Can Competition Benefit Community Building?
At Tracking Wonder we seek collaboration over competition. The idea in some cases goes as far as finding ways to make your competitor your collaborator.
That’s not to say that a little healthy competition isn’t good for all of us.
For the past few years, I’ve been tracking how businesses are growing by building online communities. I’ve been examining the breakdown of how business at different levels – corporation, nonprofits or a small consultancy like our own – are advancing by creating a community and by shaping and living a brand story anchored in a mission.
Community versus competition is a topic of conversation I’m hosting between powerful community- and brand-builders Dorie Clark and Jonathan Fields. You can gain access to this conversation and more when you sign up for Quest2018, a free community event designed to help you envision and track your best year.
Some of the ideas worth considering when building a community include:
A Like-Minded Community vs a Cognitively Diverse Community
In our feel-good climate, we assume on one hand that by doing business-as-unusual we’re building community for social good and not competing – and there’s value in that mindset. We see communities being built around similar goals, work, and beliefs.
But what if you designed a community for a group of people who were not aligned or alike in their approach to life and business?
It would be really interesting right now, in today’s climate, to see communities designed for people who don’t think alike.
The Value of Competition
At Tracking Wonder we live by the value that Do It Together beats Do It Alone and actively promote collaboration within our community. We do it intentionally, deliberately, and effectively.
As you advance your best work, do you need to pay attention to your competitors? I mean this in terms of studying what they do well, not so you can steal from them, but as an opportunity to learn.
Free communities have popped up all over Facebook and are brilliant ways to build brands and find new clients. But as a consequence of this we see members who troll the communities looking for clients of their own – essentially stealing clients.
It creates some questions to be considered.
How do you navigate one of your competitors stealing business through your community?
How do you negotiate being generous and avoid the feeling of scarcity in this finite market share in a smart way?
How do you learn from your competitors or make them into collaborators?
Join me as I discuss the tension between competition and community-building with visionary thought leaders Dorie Clark and Jonathan Fields. Jonathan runs Good Life Project®, where he and his team have built a global community in the quest to live more meaningful, connected, and vital lives. Dorie is an author, marketing strategy consultant, and professional speaker who the New York Times describes as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.”
Interested in joining an engaged community? Join us for Quest2018.
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