Community Building 101: Know Why And How To Build A Community

Building a brand the conventional way involved various strategies like direct marketing, television advertising, billboard marketing, direct mail and of course, word of mouth. Today, however, there’s a better way to build a brand — and it begins by building a community. The recent Big Online Brand Community Study by Vesta revealed some interesting insights about the rising popularity of online brand communities: 

• 78% of consumers who belong to a brand’s online community are encouraged to try new products or services from the brand.
• 74% of consumers are more likely to leave a product review if they are part of its online community.
• 85% of marketing professionals believe that online communities increase trust among customers.

While these are some excellent reasons to build an online community, there are also many other benefits for brands that take this initiative. In this article, we’ll take a look at these benefits and how to build a community for your target users. 

Before you learn how to build a community online, it is essential to understand why this may be a necessary step for your personal or corporate brand. Here are 5 reasons why. 

• It enhances customer engagement

An online brand community provides a platform for direct interaction and engagement with your customers. It allows you to build better relationships with your target audience and understand their requirements. Adequately engaged customers are more likely to become brand advocates and become repeat customers. 

• It is a valuable source of market insights 

Once you understand how to build a community online and successfully create one, you will find it easier to carry out market research and gather insights about customer behavior and preferences. This is because a brand community acts as a valuable source of information, allowing you to gather real-time feedback, identify emerging trends and understand your target users better. 

• It promotes customer loyalty

A strong and active brand community also fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty among your customers. By creating a space where customers can connect with each other and with your brand, you build an emotional connection that goes beyond individual transactions. Loyal customers, in turn, directly translate to repeat purchases and increased referrals. 

• It supports co-creation and innovation 

Another reason to understand how to build a community online is to encourage co-creation and innovation for your brand. Customers can actively participate in the development and improvement of your products or services. By involving your community members in your brand’s co-creation initiatives like surveys, feedback sessions and beta testing, you can also foster a sense of ownership among them. 

• It facilitates top-line growth

Brand communities can also have a direct or indirect impact on your sales. Engaged community members are more likely to try any new products or services you may introduce. Furthermore, you can leverage your community to identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities, tap into the potential benefits of referral marketing, and initial brand partnerships and collaborations. 

9 steps to effectively build a brand community online

Now that you know the benefits of a virtual brand community, you may want to learn how to build a community for your target users. While it may seem daunting initially, it becomes easier if you focus on one step at a time. Here’s a handy guide to help you get more clarity about how to build a community. 

Step 1: Define the purpose of your community (it could be knowledge sharing, networking, exclusive access and privileges or celebrating common interests). 

Step 2: Choose a suitable platform to host your online community after considering aspects like scalability, privacy and user-friendliness of the interface. 

Step 3: Establish clear community guidelines to define acceptable content, the tone of communication supported, moderation policies and more. 

Step 4: Begin adding valuable content to your community and encourage users to do the same, since fostering user-generated content is crucial for online brand communities. 

Step 5: Actively engage with the members of the community and respond to comments and feedback to foster positive engagement within the online space. 

Step 6: Take active measures to strengthen member loyalty, like providing them with exclusive benefits, special discounts, access to exclusive content and more. 

Step 7: Empower leaders within the community and encourage them to take on more active roles within the group, like community moderation, mentoring and ambassadorships. 

Step 8: To gauge the success or shortcomings of your community, monitor its performance and measure its key metrics like engagement levels, active members, content reach and more.

Step 9: Continuously seek feedback from members, evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies and improve accordingly, because community building is an ongoing process. 

Conclusion

This sums up the key details of why and how to build a community for your target audience. When done right, community building can be a powerful strategy for modern brands. You can enhance customer engagement, gather valuable insights and facilitate top-line growth. Furthermore, embracing the power of online brand communities is also a strategic move that can promote long-term growth for your brand, enhance customer advocacy and give you a competitive edge in the digital era.