Erin Bury’s got a nice followup on the Diet Coke TIFF event she recently attended, harkening back to the work that I’ve done on brand communities. It shows that not much has changed in the 4 years since this presentation and since social media flooded the brand landscape.

There are select few companies that are actually taking the time to get to know their customers and there seems to be an ongoing disconnect between customer relationship management (CRM) and social media. Basically, these autonomous PR/Events/Social Media groups have been set up to make sure they’re engaging with an audience, without any real understanding as to who that audience is, particularly when members of the audience are already brand fans.

As Erin puts it:

So brands, I’m just asking you to think about why you’re including people in your campaigns, and how you can involve your diehard fans in the process. I am extremely loyal to certain brands, and I know I’m not alone. Maybe it’s time to start rewarding us for loving your product, not just for having a blog and some Twitter followers.

Now, more than ever, the promise of the brand community represents the holy grail of marketing, particularly when it means bringing some smarts to how social media is connecting with not just general customers, but superfans. Of course, that was always the point of what I was looking to achieve when focused on this challenge. Alas, my priorities have shifted with Say Yeah, so I can but wish marketers well so superfans like Erin can be given the credit they deserve. In the meantime, we’ll stay focused on what we do best.