The ROI of Community

A funny thing has happened over the past two months.

For the first time in nearly two decades, people are reaching out and starting conversations with me about community.

Now, I have conversations all the time - everywhere - with everyone on this topic. But, it always seems that I am both the spark and sustainer of those talks.?

This is an incredible product … have you ever thought about designing a community around it?

There is so much buzz about your organization online…have you ever considered harnessing the power of community?

You’ve got such an engaged Facebook group, Twitter follower/YouTube subscriber base/email list...what if you were able to design an actual community for your work?

And perhaps most often,

I know you see your challenge as having an advertising or marketing solution...have you ever considered investing in community?

These conversations are truly dynamic as I explain how starting with a focus on small groups and relationships of influence can have expansive ripples of impact. Starting with just 120 engaged community members can quickly become 14,400 by engaging their friends and family that ultimately becomes 1,728,000 and beyond. Their eyes get big as their minds do the math. Then, their mouths open and they ask…

This is so great, but, what’s the ROI of ‘community’?

Now, this question isn’t new.?

I had heard the same question on one of the last trips I took before quarantine began. After a thrilling session on deconstructing discontent and designing community, I was pulled aside by a business executive with just one question:

I can’t tell you how much I appreciated this session. It’s so great to think about designing communities to support us when we need it most. I can see how this work really matters for nonprofits and associations. But, I work in a more practical and data-driven world of business, so I have to ask:

what’s the real ROI of ‘community’?

Now, I want to be clear that I don’t blame this person for their skepticism. When community and word of mouth campaigns started to show tangible results a decade or more ago, every marketing and advertising agency in the world began to throw big dollar line items in their proposals for community engagement.?

Because companies saw the benefits in theory, and read the headlines about companies doing it right, they jumped on board. Their agencies hired a fleet of social media strategists, the results were mediocre and over time the idea of community was nestled alongside social, marketing, content and became generally blah. The only thing this version of community had in common with actual community was the name. And, strategies proposed involving actual community suffered from the association with their cynical, transaction-focused cousin.

Around the same time, the electricity of the human and community grid - influence - was being commercialized as well. The principles of influence - best explained through reciprocity, consistency, and such - were swapped out for influencers as we’ve grown to expect it - impressions, reach, and transactions. Say the word influence in a corporate setting and inevitably the conversation will gravitate to how many followers someone needs to become an influencer. There are so many things wrong with this that I’m not even going to try to unpack it here.

So, back to the question the executive asked…

I took a deep breath and said, “I can imagine many scenarios in the next year where the US faces an economic or cultural disruption. Executives will get nervous and start cutting back on marketing and advertising budgets which will start a downward spiral of leads, revenues and customers. Staff will get cut, which will result in shorter business hours. Times will get rough.” [Note: This was before the virus hit US shores. I envisioned a recession, not a pandemic.]

The executive shrugged and skeptically said, “Ok, I can see that.”

I continued, “This will inevitably impact big and small businesses alike. But, in this rapidly changing context, I imagine the response will result in me being blasted with social media ads and emails trying to reach me in a more cost effective and targeted way. It will become so overwhelming that I’ll unsubscribe from almost everything.”

“Sure,” he conceded.

Now, I was on a roll, “But, there are a few places that I won’t unsubscribe from or delete. Two that come to mind are my favorite coffee shop and burger place in the town I live in. The coffee and burgers are great, but more so I love that we know each other. I love that they know my kids. The owner of the coffee shop created a drink years ago just for me. Those emails I’ll stay subscribed to and continue to follow on social. And, if they sent me an email or message that said, Hugh, times are tough and we need you to buy some burgers or coffee or cake, I’d buy as much as I could afford. I think that’s the ROI of community.”

He just nodded in response, shook my hand and walked away. To be honest, I’m not sure I won him over. Community is kind of like investing for retirement or buying insurance. You don’t really believe that you need it until you really need it.?

But, this is why my inbox and voice mails are overflowing with calls from executives right now. The only approach to business that appears to be pandemic-proof and recession-proof is community. For those that have it, this environment might be challenging but the threat need not be existential. For those that don’t have it, the downward spiral of declining advertising coupled with declining purchases has only just begun. Advertising and marketing only have a return on investment if you keep investing. Community has a return long after you stop. In times of disruption, we all look for a lifeline and that last remaining lifeline is often human connection and community.

Over the past couple years, I’ve been having an ongoing conversation about all of this with my friend and colleague, Geno Church . He literally wrote the book on the passion of community and movement building (two actually.) He’s an actual hall of fame 'word of mouth' marketer.?

Through a series of conversations, we’ve concluded that the only platform that word of mouth needs to thrive is community. It doesn't require social networks, it requires social humans. Designing community requires a quirky cocktail of psychology, network theory, influence, and relationships formed through shared values, experiences and stories. But, once it’s in place, we have a safety net in times of uncertainty.

And, as I note above, you can start small. My work, in collaboration with so many others, has focused on a concept I call Relationships of Influence or ROI. At its core, it’s a simple ring with 12 lines that urges people to think about who influences them or their business and who they influence in return.?

If we are intentional about these relationships and invest to reflect that intention, the ripples of impact are virtually limitless.

So, what’s the ROI of ‘community?’ The real ROI?

It’s relationships of influence. It’s knowing who you should invest in, who you should empower, who you should give freely to.?

It’s also knowing who has your back. It’s knowing who you can count on when things get tough. It’s knowing who will show up when you need them.

In the second week of quarantine, I got an email from my favorite burger place. They had shut down dine-in options and didn’t know how long they’d be able to support curbside pick up. They suggested that if I wanted to help now was the time. Our family of four bought six burgers and fries and wings and drinks that night.?

At the same time, we saw a social media post from the coffee shop as well. At a time where we would have been resistant to going to the hospital given the hot spot in our community, we pulled up curbside for coffee, cake, cookies and all of the baked goods that we could afford.?

That’s the ROI of community.?

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You get out of your community what you put in. How can you invest, even by making a small deposit, in your community today?