@AMA_Marketing scratching the surface of community-based marketing. While three tips are attractively short, the reality of #community management is (in equal parts) infinitely more beautiful and complex. Here are some additional reflection points: (1/9) https://twitter.com/AMA_Marketing/status/1291017368160866305

The article gently introduces the biggest challenge of using #communities for #marketing purposes: rejecting some premises of traditional for-profit marketing strategies. Rejection is DIFFICULT – to grasp, to communicate, to act upon. But why is it necessary? (2/9)

Rethinking and readapting some classic marketing strategies when dealing with communities is necessary, due to fundamental differences between community-based and product-based consumer behavior. Let's list just a few: (3/9)

1. The gains from *consuming* community-based products are often dispersed and networked: they depend on how connected you are, who your network-neighbors are, to what extent your consumption depends on them. Not the case with the consumption of many traditional products. (4/9)

2. The gains from *producing* community-based products are mostly indirect. Yes there are paying customers. But most gains come from *continuous returns* on intangibles, like R&D, PR, brand equity, and brand personality. These gains stay long-term, but are hard to measure. (5/9)

3. Community-oriented marketing campaigns *cannot* be designed as traditional ones: social/identity needs are predominant and very complex. It is still unclear what’s the best way to approach customers-as-members -- or even IF there is a best way. (6/9)

For example: when engaging with members, you need to very explicitly define how you're helping with the creation of the collective&shared value. In traditional ads, this can be replaced by more subtle communication strategies and some creativity. (7/9)

4. Finally: "traditional" marketers face an abundance of management frameworks for decision-making. Community marketers don’t. And yet more and more companies - especially in tech - are finding that communities are necessary for their competitiveness against big rivals. (8/9)

All of these challenges make this an exciting field to work on as an academic. We can give much needed managerial support, and contribute to shape the future of human connection (now more than ever). What do you think? Let's do this #MarketingTwitter (9/9)