In the world of business and from a marketing perspective, there exist two ways to grow - sell to more people, or make people love your brand so much that they stay loyal to you and buy more. However, today, some extraordinary things are happening. So much so that it is not just about selling products or services but rather about building deeper and more meaningful connections; it is moving away and beyond the transactional to coming together, exchanging ideas, and being a part of something bigger than oneself. A brand community is a magic formula that gets customers to stick around, talk about, bring along, promote, defend, and advocate a brand with others. It is an engineered yet delicate art of balancing authenticity and providing purpose to people so that they move from being customers to becoming part of the brand’s story. It is where people begin to feel emotionally invested rather than remain “sold to”.
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The Power of Belonging
Consider this scenario - you walk into a room filled with absolute strangers. You look around - there’s no one you recognize or who appears approachable. Suddenly, in one of the corners, you see a big group of people, everyone wearing the same football or cricket jacket you are wearing, you pause and try to listen in, everyone seems to be talking excitedly about the most recent game… Instantly you gravitate towards that group. A group that might not have anything else in common apart from the team or sport in which they all share an interest. That is the sense of belonging and the power of a community. Its strength is not in products but in emotional connections that fulfill a key human desire - the need to connect, to belong, to have a purpose, and to have a shared identity (similar to brands like Harley-Davidson’s passionate riders, Lego’s community of builders, Apple’s enthusiasts or Team-BHP reviewers).
What makes these brand communities so powerful and so important for business growth? It’s plain and simple - “Loyalty”. These customers are not just transactional buyers but ambassadors, advocates, and defenders. They do not care about trends or discounts. After all, they are lifelong loyalists as they joined because they wanted to be a part of something meaningful to them, yet bigger than themselves. They wanted to express their identity and connect with others who share similar passions. Their community is no ordinary community but a close-knit tribe, a tribe that is more powerful than ever before, thanks to technology and the digital world in which we all live. It is in this that their loyalty is more valuable than gold. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to build a community, even with the smallest force. It will never work, and even if you are lucky, it’s unsustainable. It requires a genuine connection with the customer; it takes careful engineering across all emotional touchpoints.
Brand Community Playbook: Trends that Matter Today and Tomorrow.
The battle for a customer’s mind and share of wallet is never really won or ever truly lost. There are more digital platforms launched last year than there were in the previous five. The competitive landscape, too, has increased substantially. So, too, have customer biases, expectations, and desires. The top trends being leveraged by businesses interested in building sustainable brand communities are:
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Niche Micro Communities with Micro-influencers - There are highly-engaged smaller groups that operate around specific interests rather than building one all-encompassing group. Micro-influencers bring authenticity and trust to these niche communities.
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Hyper-Personalization with AI - Not only is segmentation becoming niche, thereby allowing for content and experiences to be highly personalized, but with leveraging AI, content and experiences can be delivered at scale.
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Feedback Loops and User Generated Content - Content is no longer limited to brands. Today, users/ customers can generate incredibly large amounts of content that feels genuine and authentic. Furthermore, UGC allows customers to give inputs to brands directly, and for brands to respond in a manner that builds trust, loyalty, and advocacy with their customers.
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Engagement in Real-time - Brands have the opportunity to address in real-time, not just negative remarks from customers but, more importantly, to be able to drive engagement via live/ virtual events with customers.
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Shared Values and Social Causes - Customers today are drawn to brands that stand for something. Topics like climate, sustainability, mental health, diversity & inclusion, etc, offer opportunities for brands to stand out and for customers to stand with something bigger than themselves.
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Incentivized Participation - Gamification allows brands to incentivize member participation. Not only can members win something, but it also fosters a sense of fun and competition.
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Cross-platform Engagement - Since customers leverage different platforms for existing needs, brands might want to consider seamless engagement across platforms (for example, Discord, Circle, and Reddit) so that customers can engage wherever they already feel comfortable. This also offers high engagement rates, better retention, sentiment analysis, and more robust, data-driven insights.
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Technology in Community Engagement - Emerging technologies are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in collaboration, connectivity, immersive, and interactivity.
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Privacy and Trust - With great power comes greater responsibility. In today’s world, where data privacy is a really big concern, it falls on the respective brand to ensure that the data of its members are safe, secure, and used responsibly without harming or endangering members or misusing them for any reason. Brands must adopt a transparent and responsible stance while ensuring that they give their members absolute control of their information at all times.
Steps towards Building a Strong Brand Community.
Any brand community is not limited to the gathering of groups of people; it is about creating a space where its members are seen, heard, valued, and connected. It is a space to educate, inspire, and elevate everyone so that the community comes alive and thrives. The five steps toward building a strong, sustainable community are:
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Defining a clear purpose - the problems it will solve and the value it will provide.
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Choosing the correct platform - the platform must align with where your audience feels comfortable and engaged.
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Content that engages - create content that ignites meaningful conversations, where stories are told and ideas are shared.
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Encourage involvement - create a sense of ownership by encouraging members to use their voice and share their thoughts and feelings.
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Measure and Adapt - Monitor all metrics to give you insights that you can use to adapt to improve the overall community.
The Metrics that Matter the Most
“You can’t manage what you don't measure” - Peter Drucker
Setting up/ building a brand community and measuring the success of one are two very different things. As with any business strategy, there is always a need to understand the value and its sustainability, and therefore, tracking the right metrics will ensure that the time, effort, and money invested in the community can be fine-tuned to ensure that it thrives to the extent it deserves.
