2023 - It’s a wrap

As we approach the end of 2023, it’s time to reflect on what’s been happening in the community industry over the last 12 months.

Calories and greens

The year got off to a decidedly wobbly start, as many bigger brands demonstrated a motor memory knee-jerk reaction to economic downturn, nervously defaulting to more familiar, readily quantifiable strategies such as social media, paid search etc. In a recent Guild article Kevin Sutherland from VOLUME characterised this as “the empty calories of funnel filling – not very good for you but satisfying a short-term need”.  However, over the succeeding months many brands figured out that this wasn’t bringing the sustainable results they needed, and we started to see a cautious return to community building. Perhaps slightly more tentative than the boom years of 2020/ 21, but the green shoots were definitely (re)appearing. 

X marks the spot

We saw a shake-up in the world of social media triggered by the soap opera at X / Twitter, with TV presenters gleefully reprising  their “the artist formerly known as Prince” spiel. According to Apptopia, MAUs were down 13% and, as the aftershocks spread beyond X, we also saw 1000s of Subreddits going dark in protest over the new fee scheme the company wanted to introduce. It was one of the first signs that consumers are becoming less willing to go along with whatever the big tech companies decide. They’re either voting with their feet or making their dissatisfaction known to the wider community/ world.

Small, but perfectly formed 

Another knock-on effect of growing polarisation and spread of misinformation on some of these bigger platforms was the rise of smaller, niche communities. People don’t join a community because of its size, they join because it answers a specific need for them personally. We saw smaller groups appearing that are laser-focused on the“need” question, and which offer spaces where people find true and trustworthy connection. These might be sub-groups within larger communities or communities founded around a very specific topic or niche. 

Never predict the future

Pundits love to flaunt their successful predictions and quietly forget about the other ones. Well, a year ago we predicted that there would be consolidation of platforms. And we were stone cold wrong. On the contrary, there have been even more entrants to the market - at the last count there were knocking on 50 to choose from, up from around 10 five years ago. In addition to the overarching community platforms themselves, 2023 saw the launch of a number of support offerings for communities – platforms that help you build and manage your community more effectively. Be it automation, tracking or reporting, community teams can now be equipped to provide a great user experience and report the impact community is having on the overall business more effectively. These new entrants show us that people are taking community seriously and can see the impact it can have on business success.  

The rise of the machines 

As with many other industries, community managers were worried about the rise in AI, fearing they would soon be handed their P45s. What we have seen so far, however, is that AI greatly helps take the load off community leaders by fulfilling those boring, repetitive tasks that are necessary but are time-consuming. So a support role rather than a take over. Community is all about people, after all, so until AI learns to tap dance, crack up at a silly old joke, or arrange to meet up for a cappuccino with oat milk,  the human touch will be needed for a while yet.

Here, there, and everywhere

This year also saw the term “Community Everywhere”, originally coined by Richard Millington, start to gain traction. The concept is that, although you may have designed a community offering to operate solely within your own ecosystem, other communities linked to your brand will probably spring up on various platforms, most of which you won’t be in control of. The era of closed, neat platform for everyone to congregate in is over. Your brand advocates are where they want to be, and aren’t chess pieces you can place wherever you want.  This provides great incremental potential, but requires a change in approach. Brands can’t control where or how these people are interacting but they can ensure they are giving support and ensuring, where possible, that the experience is a good one. 

Put that hammer down

When people referred to brand communities in the past,  they often meant those that had been developed around customer support. This was particularly the case in the tech and Saas space. What we’ve been seeing this year is many more consumer brand marketing teams embracing the potential of developing authentic community offerings for their customers – and seeing it as a potent new weapon in their business armoury. They’re recognising that just hammering relentlessly away at social media and paid ads is a diminishing returns activity and are starting to explore the benefits of developing direct and authentic relationships with their customers.  

So, all in all, not such a bleak midwinter for community.

This newsletter is brought to you by www.customer-ization.com. We work with B2C brands to activate and empower customer communities to deliver growth, retention and satisfaction. To find out more why not book a call to explore how we can help you harness your customers’ enthusiasm and achieve a step change in your business outcomes.