9 Types of Brand Community - A New Model

In looking at over 50 types of brand communities, I've been able to dissect and classify them into 9 different buckets that make sense. I could have segmented them by core purpose (innovation, evangelism, distribution, insight, user generated content, decision-making, employee-rallying, customization), but the segmentation would become meaningless given how many different purposes exist for brand communities, oftentimes found all in the some of the better communities.

Instead, two defining characteristics of a brand community are:
1) Exclusivity - how private or public is the access granted to members/prospects within the community
2) Depth of Involvement  - what is the scope of the collaboration being asked or commitment being required
All forms can be valuable depending on the brand.

So the 9 Types of Brand Communities resulting are:

Low Exclusivity
1) Fan Club - Wd-40 (low involvement)
2) Brand Forums - Intuit Quickbooks (mid involvement)
3) Brand Network - Jones Soda (high involvement)

Middle Exclusivity
4) Brand Nation - Nike Plus (low involvement)
5) Brand Ambassador  - Maker's Mark  Embassy (mid involvement)
6) Brand Meritocracy - Spread Firefox (high  involvement)

HIgh Exclusivity
7) Influencer Clique - Lululemon (low involvement)
8) Advisory Panel - Dell Ideastorm (mid involvement)
9) Brand Cult - Harley Davidson - HOGS (high involvement)

Some of the categorizations have a few rough edges but I believe the categorization is an effective
paradigm for looking at brand communities.

For those interested in the subject, please pass along any brand communities that they believe fit into one of these groupings (distinguish between an commercial object-centred, brand community vs. a people/ego centred social network like Facebook/Digg). Also, provide any constructive feedback to build on this model.

Finally, just about to launch a full presentation about brand communities entitled "It Takes a Community to Raise a Brand" in the next edition of our Buzz Report enewsletter. To subscribe and get a glimpse at:
- the reasons why brand communities work
- the types of brand communities
- common misnomers
- a 17 step process to plan them
- smart ways to build them
- key ways to maintain them
- essential features/elements
- best examples
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