Editor's introduction: A dynamic community requires community members to take the initiative to transmit values, spontaneously organize activities, and influence members with each other. The author of this article has analyzed the "inner circle" of the community, let's take a look at it.
The brand side and the community creator organize various activities, not to build a community, that is called community marketing, only the community members sincerely take the initiative to transmit value, spontaneously organize activities, and influence each other, which is called "co-construction of community".
When more and more people in a community realize that this is a community, when "I" dance with a group of interesting partners, it is not only accompanied by a high sense of identity and belonging, but also a "sense of ownership".
Only when a large number of members of the "master consciousness" of a community appear, the "inner circle" of the community can be considered to be formed, and a community with cohesion that can grow on its own can be considered revitalized.
The new members are thinking about what they can gain from this community and what they can grow, while the "masters" in the center are concerned about everyone in the mandala circle and how to help them integrate, grow, and go to the good.
The shanghai regimental leaders and volunteers, who make their small efforts more and more vivid, regard them as the "center" and see themselves as the "masters", and it is they who make the small environment around them dignified, become small circles, connect into large circles, start from a group, go to a community, and finally become a regional watchman.
Early every morning, from comparing various types of suppliers, looking for the best cost performance; to qualification review, organizing groups, printing lists, checking information; then checking the goods, distributing door to door, collecting money from the elderly, solving dissatisfaction... Every time it is no different from the big war, they are still clinging to this, because they regard themselves as "masters", they are doing a small but valuable thing.
Undoubtedly, in Shanghai's fight against the epidemic, these volunteers and regiment leaders have supported half of the sky in Shanghai's fight against the epidemic.
Tired when the "regimental commander"? I was really tired, but I had to stand up. Sometimes we come to the door to deliver supplies, some elderly residents will bend us down 90 degrees and bow, we have mixed feelings - can't stand it, but really touched. - A volunteer
In particular, when "content" is broadly defined as a way of life and opened up as an attitude towards life, "building a community together" becomes a group of like-minded people working together to create a more beautiful "world."
Since then, the new community that the brand ape praises, the members love, the community likes, the brand is proud of, healthy and full of vitality and vitality can be considered to be the force.
01 "Inner Circle" - Everyone is the "Center" of the World
Most of the inner circle is a collection of excellent members of the "active circle" and the "participating circle".
It should be noted that they are not the members who contribute the most to the brand/community, let alone the members who consume the most, but the members who highly identify with the community values, are most active in the activities, and are willing to pay for the love, of course, the members who must also have certain organizational management capabilities.
- There are wildly included: the LEGO Certified Player Community has only 360 Recognized Communities worldwide and 21 LEGO Certified Professional Masters (LCPs).
- There are also deliberately chosen ones: Lulu Lemon Lululemon's Educator educator and 1533 ambassadors worldwide; the TOPTOY store manager community; and super orangutan fitness instructor.
- There are also opportunities to realize themselves: All kinds of new communities in Weilai integrate into the organizers' own ideas, Golanpai, MonclerCLUB, or sub-stations in various cities, they are all using Weilai's IP to create their own dream social circles.
Put these excellent members on the ecology of those social platforms, that is, once the forum moderator, the leader of the Douban group; now the B station UP master, the little red book red, the QQ vertical group, the Weibo super talk, the opinion leader (KOC)...
Each of them is the "center" of a world.
Because of them, the ecological "world" can blossom; with them, the core skeleton of this community/social platform is truly completed.
- They are like the growth of mandala flowers, step by step. With them as the "center", the network of social relations will gradually expand, constantly differentiate into branches, and then cultivate new members, and eventually form a social network of continuous self-growth...
- They are like the center of every part of the mandala flower, where they are, where they are "center". Each "center" connects the inside and outside of the core, and in their view, the circle created by them is larger than all the space outside the mandala.
- They are also like mandala flowers in any center connected to each other through core (values). The circles are connected and layered, because they can derive a mandala flower with living and continuous inner power.
- Like the gurus in the mandala, they have no leaders, no election committees, no membership cards, no annual meetings, no income, and "continuous growth" is the only way to select each "center".
They are these "centers" that use brands/platforms/communities to realize their dreams, create their own "Promised Lands", and sow the seeds of their dreams here.
Therefore, the so-called creation of the inner circle is to build a mechanism, platform or ecology that everyone can become a "sub-world center".
02 The three functions of the "inner circle": growth, growth and growth
Every Jedi has a guide, and because of this system, the Jedi can survive to the Mandalorian.
Think about it, when your community has countless Juda masters, guiding every "Luke" to join, grow, integrate, mature, and finally become a Jedi knight, taking responsibility, what kind of vitality will you have?