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The Engagement Metrics
Active Participation and Sentiment Analysis are the two key metrics that must be monitored, analyzed, and measured. How often do members participate in challenges, post discussions, and UGC content engagement? Communities are filled with emotions. Gauge the tone of conversations - measuring the positivity or negativity - and then devise plans to counter the negativity.
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The Growth Metrics
Engagement alone isn’t enough; a community requires growth. Keep track of content reach and frequency, influencers’ and advocates’ content, and frequency and community signups. How many people outside the community are interacting with shared posts, and what are the Weekly Active Users and Monthly Active Users numbers? How many new users and traffic are coming and joining because of word-of-mouth or referrals?
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Loyalty and Retention Metrics
Members need reasons to stay long-term, and it cannot be for discounts or short-term perks. High retention rates signify a healthy and engaged community. Members who stay longer tend to buy more, buy more often, and buy higher ticket items.
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Conversion Metrics
For businesses to stay engaged and invested, communities need to offer more than social connections; they also need to drive real-world outcomes and conversions/ sales. Tracking Conversion Rates and Sales Numbers (from Affiliates and Influencers) helps translate community involvement into meeting business objectives and outcomes.
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Costs and Savings Metrics
How has the community enabled marketing savings by leveraging its members? Metrics, like earned Earned Media Values, User-generated content, Peer-driven help networks, etc., offer significant savings of time, money, and effort for the brand because of the members within the community.
Myth Busters
Myth: Brand communities primarily exist to serve the business.
Fact: They exist to serve the people within.
Myth: Brand communities are conflict-free.
Fact: They embrace conflict because they value authenticity and growth.
Myth: Social networks are the only thing brand communities require to succeed.
Fact: Online platforms are just tools; communities need to be carefully engineered.
Myth: Brand communities are marketing strategies.
Fact: They are a long-term business strategy that impacts every aspect of the business.
Myth: Brand communities are controlled tightly.
Fact: They are self-regulating, with members taking ownership.
Globally Successful Brand Communities
Starbucks
Starbucks at its core, is not about coffee service but rather about cultivating connections with every corner of its business (be it customers, employees, or partners). The Starbucks community demonstrates engineering mastery by empowering partners and customers to create meaningful connections and shared celebrations. With its rewards program, Starbucks elevates its customer loyalty by designing each interaction to unlock rewards and create a sense of accomplishment be it via every purchase, game, or event. Its customer-generated content too continues to inspire and turn fans into brand champions. Starbucks is a fantastic example of building a community where every individual feels connected, recognized, and celebrated.
Walt Disney
There are very few brands that can compete with the legacy of the global entertainment powerhouse, the Walt Disney Company. Since its inception in 1923, the Disney brand has redefined storytelling, created innumerable lovable characters, and crafted experiences that transcend generations. Experiencing the Disney community has always been in visiting their world-famous Disney parks. These extraordinary places bring stories alive and allow fans to interact and experience the magic of Disney characters and their stories. At the heart of this community is the D23 expo, which is hosted by the official Disney fan club. It offers lifelong fans and newcomers an opportunity to meet, share, bond, and experience the brand in ways that empower, build memories, and rekindle old friendships. The Disney community is truly where a global family unites in wonder, imagination, and the timeless spirit that is Disney.
Harley-Davidson
The H.O.G (Harley Owners Group) is a community that connects Harley riders globally. Not only does the community bring like-minded people together, but it also organizes rides and gives them access to the Harley-Davidson museum and lifestyle magazine subscriptions, but more importantly, being a part of H.O.G offers members a sense of camaraderie, belonging, sharing experiences, and helping newcomers. Harley-Davidson, as a company, has benefited significantly from its community in terms of sales. Events like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally draw millions of Harley riders from all walks of life who share a passion for freedom, the open road, and biking.
Conclusion
Brand communities are not trend strategies - the future of sustainable business growth lies in the power and strength of its brand communities. In a highly competitive world where brands battle for mind space and share of wallet, the brands that thrive will be those that transform customers from passive observers into emotionally invested advocates. It is with communities that social connections are built, powerful voices are heard, shared purposes are refined, loyalty is reinforced, and long-term success is achieved.
These brand communities are built and sustained by focusing on creating authentic value and genuine engagement, and proactively evolving to meet the needs of its members. Only through intentionality, effort, and commitment to building spaces where customers feel seen and heard and can join something bigger than themselves, can success be achieved.
As a marketer, business leader, or owner, now is the time to step up and take action. Craft your brand community where your customers become champions of your brand’s story. Not only will you drive business growth, but you will also build lasting relationships that will turn observers into lifelong loyalists, brand advocates, and key contributors to the brand and its business success. The future truly belongs to those people who lead, inspire, and create magic by leveraging the power of brand communities.
Additional Reading: Navigating Local Customs and diverse Cultures, Leveraging Activism for Loyalty, Creating Communities to drive purpose and growth, Marketing Truths in a World of Cynicism, Performance Marketing for Effectiveness, Packaging Designs that Sell, The Power of Music in Campaigns, Negotiation Strategies for any situation, Augmented Reality Marketing, How to Sell with Emotions, Crafting Your Customer Journey Map Masterpiece, Public Relations that Works, Immersive Customer Experiences with Experiential Marketing,