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Jun, 2024Jun 21, 2024
Strengthen Your Brand Through Community
Picture creating a community of customers who support you beyond just buying your product. These are the customers who show true brand loyalty. When people develop a connection with your brand, they not only stay loyal but also become more willing to invest in what your brand has to offer.
What is a Brand Community?
Brand community refers to a group of people who share an emotional connection centered around your brand. Establishing an emotional connection with your consumers is crucial, as it holds 52% more value than customer satisfaction.
Transitioning from a customer base into a strong community is critical to your brand's success. Brands often forget that consumers are also people, with many different needs and interests. A community based brand builds loyalty not by sales, but by giving people the opportunity to discuss, collaborate and engage.
Remember customers are the heartbeat of any organization, so it's important to give them a voice and make sure they feel heard.
Why Building a Brand Community is Important?
Once you have built a following on social media, it's important to understand - that is your community. It's your responsibility to connect with them directly and build a strategy for individuals to interact with each other.
It's important to understand that customers want to feel connected to a brand. Research suggests that 68% of customers will spend more money with a brand that understands them and treats them like an individual. Moreover, 84% of companies that work to improve their customer experience report an increase in their revenue. Therefore, the effort put into building and nurturing a brand community is well worth it.
Here are 3 key reasons why you should be building up and fostering your brand community.
1. Establishes Trust
In today’s world, earning consumer trust is more vital then ever before. While you know you brand is trustworthy, it’s important to convey that to consumers. Community building is a powerful tool to establish that trust. By creating an open, authentic, and engaging community, your brand gains a face and voice.
Most customers want to feel a genuine connection with your brand. That is how trust is measured, not by repeat purchases, but how your brand makes a person feel. In fact, research by Salesforce reveals that 84% of customers consider being treated as individuals, rather than just numbers, is crucial for trusting a brand.
By engaging with your audience on a more human level, you show that you value their individuality and care about their experiences, ultimately strengthening the trust between your brand and its customers.
2. Foster's Loyal Customer Base
A successful brand community increases the chances that your customers stay loyal to your brand. Customer loyalty is important because existing customers are 50% more likely to buy a new product of yours compared to 31% of new customers. In addition, it costs seven times more to acquire new customers than to retain existing customers.
Building a loyal customer base is an important goal for any brand. The fundamental goal of beginning a business is to attract and retain consumers who are pleased with your product or service. When customers feel like they belong, they're more likely to stick around for the future. These people not only stick around, but they also become powerful advocates for your company.
Loyal customers are more likely to praise your company to their friends and family, bringing in new customers at no additional cost. Research shows that 90% of people are much more likely to trust a recommended brand and that 88% of people place the highest level of trust in a brand when a friend or family member recommends it. By fostering strong loyalty around your brand, you can leverage this trust to grow your customer base organically and effectively.
3. Improves Customer Service
No matter what business you're in, the customer comes first. Simply providing a product or service isn't enough to establish a solid relationship with your audience.
This means that customer service isn't just important for retaining customers—it's essential for maintaining the company's bottom line.
A healthy brand community should assist your customers, drive customer satisfaction, and foster a relationship between the customer and the brand. Community building offers an opportunity to humanize customer service, which is essential to people who now value authenticity more than ever.
Examples of Good Brand Communities
1. HubSpot
▲Picture from HubSpot Community, copyright belongs to the original author
If you're looking for a brand community that actively supports the growth of its audience, it's HubSpot. The HubSpot community is a space where business owners and digital marketers come together to share knowledge and help each other succeed.
This community is more than just a forum for users; it's a place where you can engage directly with HubSpot employees. You'll have the opportunity to connect with product managers and developers who can answer your questions and provide valuable insights. This direct line of communication helps users get the most out of HubSpot's tools and features, ensuring they can optimize their business strategies effectively.
2. GoPro
▲Picture from GoPro, copyright belongs to the original author
GoPro has built a strong brand community by leveraging user-generated content (UGC) to foster engagement and connection. Users are encouraged to share footage from their adventures to showcase the diverse ways people use GoPro products.
