The 27 Types of People You Want To Attract to Online Brand Communities

Some of these people are not like the others...

In truth, we have worked on and been exposed to enough brand communities to realize that audiences want to play different roles, companies want to harness different member talents and  community activities inspire different passions.

We've identified the 27 types of people you may want to attract or incubate within a brand community and/or word of mouth program.

1) Brand Champions/Ambassadors - live and breathe the brand

2) Brand Advocates/referrers - talk up the brand and recommend it to to appropriate others

3) Cause Torchbearers - spread the good word about what you're trying to do

4) Content Developers - create and broadcast smart user-generated content

5) Message Transmitters - act as grassroots middlemen for important messages

6) VIP/Launch Event Attendees - become the best guest for a brand event/experience

7) Crowdsourced Experts - amateurs who solve problems/provide added value

8) Product Seeded, Early Adopters - become first to know and first to show

9) Advisory Council members - become ongoing official guides to brand/project direction

10) Mystery Shopper - audit real world conditions or marketplace

11) Sounding Board - become a progressive and enlightened research database

12) Beta Testers - try product/stuff out before it's ready for primetime to iorn out issues

13) Endorsers - provide valuable testimonials to brand/product benefits

14) Social Networkers - build microcommunities and tribes of brand-involved people

15) Trend/Insight Source - tip brands on what's about to arrive or has just been discovered

16) Research/Innovation Stimuli - become sparkplugs of new ideas

17) Competitive Converts - shift consumption and usage to new brand and declare switch to others

18) Customer Support Mavens - answer questions of other customers and users

19) Support Group - provide empathy/compassion/knowledge to others

20) Grassroots Distributors - find most appropriate people to try out product/trials

21) Valued Contributors - become actively involved in brand operations/communications

22) Affiliates - become financially moored to brand through complementary relationship

23) Experience Hosts - become local/targeted hosts

24) Ridiculously Loyal Customers - increase share of basket of community sponsored brand

25) Active Members - provide presence in community through continued participation

26) Moneyed Contributors - become financial donators/investors to the brand

27) Employees/Evangelists - adopt a more official/formal work relationship with brand owners