The reason this is preying on my mind is that I’m in the midst of getting an idea of the ground.

For the past 18 months, I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the company of people who aren’t afraid to try new things.

To look at a need and then try and fill it. Kind of like the guys who invented the light bulb, automobile, airplanes, great consumer brands like Sony and Apple, Internet leaders like Google and yes, even software giants like SAP and Microsoft.

Granted, I’m not saying that we’re saving the planet here - but we are doing something that we think will matter to some people. People like you and me. Consumers.

So we’ve identified a need. We’re working on filling it. With a little luck - and a whole lot of help - we’ll even launch it for our friends, associates and acquaintances to play with it a little in about a month … give or take a couple of weeks for the gremlins to be worked out of the system.

And yet, we’re surrounded by people who are telling us we should be afraid.

That this isn’t the time to try something new. That there are “oh so many websites and services out there so why bother launching something new.” That we would be better off waiting and watching and continuing to do nothing instead of risking our time, money and hope on something.

This irritates me. It makes me mad. And it should make you even angrier.

If I - or anyone for that matter - believed in such “reasoning” then where would we be? We should just give up on innovation and settle for mediocrity.

I mean - why bother inventing new gizmos, gadgets, machines, software or anything else for that matter?

After all - what if it fails? Why not do nothing instead!

Don’t do nothing. Nothing is important as a means towards something. Do something and Nothing will instead be important as a footnote to your success.

This rings true whether its the development of a new service, product, level of customer satisfaction, innovative and relevant public relations campaign or something as simple as the sharing of an idea.

So why is nothing important - because being aware of the danger of it, you’ll do something. The only thing that you could do that would be worst than trying and failing - is to do nothing.

What challenges have you overcome in your fight to do something rather than nothing?

If maintaining a brand - the essence of it, what it stands for, the culture and the quality - are not something that the brand manager gets and is willing to stand for … then why do it? Worse, anything you do try will either be (i) vetoed or (ii) mangled.

If a brand is to be built, maintained and survive/ thrive then you have to have passion both inside it (the people who work for the brand) and outside it (the agencies, consultants, consumers, communities)

Save the effort for brands that care about themselves. Thankfully there are enough companies, individuals and organisations out there that are literally waiting for someone to help them.

Go work with / for them instead - you’re happy, they’re happy and most importantly, the consumer’s who support the brand get some additional value for their money.

Businesses typically have a choice of deciding where they spend their marketing dollars. This is great if you’re a great big company with endless budgets toplay with - you just spend it everywhere and eventually something sticks. The smarter ones take the time to make sure it all sticks … but you get what I mean.

But what if you’re a small or medium sized business? A non-profit? An educational institution? Cause related? What then? Do you go for volume or influence.

If you had to choose, where would you lean to - finding the 10 people who really matter and courting them, or talking to a 1000 and hoping you hit the right spot from time to time?

Now, there are numerous descriptions and opinions around these terms but for the sake of this post let’s use the following:

Volume would be the amount of noise you create. Online, offline and through the line - regardless of whether its paid advertising, free publicity courtesy of word of mouth or media coverage, or even ground marketing events for that matter.

Influence or Value would be the actual audiences or people you speak to - and who listen and maybe even speak back.

So here’s an example - you have two sites. They’re both bloggers. One has 10000 visitors a month. Very active indeed from that point of view. Another has 1000.

Easy as pie to decide which one is the better site right - or is it?

After all, what if the 1000 people on the second site were actual consumers, decision makers, fully engaged and involved participants in the blog’s community? What if they were in turn influencers and able to help other people use products or services from that company?

Granted, the first angle of volume would also give you some sales. Create some buzz. Drive value.

So, it brings us back to the question of Volume or Value.

Personally, I think Apple, Nike and Toyota’s Prius line of cars are good examples of brands that have to some extent struck a balance between volume and value.

Which do you think works better and more importantly, can we have both? Do you have examples of these?

What does it take to help them grow?

Unlike the old days of getting people to come in based on free stuff, locked in networks and in some cases cash ala Digg competitor Jason Calacanis’ ill fated brainwave.

Today, it’s about authentic content, real value and real people talking to … well, other real people. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it?

It’s about real people talking to other well, real people!

So here’s a couple of things to bear in mind when building, caring for and expanding communities:

Communities are a collection of individuals

As paradoxical as that is, the collective whole (that’s all of those individuals with their various different wants, ideals, dreams, hopes and demands) requires care and attention. Much like a network of close friends, a community insists that you listen to it. Understand, or try to understand, it’s needs. Identify and empower individuals who can help you refine, guide and in turn empower sections of the community. Much like a latice, the various networks/ platforms/ groups within your community will in turn strengthen each other and keep it growing.

The strongest communities are by the people, for the people

They’re democracy in action. So get out of the way. Set it up for your users, readers, customers or what have you. Then shut up and get out of their way.

Trust your community

So you’re building a community. It’s vibrant, active and vocal. Expect people to disagree. If you’re writing a post someone is going to contradict you. Chances are however that if you’ve built the community right, you won’t get the chance to correct them - someone else will jump in there and do it for you. Communities are about conversations, and much like conversations, they need to be self governing. So shut up and let the community speak out.

Flexibility isn’t just for yoga class

Communities are about people. That means that while you get their passion, excitement, experience and all the other goodness that you like - you also get their passion, excitement, experience and all the other bits and bytes that don’t quite gel at times. Be flexible. This isn’t the army and you have to deal with each member of the community as an individual. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any rules out there, but you’ll quickly find that a little flexibility will result in the community self- governing itself. Much less work and hassle. Much more happiness.

We’re only human

That includes you. As companies rush to build communities online, they sometimes forget that they’re going to screw up. When that happens, don’t make excuses. Don’t waste time trying to justify what happened. As Seth Godin put it - just get up there and say “You’re right. I messed up. I’m sorry.” Worry about fixing it and finding fault/ cause later.

Comment or don’t - it doesn’t matter

Readers of your posting or members of a community don’t always respond well to calls to action. They may love your posts. They may read your forums. They may participate - silently. So they don’t feel comfortable commenting on something - there are other ways to get them engaged. From forums to polls - it doesn’t have to be complicated. Get creative - or ask the community itself for help. You might just surprise yourself.

So what other tips do you have for building great communities? What communities do you think are embracing and extending the values above?