How Building a Brand Community Can Be Your Secret Weapon
To help achieve sustainable organic growth, many
forward-thinking brands have turned their focus towards building brand
communities.
In such troubled times when budgets are stretched impossibly thin and e-commerce competition is higher than ever, brand communities really come into their own, helping brands thrive post-pandemic. When correctly implemented and cultivated, brand communities can bring an impressive ROI and highly engaged and loyal customers in exchange for little effort and expense.
We have a look at what a brand community is, and why you should take notice in order to get the edge over your competitors.
What is a community? What is a brand community?
The pandemic shone a light on the challenges brands face in the modern age, and the chances to forge human-to-human connections are far and few between. Without any obvious ways to fill this gap, many people are looking to brand interactions to provide them with a sense of community and identity.
A community is a group of individuals that bond over shared values and interests, and a sense of obligation to each other. If a community forms around a brand, that brand can leverage the emotional and social needs that the brand’s community provides, increasing bonds between community members and the brand itself.
The brand community can become a space where the brand can speak to customers in a humanized way, vastly improving the customer experience. A well-shaped brand community can flourish with minimal input, forming profound connections with customers for a fraction of the cost of traditional campaigns.
Why should you have a brand community?
Market research
For business success, you must know what your customers think about you and your products or services, but market research can be expensive. However, by talking directly to your communities through the brand community platforms, brands on a tight budget can gauge the mood of consumers easier.
Brand visibility
It will always be challenging to get your brand’s voice heard in an increasingly crowded market, but brand communities can help brands amplify their message and voice. An online community is strongly believed to improve a brand’s exposure, awareness, and credibility.
Build Trust
Despite influencer marketing being a growing force and gaining popularity with brands, according to studies, only 4 percent of customers trust paid influencers. By shifting to community-based marketing, brands will be able to cultivate authenticity and benefit from the trust that people-centric marketing builds.
Many brands are fortunate to simply have willing customers ready and waiting to collaborate with them, and they just need to be discovered via the content they share on their social media channels.
Thankfully, technology has advanced so that brands can leverage social listening capabilities to seek out their most vocal community members and invite them to a brand-owned community experience.
Why not team up with a digital branding agency in Buckinghamshire to help cultivate strong brand communities to help unlock lasting customer bonds and a cost-effective marketing strategy that can weather the current crisis. Get in touch today!
