2. Become as central have come away with some helpful tity. As Pew found in its 2010
Based on the increased interest in learnings and tips and will spend the study, Gen Y has a higher level of
and steady adoption of MROCs we balance of this article exploring them. cohort consciousness than its Gen
have seen from brands and market- X predecessors. When asked, “Do
ers across all industries, it is likely Keep people with a common you think of your own age group
that communities will become as age range, but not a common as unique and distinct from other
central to the corporate insight passion, engaged. generations, or not?,” 61 percent of
function as the brand tracker has Building a true community - where Millennials felt their generation was
been historically. content is co-created by moderators unique and distinct. This compares
Unlike traditional MROCs built and community members and dis- to 49 percent for Gen X, 58 per-
exclusively for a client with the cussions form organically - is more cent for Boomers and 66 percent
members coming from the client’s difficult in a community built around for the Silent Generation.
target customer base, 8095 Live is a shared demographic characteristic This belief that one’s genera-
cohort-centric, targeting a single than those tied to shared interests tion has a unique identity serves as
demographic group. This distinction or enthusiasm for a specific brand a community bond. Communities
presents advantages as well as disad- or product. In the latter, the nexus built around generations with lower
vantages that must be overcome by between members already exists and cohort consciousness, such as Gen
the community manager in order for our job as moderators is to guide the Xers, mean more work for the com-
the community to thrive. conversation. In 8095, we had the munity manager in building and
Further, there are significant additional step of building “commu- maintaining community identity.
challenges that a community man- nity” itself and the ongoing challenge
ager must address when moderating of maintaining that engagement. Create engagements on a wide
this type of community. Having Fortunately, a majority of range of topics.
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dealt with the unique challenges Millennials believe their generation With a community of Millennials
of a demographic community, we has a unique and distinctive iden- ranging from 16 to 31, mem-
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To purchase paper reprints of this article, contact Rhonda Brown at FosteReprints at 866-879-9144 x194 or rhondab@fosterprinting.com.
4. nity is more likely to rust out than Appreciation Day. Awareness of market research tool.
wear out. Unless the participants this role will evolve, and, in time, Third, we feel that propri-
are being engaged regularly, the best practices and industry train- etary communities will evolve to
community dwindles and dies. ing standards will solidify. become at least as important, if
Therefore, the skill of a commu- not more so, to corporations as
nity manager, a position that some Four basic conclusions the quarterly brand tracker or cus-
current project managers may transi- Our work on 8095 Live has led us tomer satisfaction tracker, because
tion to, is critical. To meet the new to four basic conclusions about the of their real-time nature and cost
demand for community managers, future of MROCs. advantages over traditional qualita-
market research and insight firms First, we believe that “cohort tive research. And we believe that
will need to go through a significant communities” such as 8095 Live can the majority of these communities
evolution in human capital. In addi- be scaled quickly and have a bright will remain as “walled gardens” for
tion to the new skill set that will be future. For example, we envision competitive reasons.
required of today’s project manag- the creation of a successful MROC Finally, our analysis of the
ers, a mind-set change is needed as built around Americans born in MROC marketplace leads us to
well. Focus group training and soft 1951. These Americans, now 60, believe that massive, open com-
skills, like empathy, may be helpful have a strong generational bond as munities will occupy a hybrid
prerequisites for project managers Baby Boomers. With disposable research and public or consumer
transitioning to the role of com- income and aging parents, as they engagement role. These communi-
munity manager. No longer will contemplate their next act, we ties will either rise spontaneously
researchers treat participants as fun- can expect much more from this or they will be created or spon-
gible commodities and nameless cohort. Their purchase and invest- sored by a corporation, but their
and faceless samples in a survey; ment patterns will create ripples open membership and public access
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rather they will be building long- throughout the economy. will make them exceedingly large.
term working relationships with Second, we also believe that With strong text analytics tools we
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community members who will be there is room for the development believe that the content of these
partners in learning. of a new type of MROC through massive communities will be mined
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This is especially the case with the addition of a new option to the successfully for insights. But the
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8095 Live, as Millennials are the ownership/control dimension - a existence of these large communi-
most connected and digitally- shared solution. Under this model, ties and their dual use as both an
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engaged generation the world has a firm creates and fosters an MROC insights tool and an engagement
seen, and there is no shortage of based on a key demographic, life engine will present the market
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competition for their attention and stage or psychographic profile and research industry with a challenge.
time online. That means we have sells access to this community to After all, the co-creative activities
had to work doubly hard to keep multiple buyers for a lower cost of these future communities will
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content fresh, engaging and worth a than any one buyer would pay to in themselves become a consumer
Millennial’s valuable time. build their own proprietary com- engagement or marketing tool.
Community management is not munity. Think of it as the omnibus Will the blurring line between
an easy job, but it is beginning model applied to MROCs. We “marketing” and “research” within
to get some recognition. January believe that under this shared-cost this new type of community be
24, 2011, marked the second model, “multi-client cohort com- embraced by market research or
annual Community Manager munities” show much promise as a rejected by it? Only time will tell. | Q
To purchase paper reprints of this article, contact Rhonda Brown at FosteReprints at 866-879-9144 x194 or rhondab@fosterprinting.com.