What does "tribalisation" mean in business

A GOOGLE search to define “tribe” reveals “a social group of humans connected by a shared system of values and organised for mutual care, defense, and survival beyond that which could be attained by a lone individual or family.”
Extending this definition to the world of business, it is no surprise that “tribalisation of business” relates to “people helping people.” That is, those who share a similar passion turn to one another for information, recommendations and community feedback.
We are all familiar with this behaviour, especially so, with the onset of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Such avenues are ubiquitous in so many of our lives, and companies are now beginning to understand their enterprise value.
The “Tribalisation of Business” survey conducted by Deloitte in collaboration with Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research in 2008, revealed that companies are beginning to successfully use social media tools and online communities to engage with customers and employees for brand discussions, idea generation and product development. About 60% of the respondents opened their communities for public interaction and feedback; 53% said permitting users to connect with like-minded people was the top feature contributing to success; and 43% said allowing people to help one another was the second most important feature contributing to community success.
We must not forget that network communities are not just about the Gen Y socialising on the Internet, or Facebook and MySpace; it’s about game-changing organisational transformation. Online communities are not just a B2C phenomenon. More and more enterprises are using communities for B2B purposes.
New social media tools like blogs, wikis, bookmarking and profiles have changed customer behaviour and expectations regarding interaction with brands and companies. “People helping people” is changing the dynamics of the traditional way of doing business, paving the way to a new platform for brand/product discussions and discovery.
Communities help engage top prospects and influence purchase decisions and provide insight into new features and opportunities, identify customer needs and enable open innovation.
Social networks provide an avenue to tap into the “wisdom of crowds.” It opens the lines of communication beyond typical spokesmen such as marketing, sales and PR, and provides an avenue for other important stakeholders (e.g. engineers, scientists, product managers) to gather first-hand feedback from customers.
It also provides a forum for collaborative business development, education and communications with vendors, OEMs, and other partners, and allows consumers who know the products and services best, to become a part of the new offering development process.
This phenomenon has also revolutionised the role of the chief marketing officer (CMO). Companies need to think differently about content, content distribution, the way to get peoples attention and how to sell to them.
The CMO is recognised as the lead transformative agent, empowering the sales, customer service and product development functions with the community’s intelligence and participation. With communities becoming a central focus, marketing is now required to participate in non-traditional functions such as customer support, idea generation and employee communications.
In a world where most families meet once a year, and friends, and even neighbours, prefer to interact via Facebook and Twitter rather than over a cup of coffee, the use of social media and online communities is taking an important role in all our lives, and becoming safe havens for the like-minded. Companies are at risk of losing out in two key areas if they choose to ignore this social revolution.
The first area is branding. Companies are losing control of their brand reputation to an ever-increasing and changing network of influencers and peer networks. Social media has dramatically altered the way media and consumer behaviours affect a company’s reputation:
● Journalists and consumers are driving the dialogue about companies over the “blogosphere,” Twitter, YouTube and other social forums.
● Messages, both good and bad, about companies, brands, products, and/or services are echoed and amplified through various audiences and channels.
Without a platform for participation, companies will find it difficult to manage and react to these messages as they resonate through unstructured influencer networks.
The second key area is talent. Companies are at risk of losing the interest of the next generation workforce. As the new generation of employees assimilates into the workforce, they will bring their online social habits with them. One of the top reasons employees leave within their first three years of employment is a lack of connectedness and sense of belonging to the organisation.
Today’s workforce is required to digest vast amounts of information, collaborate across geographical and hierarchical boundaries, and continuously multi-task and make quick decisions, all amid a flurry of distractions.
Knowledge workers are strapped for productivity, with the average employee being interrupted every three minutes during their work day. Social media can allow companies to connect with the next generation of employees using a channel they grew up using.
Social networking is no longer a tool just for high school and college students. Globally, social networks have enjoyed a 25% growth in unique visitors in the last year, with some sites doubling their user base, and on some networks, around 40% of users are over 35. Virtual communities are becoming more sophisticated and companies are realising their true value. Like many of the tribes we learnt about from our history books, they will evolve ...