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The Greatness Blog

June 5, 2022
10:12 pm

Building A Brand Community | MFG

If you’re looking to grow foot traffic to your retail store or service-based business, implementing location-based marketing will help.

Intro

Building a community around your brand can be really important for a number of reasons.

First of all, it can help you to build loyalty and encourage repeat customers. When people feel like they belong to a community, they’re more likely to stick with your brand instead of trying out competitors.

Secondly, a community can act as a powerful marketing tool. People are more likely to buy from brands that they feel connected to, and they’re also more likely to recommend products to their friends and family.

Finally, building a community can help you to gather feedback and learn from your customers. You can use this feedback to improve your products and services, making your brand even stronger.

So there’s no doubt that building a community is important for brands.

The question is, how do you go about doing it?

We are going to discuss all about these things in this detailed article. So let us begin!

Importance of Community Building for Brands

Community building is a key player in understanding and running business-related tasks efficiently. The community of a brand is a direct measure of its popularity and needs in a particular region in most cases. For example, established brands like Nike, Addidas, and Puma all have extensive communities.

Community building helps transfer the power of their brand into the hands of the people rather than focusing on traditional advertising only.
It focuses on changing the focus from transactions to storytelling to create a more personal bond.
The trend helps with authenticating information from brands which is highly popular in today’s Gen Z.

Community Building and Brand Visibility

There are several reasons why building a strong community is a must for better brand visibility. Some of these reasons include that people do not rely on traditional adverts nowadays. Instead, online reviews, first-hand experiences, and customer-generated content all play a vital role in creating and maintaining a brand’s image. Let us discuss some examples of these online communities for better understanding.

Following are some benefits that these community-building tactics and increased foot traffic can help you reap:

Gain access to customers
Get to know customers better
Create better experiences
Influence brand conversations
Impact user-generated content
Affordable and less costly market research
Improve awareness and sentiments about your brand, and display it as more than a brand.
Get rich insights using simple and effective matters.
Co-create with customers and improve services, processes, and products.
Reduce support and marketing costs.
Improve customer participation in your brand

Examples of Community Building and Brand Visibility

Following are some examples where brands improved their visibility, recognition, and existence using community building methods.

LEGO Ideas

LEGO ideas are an optimal example of a well-branded company. It has over 1.8 million users who stay connected online for their love towards LEGO products. They have increased their members to an additional half a million since March of last year. However, the community first began with adult customers found in the industry.

However, the group now welcomes everyone regardless of their age. However, you need parental permission and love for LEGO products to become a part of the brand community.

LEGO Ideas has taken the idea of a community much further and is now using a different approach. They encourage members to discuss new additions or changes in existing products to help the brand grow.

There are three main sections on the site that the users can choose from. These include the following:

Activities: are fun exercises for members to enhance their creative skills.
Contests: compete with other LEGO for rare items and prizes
Product Ideas: Users become LEGO Fan Designers by submitting their ideas and plans to the brand.

Beauty Insider Community (Sephora)

Sephora is a dedicated space for makeup enthusiasts and people who wish to make a difference in the industry. People can come together, post their concerns, questions and take photos of things they like for learning and growth.

Even though it might seem very small, the Sephora group has hugely impacted the industry. It has also helped brands and makeup companies adopt the feedback from the customers for better products and necessary changes. People are also using the platform to test out new looks and experiment with what is available.

The best part is that you do not have to be a makeup expert to join it. Instead, it is more of a learning opportunity for everyone.

How can you start a brand community for your business?

Creating a brand community can be a great way to build loyalty and create advocates for your business. But how do you get started?

The first step is to identify where your potential customers are congregating online. This could be a specific social media platform, an online forum, or even a blog or website.

Once you’ve found your audience, start engaging with them. Comment on their posts, answer their questions, and share their content.

You should also create your own content that is relevant to your brand and share it with the community.

As you build relationships with members of the community, you’ll start to establish yourself as a trusted authority on your brand.

And as the community grows, you’ll have a built-in group of loyal customers and promoters.

Community and Foot Traffic Trends to Follow

We understand that community building and improving foot traffic is a long process and requires time. However, there are some trends that we recommend exploring in 2022!

Talk to Your Audience Like They Are Your Friend

Try to answer your audience’s problems like they are your own, and the community will start prioritizing you.

Don’t Sell Products but Value

Try to share valuable suggestions and advice instead of selling your products and boosting your business.

Encourage Your Team Members To Be Social

Hold social events and interactive opportunities for community members.

Add Entertainment And Humor

Ensure you entertain your audience with good humor and entertainment suggestions.

Use Short Videos

We suggest adding brand-related short videos for more interaction with users.

Leverage Real-Time Social Media

You can use real-time Instagram and Facebook options to market your products and create better communities for users.

Join Virtual Groups: Facebook And Linkedin

Creating and joining virtual groups on Facebook and Linkedin can help get a better view of the audience’s wants.

Be Sure That Your Website Reflects Your Values

Try to make your site content as relatable and valuable as possible. Always design your about us page most interestingly.

Be Consistent

Do not rush things and give the community to adapt to new changes you make for growth.

Collaborate

Do not shy away from other brands or users that wish to work with you. It will be an additional marketing section for your business too.

Bottom Line

Foot traffic and community building go hand in hand to a great extent. Improving your community can help you reap better benefits for your other projects in the future. It may take some time, but following an honest/transparent attitude, providing engagement with values and sentiment, staying active through the community pages, are all simple yet effective tools for better foot traffic and community building.