The definition of community in Wikipedia is:
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A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.
I would add to this that effective social and professional communities nurture conversation, networking, peer education and thought leadership. Whether virtual or physical, the best communities are those that act with a purpose based on common interests.
As noted in the Wikipedia definition a community is like any living organism. It requires nurturing, constant attention and is most sustainable when grown organically.
Much like any major corporation, SAP supports and hosts a number of 'community' initiatives and programs. It seems that every department and business unit within SAP 'has one' these days.
Each community has a unique design and scope that is segmented to bring people together by issues (industry value networks, industry advisory councils, etc.) by role (CEO, CIO, and Developer networks) or general audience (customer - user groups; partners; analysts; bloggers).
Below are four examples of communities at SAP:
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The best known and most famous community at SAP is the SAP Developer Network (SDN) - an online community for SAP developers. Over the past four years SDN has grown to become one of the most vibrant and active communities within SAP - and an exemplar of what other communities within SAP strive for. It has grown organically from 0 to well over 1.1 million people world-wide. It is 100% self managed and user regulated. Thousands of posts per day and thousands of unique visitors each week. It is a place for developers to share information and seek advice. The average response time to questions and posts is about 18 minutes. It is a very rich source for information and insight.
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In the world of SAP Global Communications (where I sit) we also have a number of community initiatives. One of the highest profile community efforts is the management of 30+ SAP User Groups from around the world that represent about 80% of our installed base customers.
The user groups vary in size from the 2000+ companies that make up the Americas User Group, to the 250+ SAP customers that make up our user group in Brazil. What is interesting about the group in Brazil is that this relatively small number of member companies (SAP customers) represents well over 60% of Brazil's GDP. This is an impressive statistic that underscores the power and influence of community - no matter the size or geography.
Going back to the definition of community and the principle of 'purpose' - we have found that many 'self organized' communities (e.g. customer user groups) often organize to bring their collective voices together, just to be heard. They want (in large part) to ensure that their interests are well represented in corporate and development priorities and decisions. They want to show their ability to wield influence and affect policy and engagement.
Significant challenges quickly come about if a company ignores or mismanages these important groups - organized by the shared purpose of influence. The biggest being backlash in media and affects of negative word of mouth that can be viral and destructive if not well managed. -
Through our University Alliance program we also manage a community of universities that number well over 800 (globally) and educate over 150,000 students each year. I consider this to be one of the most important and strategic communities that my team is responsible for. The purpose of the university alliance program at SAP is to enrich the minds and experience of the next generation of business and IT leaders who will become users of SAP technology and decision makers at our customer and partner companies, worldwide. Over the next year we will establish an online network for university professors and students as a place to better connect with SAP, our customers and partners. Here is a good article just published by eWeek about this program.
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The final community that I will highlight is myventurepad.com. This is one of the industry's first B2B social networking portals for small business owners. MyVenturepad.com was launched in November, 2007, and features moderated online conversations that address the crucial issues facing small business owners today. In addition to leveraging social media to attract new customers, the site aims to significantly enhance the SAP brand experience and perception in the small business community by creating and managing conversations with key bloggers and potential customers.
SAP is the founding sponsor of the site, which was developed and built by Social Media Today, LLC, a company that creates networked conversations around business topics, including leading site for social media, SocialMediaToday.com. We are working directly with Social Media Today to manage the MyVenturepad.com site and to identify and attract the most informed business influencers to the site to advise on small business issues. Members of the site can get the best available insight about start-ups, funding and finance, taxes, marketing, and more in one location; but more importantly, they can comment, share and rate posts, connect with bloggers and other members, and even blog themselves.
With these examples, it is important to state the obvious that communities offer rich opportunities to gather market insights to validate business opportunities and roadblocks. You just have to listen!!!
By bringing communities closer to your business and engaging in conversations you will not only gain invaluable insights, you will also secure loyalty and trust - which will open the doors to mutual influence and win-win engagements.
In order to maximize the relationship with your communities it really is important to understand why the community exists and how it operates (what is their mission/charter; governance structure; communication design; etc.) and establish an engagement strategy that helps to enrich their charter while at the same time secures your ability to contribute and influence.