1. The Inner Circle helps others to "grow".
The essence of the new consumerism lies in consumer cognition, knowledge and professionalism, looking for life in every smallest interest. - "Small Interest Business"
Redefining new consumption in this context, the Inner Circle's "Master Yoda" uses knowledge and expertise to help "Luke" to "correctly recognize consumption and find life in every smallest interest" (unlike the growth achieved by point incentives mentioned above).
1) With their own exploration and expression of interests and hobbies, attract and meet friends
Or with products, or with content, or with activities. . . . to resonate, thus triggering the recognition of a group of people, coupled with the continuous output and dissemination of community values, attracting the same kind of people to join.
- In his first store, Lululemon founder Wilson partnered with his yoga teacher Fiona (the only local yoga instructor who was looking for a suitable yoga venue) to transform Lululemon's store into a place where yoga could be practiced, where yoga instruction was conducted.
- The first store became a meeting place for local yoga enthusiasts, especially the word-of-mouth spread among friends, bringing extremely accurate customer flow, and using modern language is high value effective new.
- Now, in addition to selling products, Lululemon's terminal will regularly hold free yoga, Pilates, SALSA dance and other sports classes, or hold community sharing sessions, allowing users to share their recent lives, whether it is yoga, books, jogging, as long as it is an activity that can bring growth to the soul.
2) Companionship helps new members integrate into the community, from understanding the rules to going alone
Guide new members to understand the rules, experience interests, grow up with joy, explore life, positive values, and integrate into the community; until they know what they want and where to go, go alone, and become another inner circle creator.
The crag of rock climbing, the SURF APP MSW, these small communities of outdoor talents "seasonal friendship", these old cannons are willing to help more people grow, "control", so that they can become teachers.
The master-apprentice system in the qu art industry, the apprenticeship system in the factory workshop, the mentor-apprentice model of the insurance company, and the "follow" accompanying guidance position set by Weilai, there are two clear assessment requirements in their promotion mechanism, one is "the number of times you communicate with users", and the other is "in the Weilai APP, follow how many people are your users".
These are the official settings that accompany "growth".
Share the Japanese Zen way (kendo, bowdo, tea ceremony, flower way, painting way...) ) mentoring system.
"Since ancient times, the teacher-student relationship has been a basic life obligation, and in teachers, there must be a high sense of responsibility that far exceeds the requirements of the profession."
"Where students can go is not the teacher's primary concern. As soon as the teacher points out the right path for the student, he must let the student go forward alone."
"The teacher can only do the student a favor so that he can endure loneliness; he helps the student to leave himself and his teacher, and he exhorts the student to go farther than himself and to "climb on the shoulder of the teacher.""
- "Archery and Zen Mind"
3) Guide a mature concept of consumption and avoid the loss of information asymmetry, commonly known as pit avoidance
In today's full swing of interest consumption, another dimension of "growth" is to guide new entrants and establish a mature consumption concept and develop rational consumption habits with the professionalism and knowledge, experience and lessons of an inner circle person.
Play outdoors, play RV, play games, play shoes, play photography, play blind box.......
Brand apes have personally been outdoor enthusiasts, encountering amateur partners during the trip, although they can't impart much professional knowledge, they can tell where the various outdoor pits are, and even eager to stuff their own experience into their minds.
Why write something? "The purpose of writing is not to change those who defend the status quo, but to gather those who are ready to take on the challenge and replace the old reality with a new reality." This new reality is more conducive to meeting our inner needs— to feel safe, to contribute to a cause greater than ourselves, and to create better living conditions for ourselves and our families. ”
As far as this big era is concerned, "there is a heat, a light", "kindness shimmer", "mortal shimmer", "lone brave", "Shanghai regiment leader", to help others "grow", more and more become the basic consciousness of Generation Z.
When condensed into consumption, immersed in the community, and carried forward the greatest value, it manifests itself as the unique consumer spirit of this era, because of the existence of this group of people, they "have a high degree of responsibility that far exceeds the requirements of the profession, and they expect the newcomers to "climb on the shoulders of the teacher", and this era should be better.
2. "Inner Circle" Helps Communities "Grow" and Sustainably "Grow"
Few communities can rely on corporate planning and organization to make them grow, and most powerful communities have such a circle, just look at the various rice circles/support groups of celebrities to know their energy.
The Inner Circle is irreplaceable by any official organization in helping the community grow.
- They not only gather together to strengthen the community, but also maintain connections through community socialization, and they are also the source of new business, which is a process from the fringe to the mainstream, from the niche to the masses.
- They will not only help brands and communities survive and create new business value, but also help communities retain their original intentions and love before business interests, which is the foundation of a sustainable development of a community.
