Community-Based Marketing: Build Your Audience, Strengthen Your Brand, and Improve Search Visibility
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 8:23 am
Long before social media, groups of people and communities serving multiple interests gathered in places like message boards and forums. They turned the early Internet into a truly global, collaborative space full of opportunity.
Community-based marketing can turn users into brand morocco b2b leads advocates, provide a wealth of content and product development ideas, act as a potential lead generation channel, increase customer loyalty, and simply give your audience a sense of belonging - powerful benefits for any brand that needs to stand out from the competition.
Success Factors of Community Based Marketing
Before you get started with CBM, here are some elements you need to understand to successfully implement a community-focused strategy for your brand:
1. Ensure alignment across the organization, clear goals, and adherence to required KPIs
Be clear about the business goals behind investing in the community, how the community fits into other areas of the business (not just marketing), and the metrics you need to measure to ensure you’re delivering value. Common metrics include membership growth and engagement.
2. Provide potential participants with a clear value proposition and answer the question “why?”
Be clear about what the community is, who it is for, and the benefits of joining, and be specific about these points.
Branding, a name, and a nice logo are important, but potential community members need to know exactly why they should join, and they need to understand it in seconds. Articulate and test this value proposition before launching, and remember to have an internal value proposition as well as a clear “why?”
3. Big is not always the best option
The optimal size is determined by the type/purpose of the community and the target audience you are reaching. In some business situations, the value of members is more important than the number of members.
4. Create and maintain a safe, inclusive space
It can sometimes be difficult to navigate the dual demands of a business that wants the community to succeed and community members who want the business to meet their needs.
Building a community is a real skill and a delicate balance. Trust is critical for a community to thrive. Members need to feel safe to participate and consistently view your community as a valuable space for them.
At the very least, to ensure you build safe and inclusive communities, create the following:
Rules
Standard of conduct
Moderation process
The process of resolving crisis situations and problems
Participant Recruitment Process
Inclusive rituals (create opportunities for all participants to contribute)
5. Hire a professional community manager to represent the brand and help it grow
Very few companies invest in community managers unless their entire business proposition is focused on customer success, recurring revenue, members, followers, and community.
But the value and expertise that experienced community managers bring cannot be overstated. A common mistake companies make is hiring community managers who lack the experience, reputation, and skills needed to effectively manage a community. Branded community managers who represent the organization are important liaisons and gatekeepers of valuable information.
6. Don't treat your community like a broadcast channel
The most successful communities feel like they belong to the community itself. If a community is a broadcast/one-way communication channel or a place to sell content and events, members will leave and the community will fail.
It is important to engage people and lead by example, especially in the early days of a community. The goal is to create an equal environment with the right people, where community members will post and volunteer ideas, content, information, questions, and advice.
7. Create culture through rituals
Building the powerful aspects of community—a sense of belonging, trust, reciprocity, accumulated knowledge, and valuable connections—takes time and consistency.
8. Choose the right community platform
Technology should be one of the last factors considered in a community's strategy.
Some brand communities are based on outdated technology, some are based on email newsletters, some communities have no digital home and exist only in person.
As with any technology choice, consider the capabilities that are important to your brand:
How important is access to data?
Do you need APIs and integrations?
What type of branding, user experience, searchability, and privacy do you need for your community?
Is automation necessary?
Should your community be fully or partially indexed by search engines?
These are just some of the questions you need to consider before choosing a platform.
Conclusion
Like brand building, community-based marketing takes time, but it can make a business stand out.
Community-based marketing can turn users into brand morocco b2b leads advocates, provide a wealth of content and product development ideas, act as a potential lead generation channel, increase customer loyalty, and simply give your audience a sense of belonging - powerful benefits for any brand that needs to stand out from the competition.
Success Factors of Community Based Marketing
Before you get started with CBM, here are some elements you need to understand to successfully implement a community-focused strategy for your brand:
1. Ensure alignment across the organization, clear goals, and adherence to required KPIs
Be clear about the business goals behind investing in the community, how the community fits into other areas of the business (not just marketing), and the metrics you need to measure to ensure you’re delivering value. Common metrics include membership growth and engagement.
2. Provide potential participants with a clear value proposition and answer the question “why?”
Be clear about what the community is, who it is for, and the benefits of joining, and be specific about these points.
Branding, a name, and a nice logo are important, but potential community members need to know exactly why they should join, and they need to understand it in seconds. Articulate and test this value proposition before launching, and remember to have an internal value proposition as well as a clear “why?”
3. Big is not always the best option
The optimal size is determined by the type/purpose of the community and the target audience you are reaching. In some business situations, the value of members is more important than the number of members.
4. Create and maintain a safe, inclusive space
It can sometimes be difficult to navigate the dual demands of a business that wants the community to succeed and community members who want the business to meet their needs.
Building a community is a real skill and a delicate balance. Trust is critical for a community to thrive. Members need to feel safe to participate and consistently view your community as a valuable space for them.
At the very least, to ensure you build safe and inclusive communities, create the following:
Rules
Standard of conduct
Moderation process
The process of resolving crisis situations and problems
Participant Recruitment Process
Inclusive rituals (create opportunities for all participants to contribute)
5. Hire a professional community manager to represent the brand and help it grow
Very few companies invest in community managers unless their entire business proposition is focused on customer success, recurring revenue, members, followers, and community.
But the value and expertise that experienced community managers bring cannot be overstated. A common mistake companies make is hiring community managers who lack the experience, reputation, and skills needed to effectively manage a community. Branded community managers who represent the organization are important liaisons and gatekeepers of valuable information.
6. Don't treat your community like a broadcast channel
The most successful communities feel like they belong to the community itself. If a community is a broadcast/one-way communication channel or a place to sell content and events, members will leave and the community will fail.
It is important to engage people and lead by example, especially in the early days of a community. The goal is to create an equal environment with the right people, where community members will post and volunteer ideas, content, information, questions, and advice.
7. Create culture through rituals
Building the powerful aspects of community—a sense of belonging, trust, reciprocity, accumulated knowledge, and valuable connections—takes time and consistency.
8. Choose the right community platform
Technology should be one of the last factors considered in a community's strategy.
Some brand communities are based on outdated technology, some are based on email newsletters, some communities have no digital home and exist only in person.
As with any technology choice, consider the capabilities that are important to your brand:
How important is access to data?
Do you need APIs and integrations?
What type of branding, user experience, searchability, and privacy do you need for your community?
Is automation necessary?
Should your community be fully or partially indexed by search engines?
These are just some of the questions you need to consider before choosing a platform.
Conclusion
Like brand building, community-based marketing takes time, but it can make a business stand out.