A Community Is A Brand, Without A Community There Is No Brand

A Community Is A Brand, Without A Community There Is No Brand

Yesterday, I had a great meetup with John Krissilas, CEO, Co-founder of TransitHub [@TransitHubTO], a new location-based startup in Toronto. TransitHub is a community for transit riders to connect, share and discover the hidden gems around transit stations and stops. It is an interesting idea. I lived in Vaughan and now in North York. I might know the best place to get bubble tea on highway 7 but  clueless about downtown Toronto. This app would be perfect. But more than just a cool app, our conversation was about the relationship between a community and a brand.

A community is a brand, without a community there is no brand. [Tweet This]

If you visit the TransitHub website, you might notice that there is no app yet, just a demo. The team came together only a few months ago at Startup Weekend, and are still building the app. The interesting fact is that they already have a community.  They have a blog, Facebook, and Twitter without a real product.  They are building a tips database and sharing it. It will help creating a better first experience when it launches. A problem many users ran into when they try a new app is no users. That would ruin the first experience. In a very competitive app market today, you do not have a second chance. This was my experience with Colour, the startup that got $41 million funding earlier this year. I loved the idea but there was nobody around me using the app. It was worthless for me because without people to share with it is just an useless cool app. The  purpose of social media for brand is building and connecting a community not just broadcasting. A community is a brand, without a community there is no brand. There are million apps out there but not all of them have users. Most famous companies out there are not the first company came up with an idea nor the best one. But they build and maintain a strong and loyal community who would support them. A good product without any customers is not a good product. Without a community your “the next Facebook” and your dream of success will stay with you somewhere in a dark basement. It is important to build a community, bring together the people who believe in you and  your brand.

Products fade, ideas remain. [Tweet This]

 The next question is ” I don’t have a product what am I going to to talk about?” Talk about your idea. Give people a reason to connect with you. Is that possible? People like to hold on something not an idea?

YES

Of course I know this very well because my father is a master of it. He has always been selling ideas. My father got a few public relations contracts before he had a clear idea what PR is and started his firm. He has been investing and a consultant in real estate way before he bought his first real estate company.  There are many more examples. I am not saying you can do what my father always did. It is a very difficult thing to do and not everybody can do it. It has always turned out good for him because he can put together a very strong team of experts in the field. Building a team is hard plus my father is the best salesman I know. He can make people believe a horrible idea is the next big thing. He does not run the businesses, he makes them run it for him. The lesson here is you need to sell your idea whenever it is possible.  When an opportunity comes, you don’t tell it to wait for you until you are ready. [Tweet This] You just need to catch it, and figure out things along the way.  It is alright to start before the perfect time because there is no perfect time.  Most of the time, you won’t really end up with what you started with. Your product will fade, but if you can sell the idea well, the idea will remain with the brand. People know Google for its minimalist design. People remember Apple for the clean and easy to use products. People voted for Obama because they were hoping for a change. People will remember you and your brand, because you will make the best out of what life will throw at you and sell them an idea.

Lastly, you should build a community before a brand because without a community your success means nothing. [Tweet This]

It’s your turn. What do you think is better building a community before a brand or build a brand before a community? Why?

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Nikola Pohlupkov
Nikola Pohlupkov
12 years ago

awesome :)

thirsty_crow
thirsty_crow
12 years ago

@brasonja @zriha @myEN

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@IamPramit thanks for the RT dear

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@GreggMcLachlan Thanks Gregg I am glad you liked it

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@GKShay Thanks Kyle

rGenta
rGenta
12 years ago

With out an eco-system you have no community.

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago
Reply to  rGenta

@rGenta you know that I used to organize env campaign right :P

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago
Reply to  cammipham

@AlexzandraVG i will

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago
Reply to  rGenta

@rGenta tell ppl something similar…..can you enjoy life if you no longer have a planet to call home

rGenta
rGenta
12 years ago
Reply to  cammipham

Well said. As far as the economy is concerned you can #savetheworld

JonGauthier
JonGauthier
12 years ago

Hey :) I saw Yvonne tonight was great seeing her and catching up :) told her about you hope your well #thatnighintoronto

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago
Reply to  JonGauthier

@JonGauthier where did you see her

JonGauthier
JonGauthier
12 years ago
Reply to  cammipham

when I was the #thatnightintoronto party lastnight #mycitylives

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago
Reply to  JonGauthier

@JonGauthier i never know about any party

JonGauthier
JonGauthier
12 years ago
Reply to  JonGauthier

aww :( you did get go lgfashion week hehe it balances out I don’t go to a lot of them

TylerWardIsBored
TylerWardIsBored
12 years ago

I think the idea of building a community before a brand is relatively new. It was not possible to do in the past (or at least more difficult). However, at this point, your community is likely worth more than your brand. Would you rather have a community with no brand (a commodity) or a brand with no community? I would much rather take the second. Community is the biggest thing social media has to offer businesses.

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@TylerWardIsBored actually i would take the first one. the community is the relationships i have I can benefit much more from it.

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@TylerWardIsBored actually i would take the first one. the community is the relationships i have I can benefit much more from it.

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@SEOtherapy hope you like the post thanks for the RT

SeanRAdams
SeanRAdams
12 years ago

I read this the other day when you posted this – good information

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@knowaging thanks Tonya how are you deaer

knowaging
knowaging
12 years ago
Reply to  cammipham

I’m doing GREAT! Getting ready for #Tet . How are you?

cammipham
cammipham
12 years ago

@planningnotepad @TransitHubTO i know you sent me smt about transit hub but i cant find it i havent really been on twitter much laterly

ghostexecutive
ghostexecutive
12 years ago

’nuff said. RT @knowaging : A Community Is A Brand, Without A Community There Is No Brand http://t.co/6ZoGDe0a v.

trackback

dancing with the stars results…

[…]listed here are a couple of urls to web sites we link to as we think they will be definitely worth checking out[…]…

coffeechaosblog
coffeechaosblog
11 years ago

Awesome post. I tweeted before blogging and had 50+followers at blog debut. In the U.S. it’s called “Fake it ’til you make it”

cammipham
cammipham
11 years ago

@coffeechaosblog yeah i know, community is valueable cuz when u move on u might be able to bring they w u

cammipham
cammipham
11 years ago

@Canadian88 how r u Chris

cammipham
cammipham
11 years ago

@MeinLicht thanks dear

MeinLicht
MeinLicht
11 years ago
Reply to  cammipham

super post; very interesting!

Atip4
Atip4
11 years ago

No expert … but I like that you pulled back on the auto tweets :)

cammipham
cammipham
11 years ago
Reply to  Atip4

@Atip4 Depend on how much i write. when i write a lot it is not a big problem but lately i dont

cammipham
cammipham
11 years ago

@JamesonGBrown im glad you like it

JamesonGBrown
JamesonGBrown
11 years ago
Reply to  cammipham
cammipham
cammipham
11 years ago

@claudialicher :) i am glad you like it

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