- Of course, the "inner circle" will also build a firewall against external negative public opinion in the name of love.
In 2020, NIO cheered for the "worst person in 2019"; 69% of the sales during the epidemic in 2020 came from old users; and in 2021, "the owner statement against the owner statement".
3. The "inner circle" realizes the "growth" of the self.
There is a causal relationship, and it was thought that it should be their own growth before they can help others grow.
But the truth is that helping others grow and communities grow is "self-growth."
Or the process of gradually moving towards the inner circle is the growth of the self.
The journey of trekking through the inner circle can also be understood as a process of creating opportunities to impart experiences, and we convey personal and empowering values in some new ways. For example, organizing an event, creating a certain tradition, or imparting empirical knowledge to others to achieve it.
In this process, we not only want to teach others things, but also want to learn from others.
Because I would prefer to have a state of mutual communication and learning, and the interaction of professionals and amateurs, rather than a place that no one understands as a "big god", this is not a conserved state of mind. ——Outdoor talents are often born
That's why it's critical to get the opportunity to both educate and learn from others.
In fact, in the end, it does not matter to study cause and effect, the so-called "co-construction of the community" in the inner circle is to grow, grow and grow again.
Three new perceptions of the "inner circle"
With regard to the mandala-style inner circle, the origin of understanding is the "center" of the community, which then evolves into "growth", but today it has to be admitted that no matter how it is defined, the inner circle is increasingly becoming the source of vitality for a brand and a new community.
Cognition 1: The "inner circle" is a fractal of the brand and the community
I have to admit that many new business opportunities for brands/communities come from the continuous evolution and fractalization of the inner circle. From this point of view, the best inner circle cannot be planned, but grown.
Ma Yin, the founder of Aranya, first established a WeChat group for owners to complain, and later quickly became a discussion of public affairs, dinner appointments, activities, finding friends, making friends... The group also spontaneously differentiated into 48 interest groups, from public welfare, drama, fashion, investment, to food, group buying, including the owner's mutual aid group...
These communities created by the owners are constantly connected and integrated with art and life, forming Aranya's unique ecosystem from content production to life empowerment.
These rich and meaningful activities, when opening a better life, also give new energy to everyone to move forward; these new content, new scenes, and new experiences promote Aranya on the road to growth, constantly iterating and upgrading, and exploring more new energy for the community.
These are all things that Ma Yin "never dreamed of."
A community can judge for itself what the right inner circle looks like, but it is difficult to plan how much it should be and what it should look like; instead, the more planning, the more it loses something, such as growth and growth.
There is also a new consumer brand perspective to understand, the inner circle is the brand occupies the user's small incision, bridgehead and base, with the first, will form a second, the third, infinite expansion, it will complete its own moat.
Just like Lulu Lemon's first yoga community.
Cognition 2: The "inner circle" is a partner, not only empowering but also inspiring
For people in this circle, "degrees of freedom" are important, so be fully empowered. Without authorization, it can be said that there is no soil for the survival of this circle, let alone the generation of motivation.
This feature has formed "productivity" in the journey of successful brands: for example, haidilao's high authorization, Xibei's "dissatisfaction and withdrawal", and atour hotel's full authorized Atour service.
This feature is particularly important for post-90s/95 partners, who need more flexible self-management and flexible collaboration, a trend that highlights their competitiveness in new consumer brands Lulu Lemon and TOPTOY.
By the way, Starbucks' proud "partnership program" is dead in name only.
So in April 2022, founder Schultz went out three times, and the first thing he did was "invite partners at all levels of the company to participate in the discussion." Together, we explore how to create a future of shared prosperity in such an increasingly pluralistic era. These discussions will be the deepest forms of co-creation that we have ever tried as a collective. ”。
So, when we choose a "new community" to stand on, it is no longer about full empowerment, but about how to inspire community members to create with innovative cultures and mechanisms.
In other words, you can't market with a "new community", what you can do is support him, help him grow, and become a "partner" with the inner circle.
Therefore, Aranya's marketing fees are used to subsidize the owner community; NIO launched the user trust certification industry community in 2020 to encourage NIO users to organize a national industry community spontaneously, such as supporting resource fees. Of course, this is also a replica of the LEGO Certified Player Community.
So, the new perception is that the inner circle is your partner, not the object of management.
Because they are partners, they will spontaneously complete the construction of organizational discipline and operation mechanism with the help of mature digital infrastructure; they will have the ability to connect more intimately all the time and the whole world.
Because they are partners, each inner circle will move forward at its own pace, according to its own time and preferences, there will be accidents, differences, surprises - "surprise is important".
