By Samantha Cook

It may have once been the case that societies and communities were more outwardly focused than introspective, but societal patterns in South Africa are showing that our communities are shifting toward a more inward focus, leading to an increasingly strong focus on community and, most importantly for brands, community centricity. What is this, you may ask? According to author and blogger Tim Morin, community centricity simply refers to a scenario “where you [the brand] succeed because the other guy really knows, believes and trusts that you’ve got his best interests in mind”.

He continues, “Community centricity says my customers, employees, partners, suppliers, even competitors are part of the story. Community centricity says everyone has something to offer and it is good and it isn't to be feared – ‘go ahead and comment on our work together and share it and rate it with your Facebook friends’. Community centricity says I'm obligated to be a thought leader and deliver …the best ideas the market has to offer, whether I thought of them or one of my competitors did. Community centricity says ‘I have your best interests in mind’. Then, and maybe only then, you'll trust me enough to buy something I have to offer.”

In a South African context, this becomes more applicable to the way that brands interact with the communities they operate in – the traditional concept of ubuntu comes into play, where according to Wits associate lecturer in philosophy Jason van Niekerk, value is ascribed through relationships with others. “The phrase or term that is most often associated with ubuntu is ‘Umuntu ngumuntu ngabanye bantu’ which can be translated as ‘being a person has to mean being through other people, or being one of several people in a group’ – that is, to be a person is to be through others.”

Basically, a brand’s value in a community comes from its real connections with the people inhabiting that community. But how does a brand convert this desire for relationship into profitable engagement?

There are basically two ways. The first is that brands should be interacting more with community publications and radio stations. The fact is that readers and audiences are demanding increasingly localised content about their areas and things that affect their daily lives. In addition, according to the latest Compass24 research, surveyed readers ranked the following topics as their top five features in community newspapers: community and suburban news, crime and policing issues, municipal and local government news, advertising specials and promotions, and classified ads. In a previous Media Update editorial desk article, I wrote about the need for advertisers to recognise the potential in advertising in community publications, because the readers of those papers are actively searching for the kind of content and advertising that local brands can easily provide – it’s a win-win situation for all.

Linda Gibson, CEO of Ads24, which produced the Compass24 research, agrees. “Given that societies are becoming more community focused, community newspapers are also becoming a differently relevant medium to consider for advertising, as community centricity implies a different attraction to community newspaper titles.”

If a brand is particularly active in a community, community radio and print publications can be incredibly powerful platforms to reach your target market. In addition, the fact that most community publications and radio stations prefer to use this localised content means that getting coverage on a local media platform will be significantly easier than, for instance, getting a mention in a publication with more of a national focus, such as the Mail &amp Guardian.

“Community newspapers provide the perfect opportunity for brands to be more specific, less generic and to showcase their commitment to their customers by being present and involved in their communities,” continues Gibson.

The second crucial strategy is to inject your brand into the community that you are trying to target. This should go without saying, but it should also be remembered that opening an outlet in an area does very little to achieve the end goal of properly engaging with and developing a relationship with your market. A good local example would be the ‘MySPAR’ campaign, which has been run by the SPAR brand since 2010. By inviting customers to send in their stories about their experiences at their local SPAR outlets (as well as establishing a Facebook community), the brand achieved two important things. Firstly, by encouraging customers to identify an outlet as ‘mine’, it allowed for a personal connection to be made between the store and the customer. Secondly, sharing SPAR stories and experiences opened up a positive channel of dialogue between the brand and the consumer– a move that is essential to any brand-building strategy.

Do you believe that South African brands are sufficiently embracing the opportunities presented by the concept of community centricity? If not, why not? Let us know what you think on our blog.