Posted: September 21, 2020
“Marketing supports Sales. Period.”
That sentiment is the driving force behind any marketing strategy, digital or not. However, just as sales has pivoted away from pushy car salesperson tactics, marketing has evolved over the last decade as well. With the internet and social media becoming frontline tools in consumer research methods, digital marketing now supports consumer outreach and education. One way this manifested in the early 2000’s was through brand communities.
But the evolution of digital marketing is always moving forward, on to something newer and better. One of the big areas of focus for brands for years now has been building community around their products, services, and brands. Customers that are part of a brand community aren’t just interested in a product or service, but becoming a part of the brand itself.
Not sure how marketing and brands can build community? Let’s talk about a few of the most active brand communities.
Active Brand Communities
Salesforce
The Salesforce international community grows every year. Their Dreamforce conference in San Francisco is one of the biggest tech conferences in the country. Salesforce “trailblazers” come from all backgrounds and have a variety of talents. There are Salesforce developers, administrators, specialists, architects, the list goes on and on.
Salesforce promotes its brand community with strong educational content, making it easy for outsiders to join the group. They are also active on social media and heavily promote their user experiences. But perhaps one of the biggest aspects of their community is the emphasis on fun! Trailblazer specific events and experiences help build a sense of inclusivity for members as well.
Sephora
Sephora’s Beauty Insider loyalty program is a huge part of the Sephora brand. Not just a loyalty program, the Beauty Insider program also invites customers to share reviews and tutorials on its website.
With different loyalty tiers, there is an intrinsic push to reach the next level in loyalty and reap the rewards, particularly if you are actively involved in the review community and want to share your opinion about the latest and greatest beauty products.
Gymshark
If you don’t own athletic clothing and haven’t looked for a new home workout during quarantine online, you may not know much about this newer athletic-wear company. What began as a screen printing operation in 2012 has morphed today into an apparel and athletic community juggernaut, powered by savvy social media influencer strategies and the boom of athleisure in retail sales.
By promoting their growing brand on social media through audience specific advertisements and partnering with athletes and influencers, now it’s difficult not to see content sponsored by or including Gymshark apparel, whether you’re on TikTok, Instagram, or even Pinterest.
Beyond Brand Communities
While nearly everything has changed in 2020, brand communities are morphing into something else altogether due to a few important facts. First, consumers are incredibly savvy about digital advertising and the increasing opportunities for sales tactics to show up in digital experiences. Secondly, “self-branding” and publicity is now an individual sport. Digital communities surrounding brands is no longer just a forum to share likes and dislikes and FAQs, but a public platform to get noticed on.
Mastering engagement in communities requires more nuance when building brand loyalty in a more individualistic and fast-paced community. Consumers are hyper-focused on their individual value and what they gain from engaging in digital communities, particularly brand communities, as there isn’t any shortage to choose from. Options abound on both the internet and in social media platforms.
User generated content, a foundation of inspiration, and a focus on building community awareness can sustain activity and engagement in a brand community, even as the internet and digital marketing continue to change into the future.
User-Generated Content
For a brand community to feel authentic, customers need to be at the forefront of everything, with the brand/business as a passive intermediary. Whether your community is centered around a product or a service, content generated by customers should heavily outweigh company generated content in the community. That content can be photos, videos, text posts, etc. Make a space for customers to pitch ideas or updates, showcase videos of user experiences, and anything else that’s specific to your brand.
Inspiring Content
Content generated by users and by your business should aspire to always inspire. Inspiration surrounding your product/service is what will entire users to return time after time to engage with your brand’s community.
For example, GymShark had professional athletes and social media influencers post workout videos to social media while wearing their branded apparel. This not only provided educational value by sharing tips and routines but also encouraged customers to share their own content (#gymselfies) in their GymShark apparel.
Build Awareness
Inspiring content and user-generated content builds on itself when you have a large community to share it all with. Getting the word out about your brand community to customers is an integral step in maintaining community engagement.
Whether you decide to base your community on a loyalty platform like in the case of Sephora, use ads and influencers to spread the word like GymShark, or rally your users with community specific experiences like Salesforce, the sense of exclusivity can only help increase your user numbers and the amount of engagement the community sees.
How to Get Started
Not every brand community is the same, just like every company and business itself is different. Getting started with building a brand community requires a lot of planning and would be an entire blog post in itself!
However, we do have a few pointers to get you going in the right direction. If you think your business would benefit from a brand community, ask yourself these questions:
- Do we have customer evangelists for our product/service?
- Do we have a platform that currently serves to engage our community?
- What already existing models of brand communities exist that could serve as models for our own?
- Are we working to engage user-generated content already?
- What would the core motivating factor be in creating a brand community?
Essentially, if you want to develop a brand community just to have one, your community isn’t likely to succeed all that well in the long-term future. However, if you have a driving motivation and already have a group of loyal customer evangelists, those are two great bases for getting started.
Totally unsure of where to start on your digital marketing journey? Ask Four Tens, we're here to make things easier!