Building Brand Communities
How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging
An authentic brand community is far more than a group working alongside one another or a list of customers connected to a brand on social media. Building Brand Communities distills key lessons to create engaged and effective communities by growing mutual concern, expressing common values, and sharing experiences.
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“In an increasingly lonely world, Building Brand Communities provides a well-lit path to authentic community. The book brims with easily relatable anecdotes from organizations on the front lines of innovation. In the media world, you are only as good as the user communities you build. It’s not easy. But if you follow the lessons imparted by Charles and Carrie in this noteworthy book, you can be very good indeed.”
Eric Schurenberg
CEO, Fast Company & Inc.
“Building Brand Communities is powerfully insightful and by far the most practical guide on building authentic community that we've found by far. We're excited to invest the shared wisdom into practices that drive employee health & well-being worldwide! “
Newton Cheng
Global Health & Performance Lead, Google
“As an advocate for women in tech, I know that communities benefit from diverse and fresh perspectives. The lessons and stories presented by Carrie and Charles provide a clear vision toward truly authentic communities and a powerful map to build them."
Melody Biringer
Founder and CEO of Women in Tech Regatta
Top tier organizations, whether nonprofit, political, faith-based, or commercial, know that meaningful connections unlock unprecedented outcomes.
We need community, now more than ever. Learn how to build connection, grow mutual concern, share values, and gather in meaningful experiences, both online and off
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“For too long, we’ve used the term ‘brand community’ as a lazy shorthand for ‘customers.’ Jones and Vogl provide fresh insight into the powerful ways that brands can authentically connect us.”
Ben Casnocha
co-author (with Reid Hoffman) of #1 New York Times Bestseller The Start-up of You
“Brands looking to create or tap into their true communities need to know that it is a journey. If you don't know your way, you’ll need a wise guide, and you will find none better than Vogl and Jones.”
Marcus "djWHEAT" Graham
Director of Creator Development, Twitch
"I am blown away by this book. It's so relevant and so instructive. Vogl and Jones writing is friendly and easy to read. I'm already sharing this across our organization and beyond."
Rusty Robertson
Co-founder, Stand Up to Cancer
Robertson Schwartz Agency
What’s Inside:
Section One:
Brand Community Foundations
An authentic brand community is far more than a group working alongside one another or a list of customers connected to a brand on social media. Many commonly used terms like community and brand lack singular definitions in leadership writing. In the first section of Building Brand Communities, Jones and Vogl dive deep to clarify and define these terms which in turn will strengthen your ability to recognize and discern effective brand communities.
Section Two:
Building From The Beginning
Everyone wants to work on mature-stage communities with thousands of passionate members, but unfortunately, that is not where your journey typically begins. In the second section of the book, Jones and Vogl outline the things leaders commonly mistake for community, like platforms and social media management, and explain how to clarify organizational purpose, determine your team size and structure, and forge real, durable relationships.
section three:
Deeper Ideas
After you have learned both how to recognize a true brand community, how they support organizational goals, and the principles for growing them, Jones and Vogl invite you to think deeper about critical ideas to build communities that serve both members and organizations. No matter the outcomes you seek or the stage of your community’s growth, understanding the five topics discussed in this section of Building Brand Communities is paramount. These topics will help you build a successful and engaging community of your own.
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Carrie Melissa Jones
is the founder of Gather Community Consulting and the former COO and founding partner of CMX. Her work has helped build communities with Google, Patreon, the American Medical Association, Coursera, and DoSomething.org. She is a graduate of UCLA and an M.A. researcher at UW-Milwaukee.
Carriemelissajones.com
Charles H. Vogl
is an executive advisor and a regular guest lecturer at Yale School of Management and Yale Leadership Institute. His work is used to support operations within firms including Google, Airbnb, Twitch, and Meetup. He is the author of the international bestseller The Art of Community.