milk? Compre Batom (Brazil), Rimmel. Achieving this status was powerful for a brand, and getting enough attention was relatively easy since people's attention was mainly concentrated on two or three channels.

Even the power of word-of-mouth was limited: people would tell each other about a brand or product, but their range was constrained to family, close friends, and people from the club. The spread of the message could only go that far.?

What about now? With pulverized channels and the creators enabled by technology? How do you turn something into a mass success? Do the new platforms, and a one-way communication message still has the power to do that? Is it even possible?

Maybe?Collen Hoover can help us with that. Have you heard of her??If not, you will soon. On the New York Times paperback fiction bestseller list, seven of the top ten books are from her.?

That's impressive. To give you more perspective, this year, she had 8.6 million print sales, outselling the bible, according to NPD Book Scan, and we know how loyal and engaged the Bible audience is, right? Years and years building THAT community.

And there was no movie or TV show or Oprah's suggestions putting her into the spotlight as happened with Lord of the Rings, Twilight and Harry Potter.

It gets better: Collen was working as a social worker and earning $9 an hour when she published her first young adult novel called "Slammed" in January 2012. And only seven - I say seven - months later, the book was already on the New York Times bestseller list, and she earned $50,000 in royalties.

How did she do that??

According to the New York Times author Alexandra Alter, her success was led by readers who act as her evangelists, driving sales through ecstatic online reviews and viral reaction videos.

Here comes the plot twist: in 2020, her sales skyrocketed because of: TIK TOK. Ok, not because of TikTok, but because of her strong fan community. And of what the social platform and the creator's era enabled people to do: her fanbase community spread their passion and contaminated millions of people.

Much of her current success has come from fans posting glowing reviews on TikTok, where the hashtag #colleenhoover has over 2.4 billion views.?For perspective purposes: the Super Bowl event, the pinnacle of the advertising world, had 99.18 million people watching in 2022 and a 30-second ad commercial cost 6.5 million.?While Collen's book's passionate readers helped?boost sales through online reviews and reaction videos that went viral on social media.

And this is disrupting the editorial industry because her books are challenging some of its beliefs by mixing romance, thrillers?and ghost stories, not having audiovisual spotlights and, most remarkable: reinforcing the power of the fans. Because of their combined recommendations, the book was a success.

This is the power of community building and of turning your clients into not only?loyal customers but into fans and, the ultimate goal, ambassadors. With the power they have with the numerous?social platforms and creation features, their capacity to build (and destroy) brands is undeniable and grow strong every day.

The narrative is no longer a one-way street, and brands don't control it anymore. The question is: how to engage this public so dispersed and self-sufficient as to create a community of ambassadors? This answer is worth trillions.

Gabriela Carminatti

<This article has many references from this one, published by the New York Times. You can check to learn more about Colleen.>