Those who do Community Marketing build an empire

Find out when community marketing can be an effective strategy for increasing business

Engagement, but at the next level: community marketing teaches us nothing new.

For as long as I can remember, those who were able to build an empire in the brand world were those who were able to create a group of people who felt represented by the values, vision, and membership of the brand.

There are global communities ready to disguise themselves and harness a lightsaber to live in the Star Wars Galactic Empire.

Thousands of people training hard beyond the limits of fatigue to participate in an Ironman race and enter the Olympus of Endurance Sports (it’s trademarked!).

Millions of PlayStation players, Coca-Cola drinkers, frappuccino drinkers, Harleysti (so much so that they gave themselves that name), and a few, but fervent, supporters of small, local brands.

It doesn’t matter how much your company bills. Community-based marketing is the right strategy for building your empire, big or small.

What is community marketing

An online community is a group of people who gather in virtual places under the insignia of a specific brand.
Community members are high imperial dignities: if they love the brand, they are ready to speak well of it, spread the word about it, and defend it when there are critical issues.

Those who are part of your community are usually customers who are satisfied with your product or service. Increasingly, however, people are also looking for commitment and values in the brands they identify with.

Online communities are made up of disparate characters who are united by something that links them to your brand.
A well-known group travel provider has built such a strong Community on social that it has also begun to organize highly attended physical events.

Those people identify with a certain way of approaching adventure, travel and new acquaintances. In just a few years, they have become a veritable army equipped with a most powerful weapon: word of mouth.

They are ready to unsheathe it by talking to friends about their latest expedition to the ends of the world, about the very local mojito on a tropical beach, about the new friendships they have made.

Online and real, in the world of community marketing and community brands, are sides of the same coin.

5 reasons to build an online community

1. You surround yourself with a hard core of loyal customers;
2. You have incredibly helpful feedback on products and services;
3. You enjoy the word-of-mouth effect, still crazy for finding new customers;
4. You have someone ready to stand up for you if crises arise;
5. You really know your people and your potential and ideal customers … and that gives your marketing and communication strategy a boost!

In the ancient Roman Empire, coins bearing the emperor’s effigy, steles engraved with his deeds, spectacles, and marble statues were a huge branding machine.

It made men and women who lived all over Europe and parts of Africa and Asia Minor feel “Roman.”

With online tools, building a local or global community is definitely easier and less expensive. I imagine Caesar Augustus would have been crazy about it. You just have to find the right marketing strategies.

Rome wasn’t built in a day: neither was your community

Building a community around your brand is a true long-term marketing strategy. Rome, after all, was not built in a day. You, too, will need to arm yourself with patience to see the apogee of your brand community.

The types of communities

Each online community is unique because it is identified with a particular value system, customs, jargon, tastes, and buying habits. But there are types of online communities into which each company can direct a customer of its own.

Mainly, they are those who gather in social media, discussion groups and fan pages.

Or, those that interact with our content marketing. A common feature of all communities, however, is precisely interaction.

The brand’s relationship with the community is not top to bottom: user feedback and opinions matter. You must be prepared to sit as an equal among your people, listening, responding, inspiring, entertaining.

In order for people to really join your community and feel a part of it, it must not be something posed. The group spirit must be real.

It is not true that Rome fell when customs became corrupt. The empire fell when people stopped feeling Roman.

The bad news is that people join your community only and only if they perceive the value added. This is where things get a little more complicated.
Becoming a Roman citizen in the days of the empire gave you a much more advantageous status than being a subject.

So if you want a community you first put substance into what you do:

1. Take care of the user experience in all physical and virtual places where users come into contact with your brand (physical stores, website, newsletters, content marketing, social, etc.);
2. Offer efficient, fast, simple customer care;
3. Pamper users withInbound marketing (valuable and “personalized” content) until they become customers. Then pamper those who have already become customers until they turn into loyal customers.

Only when you finally have loyal customers can you begin to slowly build your online community.

Some ideas for creating a sense of belonging

In conclusion, I leave you with some tips to draw inspiration from to start effective community marketing activities:

1. Create social discussion groups where your users can share opinions, experiences, etc;
2. Make the question box in Instagram stories available to your fanbase to create an interactive experience;
3. Think about contests, sweepstakes and games in general-people love to participate. Have you seen the boom in Fantasanremo this year? Not bad for a game born in a bar among friends;
4. Offer exclusive promos and benefits to community members subscribed to social or newsletter;
5. He organizes physical events from time to time where people can shake hands and discover each other’s fans in the flesh.

Not sure where to start? The best emperors had advisors

Agrippa and Maecenas: without them, perhaps, Augustus would not have made Rome. Maecenas built a real brand community around the emperor: artists, works of art, intellectuals. Today we would call them influencers.

Augustus was quite shrewd in entrusting Maecenas with this ante litteram marketing strategy because he knew how to do it.

If you, too, want to make your brand go down in history, contact Factory Communication and find your Patron: the agency is experienced in marketing and communication strategies at all major stages, from market positioning to goal achievement.

Write to Factory

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