"Surprise" causes the finite game to terminate, but it is the reason why the infinite game continues. - "The Game of Finite and Infinite"
Cognition 3: The path to the "inner circle" should be clear and clear
Most communities do not have a clear inner circle, but once the inner circle is formed, the path to the inner circle needs to be clear for healthy communities.
The Art of Community Operations divides the inner circle into six levels: visitors→ novice → members→ senior → members→ masters→ deacons.
- Visitor: Maybe you don't care about anyone, just come looking for something new or interesting to experience
- Newcomers: Only care about themselves, want to achieve personal achievements and certifications
- Members: Caring for their peers and seeking achievement and respect for the team
- Senior Members: Care for all members of the community at all levels, and hope that the whole community will earn achievement and respect
- Host: Caring for the whole world, trying to help people from all over the world integrate into the community, and working to create a vibrant world
- Deacon: Responsible and visionary, has become one with, and even dedicated to, the community
This standard line is the depth from "care" to "care", not simply active, contributing and consuming.
For new community innovation, it is conceivable that regardless of the path to the inner circle, it should help promote the growth of members, provide them with opportunities, and let them learn to achieve "self-growth" in a certain way.
- For example, from the visitor to the newcomer: the initial need for cross-examination, so as to confirm whether the other party is a member in the end; then, through the points loop of check-in and posting interaction, the inner circle of high participation, high activity and high viscosity is formed. The entry rules of Station B and the point system of NIO are good references.
- For example, from newcomers to senior members: participate in common activities together and complete certain tasks of "caring for others".
- For example, those who enter the deacons' circle from the inner circle: their care is not only about care and values, but also needs to have a pattern. Entering the deacons circle will have more spotlights, bigger stages, to fulfill and fulfill their promised land.
Brand Ape shows the perfect practice of this path with "Weilai has five relationships with users".
- Delivery volunteers: Old users guide new users to complete from test drive experience to delivery, this new way of getting started with new users and upgrading the roles of old users, different experience attribution is born.
- Auto show volunteers: from the past bystanders, to the participants, service roles, the chest is pasted with NIO USER (Nio owner) sign, to solve the doubts of others, car owner volunteers with their own experience and efforts, to obtain the recognition of new customers, the success of this role play, both bring new joy, but also by the sense of achievement to bring a new belonging.
- User Advisory Group: Weilai set up a stage, let super users participate in some projects, create content, gameplay, programs, activities, and even NIO Day, such as tens of millions of people, co-create and comrades-in-arms, and become the strongest connecting agent for these super users.
- Industry community of user trust certification: Users spontaneously organize communities according to their own industry attributes and professional capabilities, but rely on the certification and support of the NIO Trust Council. As of September 2021, a total of 3,000+ NIO car owners have joined twelve industry communities.
- The new community (riders club) completely dominated by users: the above-mentioned Gelanpai, MonclerCLUB, or the sub-stations of each city, they are all using the IP of Weilai to create their own dream social circle.
- NIO's highest-end user club, EP Club.
Through the scene crossing the boundary, NIO creatively realized the trek from "care" to "care" with "volunteers", and thus reshaped the relationship between users and enterprises, reconstructed the transformation of new and old users, and then realized another type of improvement in the integration of users and brands.
Connecting with "care" and drawing circles with "care", each time they step into the next circle, members can get something that is conducive to their own maturity or growth, which may be new knowledge, authority, cognition, ability or respect.
That is to say, the high-level inner circle designer must provide members with an opportunity to educate or serve others, not only to impart skills, but also to impart mature values and ideas that can help members to acquire mentally.
04 Building a community with the "inner circle" may be the strange door of new business
Coincidentally, professor Wu Bofan put forward innovative theories of "molecular economy" and "from eyeball economy to eye economy":
Merchants in the past have taken the approach of panning for gold in the denominator, only a very small number of people will become your final customers, and the molecular economy is sniper, more accurate.
To understand the new community from this perspective, to interpret the "inner circle" to build a community - the new business is shifting from the denominator high-traffic model to the molecular inner circle economy of the precise connection model - meticulous, secretive, efficient, dynamic, loving, and meaningful.
In this shift, small entries, once grounded, saturated, naturally hematopoietic, free-growing, sustainable, may be able to pull their feet in the uncertain future of new business.
References: "Small Interest Business", "Community Operation Art", "Weilai has five relationships with users? An in-depth analysis from the owner
#专栏作家 #
Brand Ape, everyone is a product manager columnist. Public account: Brand Ape (ID: brand-yuan), a snooper of the new business ecology, a brand strategy consultant, focusing on brand innovation and evolution.
This article was originally published by everyone who is a product manager, and reproduction without permission is prohibited
The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol