Joshua Paul had a great writeup last month over at Business2Community.com about a recent visit he had to Disney. I think we can all agree that when it comes to a brand experience or surprising and delighting customers, Paul is dead on that Disney gets top marks.
“Disney has long used their understanding of community and how people connect with one another offline to grow their organization into one of the most recognizable, trusted brands in the world.” – Joshua Paul
Comparing the 125,000 customers who show up at Walt Disney World each day to each of our online communities makes sense. Our online communities can change each day. And both require realtime attention and engagement to turn them into champions of our brands.
“It just so happens that they are an offline community, but still a community. …you can see that online community managers fulfill the same role for companies and associations.” – Joshua Paul
4 key community management you can takeaway from the Disney mindset:
1. They exist to help customers
Their job success is defined by customer satisfaction.
2. They go to the crowd
Managing a community on Twitter when your customers live and breathe on Facebook is obviously a mistake. But also, it is important to learn the habits of your community. Not just where they are today but where they are going to be tomorrow — and needing your help. Anticipate the where they need help and the experience they have will be that much better.
3. The pressure of making a sale is not present
You do not see Cinderella or Goofy walking around with Apple Store style credit card machines. And yet their work to engage, support, entertain, and delight customers generates revenue in big ways. Disney sees this. Online community support can, in a similar way, support brand revenue without a barrage of landing page links constantly cascading down social network feeds.
4. They help curate harmony
The Disney cast of characters is there to entertain sure, but they are also there to make their customer community successful. To get them the right restaurant reservation. To put a smile on the kids’ faces. To sing and dance away the sore legs and summer heat that might have you a little down between park attractions. The Disney product is the whole of the park and the experience it offers.
How can your community management position your product as a solution to the pain points in your customers’ lives?
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What other companies do you think we could find more community lessons from?