A key aspect of GoPro’s community building is its emphasis on authenticity. The brand encourages users to share their genuine experiences, making them feel comfortable and valued. GoPro also leverages consumer reviews, encouraging honesty whether the feedback is positive or negative. This transparency helps build trust and ensures potential customers can make better decisions.
3. GetBee
▲Picture from Getbee, copyright belongs to the original author
GetBee is a brand that has successfully bridged the gap between online and in-store retail. Many retail brands are adopting this platform because it leads the way in creating a personalized customer experiences. It brings the same level of service and care found in-store online.
GetBee's video capabilities allow shoppers to interact with a salesperson without needing to visit a store in person. This gives users a sense of control over their shopping experience and makes them feel valued and seen.
By providing personalized service, they have created a loyal community of customers who appreciate the meaningful and empowering shopping experience GetBee offers.
Ready To Start Building Your Brand Community?
Step One: Understand Why
Understanding the main reason behind building your brand community is pivotal. Without a 'why' efforts to grow your community will lack direction and authenticity.
Are you looking to improve customer service, boost customer loyalty, or create a platform for users to share ideas?
The 'why' shapes every aspect of your community. From the content you release to the metrics you'll use to measure the success of your content. By defining the 'why,' you can tailor your content to resonate with your audience, fostering a sense of belonging and engagement.
Step Two: Who is Your Community?
Once you understand why, the next step is to understand who. When identifying the members of your community, think about:
Current Users vs. Potential Users: Determine whether your goal is to increase engagement among your existing user base or to attract new members to your community.
Demographics and Interests: Identify the common traits or interests that your potential members might share. This could include their professional backgrounds, why they use your product or service, or common challenges they face within your industry.
The better you understand your community, the easier it will be to serve them.
Step Three: Find The Right Platform
Selecting a platform that matches where your target audience spends the most time is essential.
Social Media
Facebook and LinkedIn groups are highly effective for building communities and engaging with your audience on social media. Facebook Groups, in particular, provide a free platform for brands to communicate directly with their target audience via Q&A sessions, polls, and solutions. Naturality is highly professional in developing and running energetic Facebook Groups for crowdfunding projects.
Each month, Facebook Groups attract over 1.8 billion users, and according to recent studies people experience a strong sense of community in Facebook Groups.
Using Facebook and LinkedIn can also encourage UGC by offering a forum for community members to feel empowered to share their views and material. 68.0% of consumers are likely to create videos about brands because they belong to a community, and 79% of customers stated that user-generated content significantly influences their purchasing decisions. UGC not not only fosters a sense of belonging among community members but also serves as marketing material that can enhance the brand's credibility and reach.
For those starting and seeking immediate results, creating your community on Facebook or LinkedIn is a smart choice.
Forums
If your brand is centred around deep discussions and detailed queries consider using platforms such as Reddit or Quora. With over 87 million daily users on Reddit and 400 million active users on Quora, these platforms are great for customers who like to consume detailed content.
In Reddit, brands can create dedicated sub - reddits to engage with specific interests. Subreddits often experience a high volume of daily posts, comments, and discussions, demonstrating an active and engaged community. A powerful tool to increase engagement is the r/IAmA subreddit, where users can host "Ask Me Anything" sessions, which creates an opportunity for customers to engage with those conducting the session.
Quora is a platfrom that is often overlooked, but it’s a powerful tool to show your expertise and position you as an industry leader. It provides an opportunity for brands to establish credibility within their community by providing valuable insights and engaging in meaningful discussions. When these discussions are well-received, they can rank high in search results, driving more traffic to your content.
Events
Not every community needs to be online. Offline community building can provide a more in-depth engagement between your brand and its target audience. By organizing events, brands can foster genuine contact and allow customers to meet the people behind the product.
Companies can then continue to nurture this relationship after the event, building a connected community over time.
Make a great community with Naturality!
Humans want to feel valuable and useful. They want to be seen, heard, and feel like they belong. Being a part of a community allows people to feel connected and get active in a worthwhile cause.
By putting efforts into your brand community, customers can feel appreciated, fostering a sense of loyalty and attachment to a brand.
Naturality Digital is passionate about helping brands nurture and develop customer communities. We're here to help you implement community development strategies and provide expert guidance to maintain your long-term competitiveness.
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