Community marketing and its impact on brand power

Many business owners and entrepreneurs nowadays are recognizing the importance of maintaining consumer attention. Especially as marketing channels increase and markets overlap. As well as competing with competitors. 

To achieve this marketing goal, marketers and entrepreneurs are constantly trying to discover new markets to increase their sales. While others are exploring new media outlets.

You can implement any of these methods in community marketing with varying degrees of success. Or you can choose a more targeted approach with a reliable community marketing strategy.

The concept of community marketing?

Before we define community marketing, it’s important to define the meaning of a “society”

To clarify, a “Society” can be defined as a place where people share similar values and interests. In addition to sharing a sense of belonging to something.

Community marketing is a specialized marketing strategy in which brands allocate marketing messages around the consumers. In which, these consumers are brought together by inter-related needs and interests. 

Additionally, according to “Marketing Schools“, community marketing is defined as “a strategy that involves forming an engaging brand presence in order to interact with a community of existing customers. This type of marketing occurs in places like enthusiast groups, Facebook groups, online message boards, and Twitter accounts.”

Community Marketing – Why are brand communities so influential?

• Brand communities are strong and distinct because they benefit from the social and emotional needs of the target audience.
• Community marketing establishes coherent links between the identity of the person and the brand they choose to support.
• People use brand communities to express their passion. Therefore, this passion is reflected in relationships with other members of society, which leads to community marketing. 
• The power of these communities also arises due to their self-supporting nature. Where community members maintain active relationships with each other. Most importantly, in community marketing, the community itself maintains their relationship without the need for brand intervention.

• Community marketing grew out of the need to have ways to help brands gain customer loyalty. Along with maintaining their loyalty and affiliation, and enhancing their brand image.

What are the benefits of community marketing?

1- A better customer experience

Firstly, brands that are interested in providing a wonderful customer experience -through community marketing- are witnessing a dramatic increase in their revenues.

Secondly, when community marketing is done properly, it gives marketers and brands a better understanding of their customers and creates a direct point of communication.

Thirdly, community marketing helps them deal with customer complaints, along with collecting comments on the product and developing the loyalty of their product advocates and many others.

Finally, the participation of active community members in “community marketing” can provide a treasure full of information that helps brands figure out how to offer the best thoughtful experience to their customers.

2- Word-of-mouth marketing

To clarify, it is when the interest of consumers in the product or services you offer is reflected in their daily conversations and chats. Therefore, it is one of the best free advertising methods to promote your brand. And most importantly, it is triggered by the experience of your customers. Therefore, this is an advertisement that other people would truly believe.

In a poll, 72% of clients said they were willing to share good experiences with others. In addition, 62% also said they would share negative experiences with others. For this reason, Strong societies are filled with advocates willing to recommend products and secure a brand based on their experience.

Depending on the way society is created, it can also grow naturally by inviting members of their friends and acquaintances to join.

Building wonderful brand communities through community marketing creates a channel that can lead to great market vision and natural growth through word-of-mouth.

3- Brand psychology and its relationship with customers

Marketing is surrounded by a sense of fear and disbelief, especially when brands over-promote their interest in customer needs and prioritization. As a result, good community marketing overcomes this problem by putting power in the hands of the community itself.

Members will share their sincere views on products for better and worse.

In addition to publishing original content from the creation of users, along with creating their own unique relationships that cannot be replicated by the brand.

The final result of successful community marketing would be a more authentic experience for brand lovers.

What are the most popular strategy used in community marketing?

The clarity of the value of community marketing in our world today is crystal clear. However, it is still difficult to understand the specific methods and tools that can be used to create and drive excellent brand societies.

1- Establishment of support programs and brand ambassadors

Defenders and ambassadors lead talks, along with organizing events and making newcomers feel welcome when they join. Therefore, their role in community marketing is quite important.

Brands must be able to reach out to these defenders and motivate them to contribute to their communities.

Advocacy is a system that rewards customers and encourages them to defend their brand.

These programs are often developed as bonus programs, VIP clubs, or even paid ambassador positions.

2- Internet platforms

Online platforms for branding communities are an easy way to connect with communities that need a digital place to integrate.

For example the Amazon community, the Haskop community, or even the Facebook group

Marketers can create and oversee this space to start conversations, deliver presentations, gather comments and discuss.

It is important to understand the controlled balance that customers expect. If brand activity overwhelms community relationships, customers may turn on the brand or abandon the group if they feel it has become an individual advertising channel rather than a space for people to communicate and share. 

3-Supporting a social cause

One of the most powerful tools that marketers have when it comes to building communities is supporting social causes. In fact, people naturally form strong links when it comes to supporting the causes they care about.

76% of consumers expect brands to have a positive social impact on the communities in which they do their business.

Marketers can be behind the causes in several ways, for example, caring for social organizations. In addition to hosting events or making charitable donations. The most important element of this method is that brands prove themselves to customers.

4-Hosting events

Events are a direct tool for creating common meaning and traditions within society. Due to this, physical events are particularly effective because they provide space for people to interact face-to-face and perhaps meet the individuals behind the brand itself.

It’s usually neither easy nor cheap to arrange events, so it’s important to understand what might drive people to show up, and how to keep them involved afterward.

 5- Gift-giving

Dedication is one of the tools used by the most popular brands to develop communities quickly, and local ambassadors will receive gifts, special offers, and discounts as well.

Endurance and giveaways create tangible value for the client, in addition to promoting their goodwill. However, this is not a magical solution. The gifts are not samples, so they should not be provided with the expectation of future purchases.

Gifts must also be relevant to both brand and community to ensure the best value match for community members. In addition to being in alignment with the brand’s marketing goal.

How are the community marketing campaigns measured?

The biggest obstacle for marketers in implementing a community marketing strategy is the difficulty of measuring its success.

There are no established community marketing standards that can determine the success of the initiative. As a result, much of the value in community marketing is tracked by studying the quality of the campaign and monitoring its impact.

However, the impact of community marketing can still be measured through standard targeting techniques.

Marketers can use the direct arrangement to determine the objective, tactic, cost, and measurability.

In conclusion,

To sum up, societies gradually build their reputation and brands to achieve flexible long-term growth.

Keep in mind that people are at the center of great societies. Therefore, the most important consideration is for your brand community to first carry a strong sense of empathy with customers and members of society. After that, create communication and laws that are fully compatible with their needs and behavior and help to bond relationships constantly.

We help our customers in Lhamim to spot the light on their brand and their business through an integrated range of marketing services.

If you need your business to stand out among competitors and discover your competitive advantage or create valuable content that proudly represents you, don’t hesitate and contact us immediately.