What is a meaningful shared experience and why does your community need it?

There is something that separates online communities that thrive and those that fail. To thrive, a community must create a truly meaningful and valuable shared experience for its members. This sounds simple and almost obvious but, as I reveal below, I've often seen businesses bring the wrong blueprint, the wrong playbook to their online communities, leading to low engagement and ultimately a slow death.

A Level 3 shared experience delivers the most value...

Any shared experience carries some sense of community but this feeling is radically strengthened when the experience 'levels up' in very specific ways. To demonstrate this I'll use the example of people on a beach.

Level 1

You are in the same place at the same time as other people.

eg. You are at the beach. Other people are there but you're not engaged in any activity with them. You're strolling along or sitting sunbathing. There is some feeling of being 'collectively present' with others but no real sense of 'community'.

Level 2

Level one PLUS you’re involved in any kind of activity with some of those people, whether positive or negative.

eg. You join in a game of beach volleyball. Suddenly your level of experience is enhanced as you collaborate with a team towards a shared goal. A stronger sense of 'community' is fostered with your team mates. However, you are ultimately engaged in the activity to fulfil your needs over those of others. You enjoy volleyball and therefore need to engage with others to fulfil that need to play.

Level 3

Level two PLUS the activity is purposeful i.e. aligned with the shared needs, values and beliefs of the community.

eg. You are with a group of others taking part in a beach clean up project. Not only are you engaged in an activity with others but the activity is linked to the values and beliefs you share as a group for collective benefit, rather than personal benefit. The feeling of community is much stronger and the experience enhanced again.

If you want to create a community around your brand or business, you want the strongest feeling of community possible. You want a level three shared experience. It is here that deep connections are possible between members and the company, where trust is formed and where the most value for both parties is created. In our example above, a level three shared experience leads to the community working for the collective benefit of all. As a business, this is the experience you want to foster, one that is so strong the community is actively engaged in making your business run better.

Creating a level three shared experience requires effort... a lot of it.

The first thing to realise is that this will not happen spontaneously. A level three shared experience must be intentionally engineered and actively managed by the brand. It can seem daunting, so it's important to note that a level three shared experience should be your ambition and aspiration for your community. With investment (both time, effort and money) will come your ability to 'Level Up' over time.

... this will not happen spontaneously. A level three shared experience must be intentionally engineered and actively managed by the brand. 

The reason is simple, but not widely understood: people know how to act purposefully with other people; they don’t know how to act purposefully with a brand. They have no model for acting based on shared needs, values and beliefs with a brand. Or, more accurately, they do have a model for this, but for community it’s the wrong model... 

We share an activity with a brand every time we buy something or contact customer service but, crucially, those activities are transactional. That means, by definition, that the interests and purposes of the people on either side of the transaction are different. 

What we need for community is the opposite. We need activities where the interests and purpose on all sides are the same.

In other words, customers and brands often bring a flawed blueprint to an on-domain community. That old relationship, that baggage, actively inhibits the formation of community.

...customers and brands often bring a flawed blueprint to an on-domain community.

For any on-domain community to succeed, a new relationship must be formed between the brand and the customer. One that is not transactional but is purposeful based on shared needs, values and beliefs.

Robbie

Robbie Hearn

Co-Founder and CEO of Standing on Giants.

Read my white paper 'What is a community and does your business really have one' here.

Standing on Giants empowers businesses to build thriving communities that put customers at the centre of everything they do. If you'd like to find out more about how we could help you build a valuable community, don't hesitate to get in touch.