Authority: People tend to do what an authority says. By communicating as a brand from the role of expert, you are more likely to be seen as an authority and recognized by the target group. Relevant communication based on facts is important. The target group will then more likely accept something from you.
2. Commitment (top right)
In this phase, there is no implicit community but an explicit one. It is now about binding the target group. The target group itself is in an investigative role. It is important to ensure that the target group includes your brand in their considerations. The brand must be evaluated and considered by them. Influencing techniques that are central in this phase are:
Sympathy: By addressing people personally on a regular basis, complimenting them and thus building in regular moments of contact, a common goal can be formulated and you build sympathy as a brand.
Scarcity: People value things that are hard to get. It is important to create scarcity so that the target group will value the product or service more. This can be done by making limited quantities available or by making products or services temporarily available to the target group.
Social proof: Social proof means that we align our behavior with the behavior of people we are connected to or who are like-minded. Because the target group is still uncertain about the decision, the strength of the social proof can play an important role. The target group will be more inclined to participate in a community if it already has many members. It can certainly pay off to persuade members who are in the retention phase to provide this social proof.
3. Participation (bottom left)
participationThere is an implicit but not yet explicit community present. This phase is about directing the target group. The target group itself is in an executive role. This is one of the most important phases. The target group makes the choice to purchase the product or service. They will experience what using the product or service means to them.
Consistency: People tend to live in accordance with their words, attitudes and actions. This tendency is stronger the more openly the action is taken and the more effort is required. In this phase, it is important that you have overcome the identification phase. You have persuaded the target group to include the brand in their considerations. What matters now is that if you continue to communicate consistently, the target group is more likely to also comply with the second request, the action to purchase.
Social Proof: In this phase, people look at what other buyers think of the product or service. They write reviews that are read by others. Social proof is important to get people to become your brand ambassadors.
Authority: By having the target group achieve a certain status, they will gain more respect from others. They can then become an authority within the target group. Give this target group a stage and let them use their status. In this way, authority can pave the way for providing social proof.
4. Retention (bottom right)
There is an implicit and an explicit community present. This phase is about activating the target group. The target group itself is in a judging role. This phase is about cultivating loyalty among users. They must become brand ambassadors, so that they can spread their positive experiences with the brand to others.
Consistency: People have made the step from consideration to purchase. By continuing to communicate consistently, the target group can be asked to remain a customer on the one hand and on the other hand to communicate their brand preference more and thus feed new potential members.
Social Proof: It is important to look at the members of the target group who have the largest network around them at this stage. These members enjoy a certain status. Give them new information first, let them try certain products first. It is important to focus on these influencers at first. They will have to provide the social proof by increasing brand awareness and by persuading members who are considering the brand.
Scarcity: In this phase, it is not only important to get the target group moving by creating scarcity. The target group is involved and has now made the choice to purchase. Scarcity works best when you let the members of the target group compete with each other for what has been made scarce. This increases loyalty and they will communicate about this even more actively to others.
The transition between the different phases
But how can you really make the target group make the transition from online engagement to offline action? To achieve this, it is necessary to make them move from one phase to the next. Below I will describe the five steps you can take in the model.
From identification to commitment
Reciprocity-285x173Implicitly, there is no community present yet. It is therefore important to list to data create an explicit community. By giving something to your target group on the basis of reciprocity, you develop brand loyalty and brand preference. So make sure that the target group becomes a follower on the basis of reciprocity, then it is only a small step for them. In addition to reciprocity, cultivating sympathy also consists of an associative component. As a brand, you are perceived as more sympathetic if your target group is. This ultimately forms an important basis for social proof.
In this phase, the step to offline action is taken: your target group actually becomes a customer. As described above, sympathy is an important factor here. People must have sympathy for you, to include you in the consideration.
In addition, if two different products differ relatively little from each other, the target group will sooner buy something from an organization they like than from an organization they like less. A second technique that is important now is creating scarcity. By creating scarcity in the right way and at the right time, the target group will decide more quickly to make a purchase. Using social proof is especially important in this phase when the target group is uncertain about the decision they have to make. Sympathy can then lead to trust.
From participation to retention
Authority and Responsibility 200x200The implicit community is present in this phase, but now it is time to make it explicit. From the social proof that you have built up during regular contact moments with your target group, it is easier to influence new members. Try to seduce the target group to become a brand ambassador. This will help you move them to participate in the explicit community and to express their brand preference.
Once in the community, it is important to reward loyal members. Make sure they can achieve a certain status, which allows them to develop themselves as an authority within the target group. Members who form an authority will be more inclined to actively propagate their brand preference.
From the retention phase, community members can go in two directions:
From retention to identification
It is important to activate loyal members to act as an authority. By interacting with them a lot, you can formulate a goal together with them. This ensures that they will act as an authority towards the potential target group. The common goal ensures a clear and unambiguous message that is in line with the communication from the brand. This is important for the sympathetic image of both the brand and the authority towards the potential target group.
From retention to commitment
In the final phase, you use retention to persuade the target group, which is in the commitment phase, to purchase. The most important force is social proof. Use the community authorities for this. The potential target group can identify with this and will adjust their behavior accordingly.
In this phase, scarcity can be created using a competitive element. A competitive element often involves more than just the loyal core of a community: also those who are still considering the brand. Because they see other members of the community competing with each other, they will also be more inclined to make a purchase.
Successful community building
By applying the model correctly, the community will be moved from online engagement to offline action. The community will go through the steps from identification to retention and then re-enter the process. Only then will there be successful community building.
The first version of my model was optimized with the help of a great panel of experts, for which I would like to thank Marcella Immers, Paul van Haastert, Jaap den Ouden, Paul Suijkerbuijk, Mischa Coster and Patrick Meulesteen for their dedication and contribution. In addition to the members of the panel of experts, I would like to thank Elja Daae, Vincent Ariëns, Boudewijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, Michiel Rutten and Suzanne van Triest for the time they invested in me to be able to test the model in practice.
My thesis has been submitted and the defense will follow in April. After the defense I will offer the thesis. If you are interested, please email me. I will then put you on the list.