The Power of LocalGuides Program

[OmerAli]

Hello #LocalGuides
Struggling with a busy week and workload? well, let me give you this short post to talk about something that we all love and cherish.

Its the #LocalGuides Program as a Brand

Before I start, I must mention a post by @FaridTDF about almost the same idea but from a different perspective that debates about #LocalGuidesConnect platform as a Community or not? In all honesty,  the Top comment (in my opinion) was posted by @AdrianLunsong in response to Farid's post, where he discussed about:
- The Platform as a Community
- Technical/Features Limitation
- Social Media Outreach
- Ideas to improve/cater for Local/Global Audience

Farid's post covered whether we take #localguidesconnect as a community or not, whereas, I will be focusing on #LocalGuides Program as a Brand and will cover the Ideology and outreach from a Social perspective.

I am going to tell you real short stories, personal experiences (more precisely) and the power of #LocalGuides brand that covers
- The Brand
- Community Outreach
- Social Acceptance
- Power to network with ease

Before I proceed, I would like to dedicate this post to every single member behind #LocalGuides & #LocalGuidesConnect program and specially to @TraciC @brittym and @MaxNYC for the overall exposure and branding.

26th October 2018 - Ata Turk International Airport (Turkey)

While enjoying my 8 hours layover at AtaTurk International Airport on my way back from CL18, I was rather exhausted, a little deprived of WiFi and sleep, anxious and deeply sad reminiscing the quality CL18 memories - Honestly, I was finding ways to kill time.
The picture depicting the LocalGuides LogoI took the #LocalGuides badge out for a quick shot that I wanted to add to my CL18 recap post and to my surprise I realized two individuals keenly looking at me and perhaps wanted to start a conversation. Well, we did and I found out them to be #LocalGuides from Pakistan (visiting Turkey).

It's amazing to see how people started to fall under the #LocalGuides umbrella and unite at different and distant places just by looking at the #LocalGuides logo.

That's power of branding, that's the start of a bigger, better community that has no boundaries. 

10th November 2018 - Batu Ferringhi Beach (Perak, Malaysia)

I planned to spend a weekend at Batu Ferringhi (beach resort in North West of GeorgeTownMalaysia) with my wife to escape the city rush. While riding the Ferry (from Butterworth to Georgetown) we were going through Google Maps as usual to try local Metro transports (which we normally and always do whenever we go see new places), looking all confused and somewhat lost in translations.

A very polite Malaysian lady approached us (again, by looking at the same #LocalGuides badge on my backpack)and was willing to help. Not only she helped us sorting the metro schedule but infact ended up taking us to the beach (a good 40 minutes drives)in exchange of my CL18 stories ?
What I really want to highlight here are two things:
1. People now recognize #LocalGuides platform, the branding is strong & engaging as compared to when we all started years back
2. Its hard to trust strangers, specially while travelling and when you have language barriers. But, knowing the other person is a #LocalGuide, the trust relation builds up automatically and in all honesty I believe that's the trust in #LocalGuides program and being part of #LocalGuides community.

13th November, 2018 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (Penang, Malaysia)

I have been travelling a lot lately and due to timezone differences, flights, jet lags, sleeplessness and my slackness, I haven't had a chance to study properly.
This morning after having a grueling session with my PhD supervisor I ended up in the library to have a fresh start.
To my surprise again, I was approached by few undergraduate students (most of them just started the #LocalGuides program). Guess what, The Badge, LocalGuides flag and the #LocalGuides HashTag sticker on my laptop was enough to attract other local guides.

To me, that is so cool, it is like my new tool to attract/interact localguides in a new city ?
I must say again, that is the power of #LocalGuides branding and it is getting stronger.

How did it help? well, I ended up making friends at a completely new place, most of my new friends will get their #localguidesconnect profiles ready by the weekend and we are very hopeful and excited to participate in @ValeriaA_'s 360 photo world meetup. 

I think you guys must have your takes and your stories to share as well. Let's hear it out.

Cheers

[Julien44]

Hi @OmerAli

Nice photo and great story.

It is good to be connected with you.

Have a nice day!

Jul

[OmerAli]

Thanks Julien Really appreciate that

[Sorbe]

Hey @OmerAli,

Thank you for this post and for the amazing stories that you shared with us. 

That's exactly the aim and the spirit that moves this community. I was impressed in particular about the episode regarding the Batu Ferringhi beach episode, where despite the language barrier you managed to create a bond thanks to your badge. This is the demonstration that everything can be done if we want if we are part of something that we share and we believe into.

[FaridTDF]

Estoy de acuerdo que la marca Local Guides , es muy poderosa y realmente hace una diferencia, de echo es un gran trabajo que viene haciendo la gente de Google posicionándola de apoco en nuestro imaginario y en el imaginario colectivo. La marca como marca es poderosa y atractiva, pero también hay una cosa real, la marca sin los Local Guides, detrás de ella no existe, cualquier marca sin usuarios o consumidores deja de tener potencia, o al revés cuando la marca deja los valores por los cuales se posiciona como marca en el mercado, por eso es tan delicado y tan poderoso el programa con los valores que tiene, eso genera fidelidad de marca y empatía con ella @OmerAli.

Para mi la marca LocalGuides, tiene estilo, presencia y atracción hacia ella, pero solamente personas como tú, yo y cientos de Local Guides más no hacemos lo que esperan de nosotros como consumidores, deja de existir. Por eso es tan importante también la identidad y el rumbo que tiene, para poder proyectar el futuro de ella y cuanta energía y esfuerzo le dedicaremos nosotros como usuario, ten en cuenta que si nosotros observamos que la “marca” como producto, la persivimos débil o sin fuerza, o que no tiene rumbo fijo, es más que seguro que muchos LG que hoy colaboran dejarán de aportar o participar, sino mira lo que está pasando con G+, la “marca” G+ era poderosa, pero apenas salió el anuncio de que cerraría, los usuarios en manada dejaron casi de aportar. 

En general no me gusta hablar del producto Local Guides en relación a Marca, ya que entramos en un campo de, usabilidad social y de sicologia de rebaño, que es totalmente real, pero prefiero una visión un poco más azucarada, y pensar que existe un espíritu Local Guides por el cual todos nosotros estamos detrás de el.  Y considerar a los valores Local Guides como la base por la cual deseo permanecer en el proyecto y en particular en Connect.

Saludos Farid.

[OmerAli]

Thanks @Sorbe I really appreciate your input. I honestly believe that my vision changed after CL18 and I have now transformed into a better version of me looking much deeper into quality contributions. Before CL18, it was about contributions and fight to get in, but now I see the bigger picture, I see what's the big goal is and will continue to work for that. 

[OmerAli]

I completely agree with your thoughts @FaridTDF

I am a strong advocate of "Quality over quantity" . The G+ example was spot-on, it was/is absolutely fine based on the technology, the platform and the experience but couldn't get the user backing (which I would like to relate as the Quality content), so, yeah, its shutting down now. 

  What I meant from the Power of LocalGuides Brand was the driving force, a platform and presence that can help us achieve the bigger goals here. Like you said, if we fail/cease to do our part, the brand itself will become volatile. 

That is why, I wanted to talk about #LocalGuides program (which is purely about us) and not #LocalGuidesConnect in this post (because technology is driven by users/content) 

Regards

[Raphael-Mahumane]

@OmerAli I once heard you mentioning that the badge attracted some people while you were on your journey, I be-leave it was when you were coming back from connect live 2018, and now I can see it visually why it does, and if you are around a lot of people it can create a good image to those who wanna join.