When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage

2. Simple, easily accessible value consumption.

3. Simple, easily navigable value creation.

Communities look different than they did 50—even 20—years ago. They are organized around businesses and brands and providing profound opportunities for companies around the world.

The result of this are very real network effects: as engagement grows, the community gets smarter, faster to respond, more globally available, and generates more value.

Successful communities have seven key elements:

If a company can transition from simply delivering a product to building a community, it can unlock extraordinary competitive advantages and both create and support a superior business model.

4. Clearly defined incentives and rewards.

While communities generate tangible value for businesses — such as content, events, online advocacy and marketing, technology production, customer support, and education — it is the intangible value that members derive from the experience that makes these environments truly “sticky.”

5. Carefully crafted accountability.

7. Open, objective, governance and evolution.