Why Building A Community Is Important For Your Brand
While it’s important for any business to have a client & customer base, it’s becoming increasingly important for brands to building communities of dedicated consumers who will return to their product or service time and time again. The best way to gauge this is social media engagement. Followers that regularly and consistently interact with a brand are going to be the ones who share and spread content, recommend your brand and be repeat customers themselves.
More than ever before, it’s important to build brand loyalty particularly in markets that are inundated with competitors. It’s imperative that you keep your followers engaged during all points of the buying cycle & especially in moments of inactivity so that you remain top of mind for them. Having an image of transparency and trustworthiness is what will separate you from other brands, having an understanding of your customer base is critical so you can anticipate their next move and capitalize on micromoments. The better you know your customer, the easier it will be to build a community of them. Take advantage of personalization offered with mobile, like targeting users who use particular instant messaging service or social media platforms they’re more likely to frequent. More and more time on mobile devices are being spent in apps vs. mobile browsing, so in-app advertising will play an important role in how your brand connects with its fans. Businesses looking to tap into younger demographics have taken to platforms like Snapchat & Instagram to reach their audience, while platforms like Facebook and Twitter can reach wide ranges of audiences.
You can also create more communities of users that are just as engaged with each other as they are with your brand. From dedicated forums or open comments on your website to group conversations or video responses using hashtags, giving your customers a branded place to share thoughts and ideas with one another adds another element to your digital marketing as well as your customer service. not only can it generate more sales as they recommend different products of yours to each other, but they can offer immediate feedback, new ideas and assist each other in ways that may have been the responsibility of the brand to upkeep.
These customer communities will be made up of people who will buy again, provide free word of mouth marketing, provide useful reviews and feedback that will ultimately help you improve and be an all-around ambassadors for your business.