Why would you build a branded community for your organisation?
Community building is becoming more and more essential for companies. Some see it as an extension of their business (a tool), some use community building as a core part of their strategy. But why would organisations spend their resources on gathering people?
→Creating a community is always about solving people`s problem first. No matter if it`s a branded community or not. Companies have to understand the different motivations of their (future) community members: why would they be involved? Members might have very different kinds of motivations:
- Contributing/belonging to something bigger
- Learning new skills
- Building a personal/professional network
- Getting some kind of support
- Getting affiliated with a brand
- and much more…
Businesses have to find out how solving these needs can be aligned with their own goals in an authentic way. This has to be reflected in the MISSION of the community: a one-liner which explains the shared purpose of the community and is relatable for all the people involved (Members, Supporters and Operators).
Let’s dive into how community building and business values connect:
- Marketing
“Have you ever talked with a Tesla owner without talking about Tesla?”
Recognising members who are the most enthusiastic about a brand they use, can be highly beneficial. Connecting these people together and helping them succeed in their goals can lead to a new level of marketing. Instead of (or in combination with) using traditional advertising to reach new customers (one-to-many marketing), companies can work with a core group of highly engaged influencers and tap into many-to-many marketing. These brand ambassadors will talk about the brand “everywhere” they can (this is obviously an ultimate goal). This approach can lead to eg. lower marketing costs and increased sales numbers.
→Pro tip: find your most engaged users, and find out how to add even more value to their life by eg. organising thematic workshops. Find out how to help them reach their ultimate goal. If you`re selling beds then create a community of sleep-improvers. If you`re selling a marketing tool then create a community of marketers. If you`re selling sports gear then create a running club.
2. Customer support
Supporting customers on a one-to-one basis comes with a high cost (eg. running all the big customer support call-centers). But what if existing “pro-customers” would like to help others by sharing their knowledge on your product? Empowering customers with an open platform (eg. forums, Facebook groups, Slack channels) and helping them interact with each other can ultimately lead to a happier community. Pro-customers are motivated to share their knowledge, show their competencies and learn at the same time. People having a problem will have a better customer support experience through much faster and more detailed community submitted answers. And eventually, customer support costs will decrease for the company. Once again, the key is finding out how to provide value for all the members in the community.
3. Innovation
When it comes to creating new features or building completely new products the insight of the community can be highly beneficial (or maybe lethal if dismissed). Helping people coming up and sharing their ideas (eg. through hackathons or in innovation hubs), letting them closer to business/product development (eg. “meet and greet” events) and encouraging them to share their opinions can lead to a faster and more advanced innovation process.
→Pro tip: organise Hackathons in your industry, and help the best ideas grow further by mentoring, incubation or a small initial investment. This will put you in front of a continues flow of innovative projects.
Do you already have an idea or prototype? Create a “meet and greet” community and invite them for feedback sessions (through out the whole development process). People will help you with a surprisingly lot of insights. Bonus: They will also become your product advocates.
4. Content creation
Some organisations have a Community Based Business Model. Needless to say the importance of community building efforts in these cases. Platforms like Facebook, Kickstarter or Quora could never exist without the contribution of its members ( → user generated content). However content creation is important for many different organisations. Joining forces with the community can enable companies to create more meaningful content at a much faster pace (compared to traditional content marketing) even in cases when the budget is very limited.
5. Internal team building
It is important to remember that a company itself has its own community, the community of employees. Increasing the sense of belonging among employees can lead to higher level of employee engagement and to a healthier company culture. This can ultimately turn employees into brand advocates (imagine if “every” employee would also work for your marketing department).
→Pro tip: if you are on a lean budget then assign an existing employee(s) to become the community builder(s) of the company. You can make a big difference by creating simple traditions as a start (eg. birthday celebrations, movie nights, Friday beer or food clubs).
You might also consider creating internal innovation hubs. A good way to foster cross disciplinary collaboration and to get a better understanding of challenges across the company.
6. Brand awareness
Recognising people`s needs or passion, helping them gather and succeed can create business value even if the topic of the community is not directly related to the brand. Community members will become more loyal and more engaged with the brand in the long term.
7. Hiring
Hiring takes up a significant amount of resources of many organisations. Building- or tapping into communities can help you reach pre-qualified and motivated people in your industry.
→Pro tip: you want to reach the most qualified people who likely already have a good job. It might be challenging to find these people on job platforms, but you can do the trick (inbound recruiting) by arranging eg. case competitions where members can learn new skills and show off their competencies. An opportunity for participants to grow, and a good way for you to have the chance to meet these people.
Building branded communities is a long term journey. You have to be committed and be there for your members. If you do it right there will be multiple ways of how the community can contribute to the growth of your business.
- Start with the Mission: one that all members can connect with. Put your company/product second. It`s about creating a purposeful community first to help members reaching their goals.
- Find out how to align your business goals with the community members`. So you can work together to fulfil the Mission.
- Don’t be afraid to engage with the members
Hey, thanks for reading this. Please let me know what you think, I would love to hear your thoughts on Community Building.
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