The Rise of Micro-Communities and Niche Nets

Once upon a time, getting potential customers interested was all about making a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Many new businesses used to “go basic”, which means they make a product with as few features as possible to get people’s attention quickly. By putting out a basic version of the product first, the marketing department can see if people are interested and make changes to production based on that. Simple, right?

This is a common go-to-market (GTM) strategy which is often used by Web2 marketers and includes lead generation and client acquisition. There were three main benefits for marketers from making an MVP and selling it to customers:

• There were enough reasons for people to buy the services, so the company is able to get a very small share of the market.
• A feedback loop was built into the product so that users could talk about what they thought of it.
• Early adopters of the company’s products may benefit in the long run.

It was a no-brainer for new people to get into the market because it was cheap and changed well with the market.

What’s a Minimal Viable Community?

Now that Web3 is here, сonsumers do more than just buy things; they also own stocks. They care more and more about how well the businesses they buy from do, no matter how new the business is. The focus has moved from marketing a Minimum Viable Product to building a Minimum Viable Community.

Because of this, the company no longer has the upper hand in the seller-buyer relationship. They don’t leave the micro communities out of the design process, give them a bare-bones version of the product, and then change it to meet the customer’s needs. The main MVC vs MVP difference is that MVC involves the end user in every step of making the product. So, the “Most Valuable Product” way of thinking is being ignored.

The Minimum Viable Community (MVC) is a concept related to movements that start at the bottom and work their way up. One good comparison is crowdsourcing. The most important things in the new Web3 company are micro community curation and encouraging a business model that is owned by the micro-community.

Some examples of micro communities (or MC for short) to large communities are small, friendly barbecue parties compared to a large, impersonal food trade show.

People who know and (hopefully) like each other get together at a barbeque to enjoy good food, good company, and good times. You might even teach each other how to cook. Compared to the thousands of people who go to trade shows, this is usually not a very big group.

A trade show is like a society with 5,000 members. You’ll meet a lot of new people, but the connections you make will be weaker, and you probably won’t know many of them already. People in the community are being used more and more as advertising tools, which has led to more ads and less personal interaction.

Both of them are interested in food, but they go about it in different ways. You’re less likely to meet new people or grow your audience at a BBQ with friends, but you’ll keep them for long.

It’s harder to start a business in the Web3 age. Businesses need to pay attention to what customers want and also take into account what designers and makers have to say. The “me” mentality isn’t allowed in the MVC model. Instead, businesses need to change their brains to have a “we” mentality that will work best in the new and healthier MVC environment.

Why You Should Build a Minimal Viable Community

A sensible person would say: “Ok, that’s a great idea, but doesn’t it seem like a harsh way to build a community? What is it that you’re seeing that I’m not?” Basically, you want to know why you should create a micro community.

Low entry barrier: It’s easy to find a small group of people to start a Micro-Community with, and it’s also easy to start a chat room.

Goal advancing: When you find a group of people with whom you can talk freely about your problems and ideas, you make progress and give your goals a more concrete shape. Think about a time when you met a friend for coffee and they gave you the push you needed to keep going with an idea you had or a new way of looking at things. Now imagine that process being built into a system and scaled.

Deep conversations: One of the advantages of using MVC is that in large groups, deep and frank conversations are more the exception than the rule. Instead, communication in small groups is more honest.

More efforts from customers: One of the benefits of using MVC is that the sense of community is stronger, people often post to get their name and disclose details of their life because they rely on the community more.

Brand Community vs. Micro-Community: What’s the Difference

Micro-communities work like a backstage pass or an Amex Centurion card because they make people feel special. But what does it mean to be a micro-community? What’s different about it from a brand community?

Interest-based communities, also called “micro-communities,” can form around anything from a shared love of video games to a passion for vegan cooking.

A brand community is a type of online community whose members are all fans of the same company or product.

When we say “community,” we might mean either a small group of people who all like the same brand or a larger group of people who all like the same brand. Here’s an example to help you see how the ideas fit together.

It has been shown that a dedicated fan base for a brand helps a company reach its goals. Because of this, to build MVC web application, successful companies are putting more resources into their most vocal customers.

Smart businesses know that by asking their most loyal customers, employees, influencer partners, and other members of their communities to become permanent “brand ambassadors”, they can get a lot of people to support their products and services on their own.

Most people who like a brand are active members of niche online groups. This means they are more likely to tell people who might need your goods and services about your business.

How do you build a Minimal Viable Community?

Now, we know why MVCs are so important for a Web3 startup. So, how do we go about building a community? Here are three ways of building a micro community to get the attention of subreddits that have a lot of potential buyers.

Build an Attractive Referral Program

Mostly, people trust ideas from friends and family. So, if you want to grow your brand’s community quickly and effectively, you should make a strong referral program and have your most loyal brand supporters run it. They will be able to talk about the benefits of joining your brand community in a way that shows they really like your product or service.

Think about the following to help you make a successful referral program:

• Give your brand advocates some room. They should share content about your company in their own voice on the social media site where they have the most followers and interact with your brand. After all, they know their target audience better than anyone else.
• Make sure there are great incentives for people to join. Give something of value to both the person who referred you and the person who bought from you. Give them a reason to want to invest in building MVC web applications.
• Make it easy for people. People are more likely to join a program if they can easily understand it and explain it to others.

Putting the Bond

About two-thirds of the people would rather talk in private threads than in public forums and feeds. 60% of people feel more comfortable “sharing more freely” in small, closed-off groups.

So, some influencers are using Instagram’s close friends’ feature to get closer to their fans. This is a huge difference between MVC and MVP. Creative brends make a second (fan) social media account to make it easier for people with similar interests to connect and share ideas in a more personal setting.

You can use these methods with the people who love your brand. Ask them to host smaller events where people can talk about your brand and the industry it serves. Because your brand advocates are likely to have connections in certain subcultures, they will be in a great position to tell others who might be interested about your company and what it has to offer.

Scale the MVC

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages of MVC. A core group of supporters must be put together. If you start splitting up your MVC before it gets to a certain size, you risk splitting the project’s foundation. You need a tight group who will always be there for you.

The community will let you know when critical mass is reached, so you can focus on other things as the project owner. They’ll let you know when it’s time to set up separate Discord channels for each of your project’s subcommunities.

It is important to set up processes that can grow with your business. As Web2 grew and more people wanted to use it, one had to buy more servers. You need to build a web3 infrastructure that can grow as your community does. This may be tough but this is simultaneously an advantage and disadvantage of MVC.

To show this, let’s say that people in your area want video games. As an entrepreneur, the next step is obviously to build a GameFi platform that goes above and beyond what your audience expects. No matter if your players mostly like role-playing games, first-person shooters, or hack-and-slash games, they can all agree that a new and exciting P2E system is always welcome.

Wrapping Up

It’s your decision to choose MVC or MVP approach. It’s not hard to find a few lines of code on GitHub and release a new feature. It’s easy to make 10,000 NFTs with more than 100 attributes and make money in a few weeks.

What’s hard, though, is to stay relevant as the industry changes and, more importantly, to keep your best customers (MVC). As a founder, you have to worry about the well-being of your group every day. Once you decide to build MVC application, there is no going back. Building a relationship with your MVC is one of the best things you can do if you’re really interested in a project and sure that other people will be too.

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