“Isn’t it funny?” Girl Friday thought to herself this morning over her double-Sanka with CoffeMate and a Tang chaser.

“Online marketing is about communities. But you are using a “machine” (your computer, PDA or mobile device) to participate in that community. And that “machine” is a barrier, so your perception of the experience is that you are looking in to the group, and not truly of the group.” (heady stuff, GF!)

That desire to truly belong to the online community is what businesses need to tap into when they decide to go with an online marketing or social media plan. Make your online community (blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) a place where we want to belong. You are the expert. We want to trust you and like you. We really do want what you have, whether it’s a product you’re offering, a service, or just the coolness of belonging to your groovy group. You just have to remind us of it, make us remember our desire.

And it occurred to Girl Friday, just this minute, that THE KEY to creating that place of belonging online, is to RE-HUMANIZE the experience. Since you can’t take away the computer ‚ the barrier, be online who you are in person. Write like you talk. Deliver your message or product or cool factor with humor. Make your point matter-of-factly if you are a stiff, dry, nerdy type. Hey, that’s who you are? Revel in it, honey!

I betchya dollars to donuts the MadMen guys and gals never had to RE-humanize their ad campaigns in order to create that desire in their magazine ads. They didn’t have to “create a community.” Everyone was already in the same community. But we’re going with digital dots dashes bits and bytes now….So the short moral of this long story? We’re all human, baby…act like one online…You’ll gather your community in no time!