Engagement and influence
Influence techniques for community buildingThe goal of the model is to engage with the target group online and ultimately move them to offline action. This movement is initially initiated by looking at the different levels of engagement. By linking these levels to Robert Cialdini 's influencing techniques , it does not matter which phase a community is in. Each phase has a different level of engagement and different influencing techniques fit in with that.
The idea behind the model is that there is an ongoing process between the organization and the target group in a community. This process starts with the creation of awareness, in the phase in which the need is defined, and ends with the creation of loyalty after the actual purchase or offline action.
In the traditional sales funnel, the process stopped here. However, after the purchase, the target group moves back to the awareness phase. Because it either influences another consumer, or because an awareness process for another product or service is started.
Implicit and explicit communities
In the first step of the model, the community must be investigated. My research shows that it is list to data important to distinguish between an implicit and explicit community. According to Mischa Coster , an implicit community is a group of people with a common denominator who have not yet named this denominator or recognized it as a binding factor. An implicit community is, for example, a community of a brand with a fan base that has a brand preference, but is not so aware of this and therefore does not explicitly form a community with other like-minded people.
An explicit community is more organized and consists of fans and are therefore actual members of the community. The members are brand ambassadors and have explicitly expressed their interest or preference for the brand and also convey this.