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PODCAST:
This podcast “Building Community Around Your Brand,” coincides with the article below.
Building Community Around Your Brand
(c) dotJenna.com – All Rights Reserved @dotJenna
One of the primary goals of your social media efforts should to create a community around your brand.
There is a lot of buzz in social media circles about “communities” and “building communities.” Major corporations are gearing for the onslaught of communities that are sure to self-generate from our newfound social media hyper-connectedness. Community Managers are being deployed. These managers are facilitating conversations and getting involved with the dialog among clients, prospects, their industry and the media. Today a Community Manager is the “Receptionist” or “Face” of the organization.
Not only are major brands building communities, but they are also penetrating existing communities to become involved in the conversation. A forum that focuses on Apple computer tech talk may now be infiltrated by representatives from Apple itself. Or a real estate forum may be frequented by real estate agents who serve as valued members by providing outstanding guidance and leadership. Individual community members may partake in varied communities, depending upon their needs and interests.
The Advantages of Building a Community Around Your Brand
Psychologically, we have an innate need to be connected to one another. There are many advantages for individuals to partake in a community, such as a sense of belonging and a competitive advantage for survival. There are numerous advantages for the community facilitator as well.
A. Builds loyalty.
B. Creates comradery among members.
C. Strengthens credibility.
D. Provides “social proof” of your brand’s validity.
E. Serves as a customer service channel as community members help each other.
F. Increases viral marketing capacity.
H. Helps to gain understanding needs of the community you serve.
I. Gives you strong presence among influential members.
J. Empowers individual community members with larger collective voice.
K. Help to establish your business as an authority within larger communities.
L. Overcome negative publicity with large community of protective members.
M. Take advantage of efficiencies of scale.
Building Community is a Powerful Marketing Tool
Strong, cohesive communities are a powerful marketing tool. Marketers today must be leaders, building and leading communities on behalf of the brand they serve, while maintaining a presence within larger, related communities. Maintaining a strong, helpful presence within larger, already established communities helps to attract potential members, and lends credibility to your purpose. Building a community around your brand helps you to harness the power of the collective voice to the benefit of the whole.
What is a Community?
A Community is a group of people aligned for a common purpose. It helps to consider the different ways a successful community operates, so as to facilitate optimal interaction. The term “Community” denotes a union, a joining together, an “all for one, one for all” mentality that puts the betterment of the whole ahead of the betterment of the individual. A community may be a group of people living in the same vicinity, or a group with common goals. It helps to think of your social media-driven community in terms of a team, because teamwork is at the heart of a solid community structure.
How Community Members Cooperate
Members in communities may function in a variety of ways, such as:
- Affirm & exchange ideas.
- Promote each other.
- Support one another.
- Buy from one another.
- Operate like extended-family.
- Encourage each other.
- Meet needs of one another.
- Teach each other.
- Mentor each other.
- Advise each other.
- Respect each other.
- Show hospitality to one another.
Each team member contributes his or her available resources, thus gaining benefit from all the others in the group. Communities that are effective are efficient and powerful, serving each individual as well as the whole.
How Do We Build Community Around Our Brand?
As mentioned before, corporations will likely have community managers to engage with the communities they serve. Small business owners, Realtors and entrepreneur types, on the other hand, will likely have to do it themselves. Others can hire support staff to manage the tasks of sparking interesting conversations and engaging with the community. It’s important to allocate resources to the task of community building, because in the days of new media, not having a voice within the community is like not answering your phone. Community leaders, managers and admins are the first impression the public will have of your business.
Community Building Tasks
- Connecting with people in industry or area.
- Engage in conversations related to your products, services, area, industry.
- Comment on posts, blogs and in forums related to your community.
- Define your community – What purpose does your community serve?
- Lead your community.
- Stay aware of communities related to your brand.
- Track keywords related to your targets.
- Keep up with data related to your community (blogs, podcasts, YouTube, articles)
- Maintain known presence in social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.
- Provide guidance to community members.
- Begin the process of serving others.
- Gain following by providing information of value.
- Engage with groups of people within your target market.
- Show yourself as a team-player, interested in others.
- Make community building a priority.
- Create efficient ways to handle current tasks in community format.
- Highlight others.
This article covers scads of territory related to social media communities. We’ve learned that new media has paved the way for people to connect and formulate communities for greater efficiencies of scale, and we know that corporate America is becoming actively involved with building and managing communities centered around their brands. We’ve looked into many of the benefits to building a community, and we’ve discussed several characteristics of individual members toward one another. Last, we took a look at specific ways we can start building community around our brand right now. Hopefully it’s plain to see how building a strong community and maintaining a helpful presence in related groups both online and off will help to take your company to the next level.
Questions…
Feel free to comment below however you’d like, or think about and answer one or more of these questions.
1. What are you doing now to build community around your brand?
2. Does the community that you’re building understand its role?
3. Are the members within your community functioning as a team?
4. Is there someone in your organization dedicated to engaging, listening and interacting to the relevant communities in your midst?
5. If your organization establishes a presence in wider communities and builds its own community, what can you do with that power that you were unable to do before?
