Understand the power of community building
A brand community is a group of individuals who are bound together by a shared affinity for your brand, products, and mission. This connection drives active participation in online forums, social media groups, events, and more. Members of a strong brand community not only consume a brand's offerings but also engage with each other, share their experiences, offer advice, and collectively champion the brand's message.
Hear how Carlie Paluzzi, Co-Founder and COO at BWH Plant Co., fosters a strong brand community to drive business growth and customer advocacy.
Identify ways to build community
Now that you’ve heard about a real example of a brand community in action, let’s break it down a bit. Below are 3 core components of a brand community.
Note: As you implement these strategies, remember that your community should aim to route people back to your website to engage and convert wherever possible. Your goal, ultimately, is to retain and continuously convert those community members into loyal customers via website purchases.
Community forum
Create a dedicated space for interaction. This is the crux of your community, as it is where customers can interact with your brand and other like-minded individuals.
This is a great place to:
- Share your community’s guidelines and goals.
- Ask for customer feedback.
- Share brand announcements.
- Scale support operations with community-led questions and answers.
For BWH Plant Co., they host most of their community on their mobile app or even in a designated Facebook group.
Events
Bring your community together in both online and offline events. Webinars, Q&A sessions with brand leaders, workshops, and even in-person meetups can strengthen bonds and create memorable experiences.
You must build trust and excitement over time, and ensure your team has the bandwidth and budget to continue offering events and incentives that maintain community engagement over time.
Within the BWH Plant Co. app, community members unlock special webinars and informational events around plant health and learning.
User generated content
Encourage community members to become active participants and create user-generated content. This is content about and for your brand, built by customers.
Use language and imagery that reinforce the idea of a collective identity and community building. Create community-specific hashtags, inside jokes, or rituals that strengthen the bond community members feel, encourage them to take part in the action, and share their own questions, ideas, and discussion topics.
BWH Plant Co. is able to encourage, collect, and then re-share UGC, which boosts even more community engagement.
Steps to build your own brand community
You’ve heard from an expert and learned the core components of a great community. Now, let’s discuss the steps you need to take to put a community in place.
Seek out feedback
Before building out your community: Pause. Ask yourself: What are top customers looking for in a community? What are they specifically interested in about my brand and in their daily life?
Your strategy hinges upon customer participation, and it should foster a sense of shared identity and interest. Thus, its foundation should be built around what already makes your customers tick.
Take on this step-by-step approach to strategy:
- Do research about your typical shopper and ask about their interests in feedback surveys and customer interviews.
- Build clear goals for your community based on your customers’ opinions, interests, and shared principles to help you better track your impact on both them and your own business goals.
- Become an active listener and interact with your customers, especially as you get started in a community space. Respond to feedback, address concerns, and show that you value their input to demonstrate empathy and trust.
Build a space to house community
Building a strong brand community requires patience, authenticity, and a commitment to fostering relationships. Beyond that, it also requires you to find a place for this community to live.
There are many platforms where your community can connect and interact. This may include:
- Online forums
These are dedicated spaces for in-depth discussions, Q&A, and resource sharing. While they may become an added cost for your brand, think of them as an investment and a tool for growing your business and reach. - Social media groups
Top social media groups include Facebook or LinkedIn Groups. These are cost-effective solutions and more informal settings for daily interaction, sharing content, and quick discussions. - Discord servers
These are popular for real-time chat, voice channels, and event hosting, especially for tech or gaming communities. - Branded mobile apps
As explained by Carlie in the video above, mobile apps can unlock a whole new opportunity for you to invest in the community, offering exclusive content, features, and direct communication channels. That said, this again comes with an investment in app development and maintenance.
Incentivize engagement and advocacy
Don't just create a community space and leave it. Encourage active participation and become a participant yourself as well, so that everyone feels connected and a part of something larger within your brand.
In particular, here are a few ways that you can get people involved to better grow your community:
- Facilitate and moderate conversations
As you begin engaging the first members of your community, you must lead by example. This includes having yourself and team members participate in discussions. Ask open-ended questions and encourage members to share. Establish clear guidelines and moderate content to ensure a respectful environment. - Provide value and exclusive content
Give community members a reason to stay engaged. Offer exclusive or “behind-the-scenes” content, early access to products, special discounts, or members-only events. This fosters a sense of privilege and appreciation for taking part in this space. - Empower natural leaders within your community
Identify who in your audience is particularly outspoken or passionate about your brand (e.g., top shoppers or early participants). Encourage people to start their first discussion topics (e.g., with a unique coupon or tangible incentive). Then, give consistent community members a sense of ownership by inviting them to moderate discussion panels, share insights in written posts, or even co-create content on your blog or elsewhere. You can even use these community members to form a specific loyalty program group. Having your customers speak on behalf of your brand, their voices mean even more than employees. - Launch a referral program
The best way to grow your community, and brand for that matter, is through word of mouth. Consider rewarding those who encourage others to shop and/or join your brand community.
Run surprise and delight initiatives
Encourage your top community contributors to keep up the momentum through “surprise and delight” initiatives.
This involves going above and beyond customer expectations by giving top customers tangible thank-you gifts or sharing a kind gesture of appreciation. It’s not expected, but it leaves the community member feeling appreciated.
Examples:
- Feature community contributions across your online presence (e.g., web, social, etc.).
- Send personalized thank-you notes, emails, texts, etc.
- Offer small gifts for reaching community-specific milestones (e.g., posting a certain number of times or leading a particularly impactful discussion).
- Allow community members to choose how they'd like to be rewarded from a set of options (e.g., tangible gift vs. a personal conversation with someone at your brand) to add a "choose your own adventure" aspect to these moments.
Measure success
Finally, measure your community's success and adapt over time. Only then can you ensure that you’re meeting your customers’ needs, making fixes where needed, and scaling your strategy over time.
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Monitor performance
Track key metrics and trends in engagement, such as engagement rates, member growth, and sentiment. Set goals for yourself as you kick off your community (e.g., the number of members after 6 months, new topics per week, referral count for the month, etc.) and then hold yourself accountable. - Adapt your community strategy
Use insights to refine your community strategy and ensure it continues to meet your audience's needs and expectations. You should also stay up to date on marketing and industry trends to keep your content feeling fresh and community members engaged with the topics ongoing in this space.