Building A Rock-Solid Community Offline

By Kate Spiers

Flat White is a Mecca for caffeine-obsessed Soho types. Not only does Flat White serve the best coffee in town (the original New Zealand Flat White – a thing of beauty in itself).  It has an authentic vibe. Cool people, the best music, palpable energy.

But their digital footprint is minimal. They have a website (currently not live for some reason) and enthusiasts blog about them but there’s no Twitter account, no Facebook fan page, no YouTube channel or blog. And – shock – I don’t think they need it.

Because Flat White has one of the most loyal followings in town, it’s de facto cool, and rarely empty. They even opened up a sister venue, Milkbar, just a few streets away, which should technically cannibalise their trade, but doesn’t.

To me, it’s a great reminder that social technology is not for everyone right now, and that good old-fashioned marketing principles of brand, service, promise and experience count.

So how’d they do it? And how can we learn from their success?

1. It’s about people

Visit Flat White and running the show most of the time is Cameron, the slightly wired-looking barista (he sinks a lot of espressos a day). He is a bundle of energy, easy going and super friendly. He talks to everyone about pretty much anything and generally makes you feel good to be there.  The rest of the team echo Cam’s style – it all feels right.  You can’t fake this stuff.

2. It’s about passion

This is a place where great things happen. Dare ask Cameron about the coffee and he’ll tell you about the beans, the roaster, the machine, the settings, etc. Ask him about the food and they’ll describe it in as much detail as you want.  They’re bothered about being as good as they possibly can be, and about serving their faithful public brilliantly.  The passion and enthusiasm for what they do is clear.

3. It’s about belonging

Flat White is not for everyone. At worst, it’s loud, small, the coffee takes way longer to arrive than at Starbucks, and there’s no toilet and no WiFi. It’s also not cheap. But these “mass barriers” serve a purpose. You come here because you don’t want Starbucks, because the coffee is worth the wait and the money, because the music is insanely good and because you know you’ll be in good company. With people like you.  In a market consumed by standardized brand experiences, this is worth something.

4. It’s about word of mouth

This is probably the closest that Flat White gets to  social media – location check-ins via FourSquare and Gowalla, Twitter mentions, blog posts and the fervour of the faithful contribute to spreading the word. But take a look at it – this is all actively driven by committed customers, not Flat White themselves. They just concentrate on doing a great job and the rest takes care of itself.

And I genuinely believe that so long as they continue to maintain the passion, commitment and feelgood factor, Flat White will prosper.

This can’t work across the board, of course.  But where there is a physical experience, particularly an emotive one (comfort, belonging, pleasure, stimulation), it’s interesting that offline rules.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

Do You Know A Good Thing When You See It?

True Fans, as described by Kevin Kelly and explored further by Seth Godin, are a Good Thing.  In fact, they could be one of the best things that ever happened to your business, so long as you know how to recognise them and what to do with them.

A true fan is not to be confused with a loyal customer, long-standing corporate relationship or your mum. True fans are motivated by a strong belief in your organisation or product, and the desire to share it – completely independently and without the promise of overt reward.  But they’re not completely selfless. They want to share the story because they genuinely believe that they, and their audience will benefit in some way.

Spotting the Good Thing

Who are your business’ true fans?  Who talks about you and your service or product positively? Who introduces you to interesting people, or offers valuable feedback, advice or ideas? Who bothers to read your blog posts, share them and comment on them? Who feeds back, helps expand your ideas by joining in the conversation and offering thoughtful perspectives? Who is cheering you on, displaying a genuine interest in your success?  Who is spontaneously and independently spreading the word, sharing your message? Who believes in you?

Nurture, leverage, reward

Whether you have one true fan or thousands, what’s vital is that you know what to do with them. True fans are a valuable asset to any company – perhaps more so that you realise.  So, it’s critical that you seize the initiative to nurture these relationships, leverage them and reward them.

Once you’ve spotted a good thing, here’s the very least you need to do:

1. Say thank you. Acknowledge the value of your true fans’ support – individually (all true fans have different motivations and benefit you in varying ways) and honestly. They may not know they are a true fan, and may be unaware of their value. By acknowledging them as the hero they are, they have an additional motivation to continue supporting you.
2. Ask for advice and opinions. Use your true fans as a testing board – and be prepared to act on their feedback. Here you have a ready-made community of people who care, are engaged and who know what they are talking about.
3. Make it easy for them to share your story, and to add value to their own communities and peer groups. At Wisdom London, we’re big fans of creating content that we think our various audiences (including true fans) will find useful and hopefully like.  And if they find it useful and like it, they’ll share it. It’s a the perfect win-win.
4. Don’t forget to take it offline. Relationships can and do flourish online and especially through social media (which is likely where you’ll be able to spot a lot of your true fans). But taking it offline, making it personal and real, is where even more value can be established and relationships cemented. They guy who often comments on your blog posts, the tweeple who consistently RT and Follow Friday you, the contact who emails you links to interesting articles – surely you owe them a coffee, or a phone call to say hi in person? And…
5. Act like a true fan to others. You’ll see by now that a virtuous circle is easily created. You have nothing to lose by taking the time to support the brands, businesses and people you love by being generous with your comments, advice, contacts, ideas, content – and everything to gain.

Kate Spiers is founder of Wisdom London.  Wisdom London’s true fans – whether they know it or not – are numerous, generous and hugely appreciated, every single day.

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