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Harnessing the Power of the Hive

December 4th, 2009

It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. -Lev Grossman, Time Magazine

The Urge to Connect

History shows that that when robust tools serve a powerful human drive, revolutionary changes occur. That’s happening now as social media enable people to satisfy their primal urge to connect with each another. Social media are ubiquitous, cheap, and accessible, and their widespread use is having a profound impact on business.

While the technology is grabbing the headlines, the more interesting story is how people around the world are using social media. They’re fulfilling their desire to connect with each other, forming communities in the process. The communities function like virtual beehives — amorphous, dynamic structures where members coalesce to share information.

Smart companies recognize the commercial value of communities. They treat community members more like stakeholders than consumers. Instead of broadcasting their messages at them, they engage followers in dialogue. In time, followers can be converted to evangelists.  In a hyper-connected world, evangelism carries messages fast and far, boosting the value of the brand.

Follow the Leaders…

I’ve lauded Zappos, Virgin America, and Comcast for their skillful community-building initiatives. Starbucks, WholeFoods, and BestBuy are also out in front with exemplary strategies. But, lately I’ve been impressed with JetBlue’s community-building strategy which can serve as a model for other companies.

The airline (@JetBlue) has been mastering the art of community-building on Twitter and, in the process, has grown its base of followers to almost 1.5 million.

Last August, the airline promoted its All-You-Can-Jet-Pass (for $599) to its community. To the company’s delight, the campaign went “viral” quickly, selling out earlier than expected after creating a buzz.

The campaign succeeded because JetBlue had already built a community of ardent followers where its message reverberated.  How did the company do it? The airline’s staff of rotating community managers engages followers in a manner reflective of the airline’s brand personality. Their tone is informal, conversational and hip — an attitude particularly suited for Twitter that traditional airlines can’t match.

The airline hasn’t been afraid to experiment in this space either. They’re learning about their community based on trying successive low-cost, low-risk campaigns.

To herald its new NYC-Barbados route, the airline announced a contest where participants take a photo in front of a New York landmark that incorporates both Barbados and JetBlue. The top 20 receive tickets to a concert featuring Rihanna, a popular Barbadian-American singer. JetBlue is counting on the community to spread the word.

So far, JetBlue’s social media strategy seems to be resonating with its followers. The size and influence of their community is substantial and growing rapidly. And, they’re harnessing the power of the hive.

Three Lessons from JetBlue

What can we learn from JetBlue’s success? Here are three things:

1) “Engage with” rather than “broadcast to” followers

2) Experiment to find out what works

3) Above all, stay focused on community-building

For me, social media stories always raise more questions: What can be done with new tools that couldn’t be done before? What else can we learn from leaders? And, how are they dealing with the new set of challenges that come with the territory?

One thing seems certain: for companies with the curiosity, imagination and the good sense to ease up on the reins-of-control, this is an interesting and promising space.

What do you think?  As always, I’d love to get your take on this post. What community-building “masters” would you cite and why?

________________________

Want to learn more about this subject?

Read Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody, about which he writes:  “… one of the things I most hope readers get out of it, is an excitement about how much experimentation is still possible, and how many new uses of our social tools are waiting to be invented.”

The book explores the broader context of communities including the sociological drivers. Here is a brief excerpt:

Human beings are social creatures—not occasionally or by accident but always. Sociability is one of our lives as both cause and effect. Society is not just the product of its individual members; it is also the product of its constituent groups.

The aggregate relations among individuals and groups, among individuals within groups, and among groups forms a network of astonishing complexity. We have always relied on group effort for survival; even before the invention of agriculture, hunting and gathering required coordinate work and division of labor. You can see an echo of our talent for sociability in the language we have for groups; like a real-world version of the mythical seventeen Eskimo words for snow, we use incredibly rich language in describing human association.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 9:50 AM and is filed under Airline, Business Practices, How Cool?, Social Media, What's Next? (WILD CARD). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Well said, Steve. I think the most successful community-building practitioners bring a blend of art and science, of intuitive and analytical. Both aspects are critical.Thank you for your comment.
  • Steve_C_Fleming
    We are witnessing the birth of a new science (at the moment it's more of an art) - that of identifying, targeting and engaging various communities, many of whose constituents, incidentally don't realize they ARE communities.
    There may be many different communities for each business - those of business partners, customers, potential customers, satisfied customers, dissatisfied customers, competitors' customers, angels (those customers who will always be loyal to your brand), demons (those who will never, for the foreseeable future, buy your product), and convertibles (those who are pursuadable to switch brand loyalty) ... the list goes on. This will be a race to master these arts and establish them as a science.
  • Wally
    Insightful piece of writing! I'm curious about how other airlines are using social media to build their communities.
  • Great post Steve. The social media success stories of the big companies are always interesting to study. I hope to read more social media success stories in the coming year... perhaps more about smaller companies and with different business outcomes.

    For example, I use social media in a specific way to fulfill my primary business goal. As a solo entrepreneur I don't have the time and money to invest in social media campaigns targeting multiple business goals. My goals have changed since I started using social media and so have my social media tactics.

    So I understand how small businesses can get value out of social media and I read the stories about the big companies. Now I'd like to hear more from the companies in between. I think this is where we'll have lots of valuable insights into our new social habits.
  • Thank you, Cindy, for sharing your perspective. Like you, I';d like to learn more about how mid-sized companies are using SM. There aren't many published business cases about small/medium size companies experimenting with SM, and accounts that do surface are typically anecdotal in nature.

    In 2010, more universities are rolling out Masters-level courses in SM media and I'm hoping that more bona fide use cases will be developed. In the meantime, I will continue to look to practitioners like you who share their experiences with these evolving tools and practices.
  • Albert Linden
    Outstanding post. JetBlue is a great example of a company that works its personality into the relationship. They have a an unmistakable on-line personae that comes across in their communications. That adds an authentic touch to their interactions.
  • Twitter has been so successful because it has allowed community building to happen naturally, with few restrictions (to the abbreviated English-reading/writing world) and with limitless possibilities. Attracting those curious enough to become involved - both as queens and as drones - the multi-faceted layers have, indeed, created something of a hive. You can be engaged in haiku competitions on one level and philosophical soap-boxing on another, waxing lyrical and promoting “look-what-I-find-interesting” links, bantering randomly or playing Out-Do with your club, offering discount travel or receiving free lattes, yet the moment the Tw’majesty calls for attention, the whole hive stops as if centrally controlled.

    The introduction of a latest feature, the goading of a cause, the overwhelmed'ness cue of the whale – and the instantaneous reaction by thousands swaying in response… what a perfect breeding ground for smart thinkers behind smart brands, those with their ten fingers on the pulse of the tribe, those who cause the buzz from within and without.

    Success is only part of the curve, however. Once the property prices reach exclusivity, or the swell of the build outgrows those looking for a home, the nature of the community will necessarily change and early adopters will move to pastures greener. Twitter will become the Old Colony from whence the pioneers fly to new opportunities, and the media pendulum will swing, tolling the bell for whomever is fearless enough to start over and draw the power to a new home.
  • Insightful comments, Kathrin (as usual)! I liked your point about Twitter being for, "smart thinkers behind smart brands, those with their ten fingers on the pulse of the tribe, those who cause the buzz from within and without." I also think you're right about Twitter becoming an "Old Colony" from which intrepid agents will venture out to discover new spaces. Those opportunities are already springing up at the edges (secondary layers) of the "core" applications. The smartest, most creative practitioners will reconfigure the environment, as they always have, to suit their needs.
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