The most common mistake organisations make when talking about communities is treating it as something that surrounds a business rather than something that sustains it. It is not a by-product of successful marketing or a metric of social reach, and it is not limited to a street gathering or an activation in a shopping mall. At its strongest, community is built around groups of people who share your brand values, beliefs or have a common way of seeing the world, and it is that sense of genuine connection that drives continued participation over time. The organisations that understand this are not simply building audiences. They are building something far more durable. What makes community commercially significant is not its size but its continuity. Organisations have spent years optimising for reach, visibility and volume, and while those measures have their place, they only tell part of the story. The a A ttention within the connection has to be constantly re-earned.…