Building A Community Around Your Brand

Community and Social

Community and social media have been tied together since the dawn of the social media era. However, the more I look at the social and social media landscape the more I believe that building a community around your brand is going to be an essential part of all businesses strategies in the upcoming year. According to Hootsuite in their Social Trends 2018 Webinar real customer communities, micro-influencers, and ‘people like me’ take center stage as consumer trust continues to decline. So now is the time to put the ball into play and make sure you are nurturing a customer community that will advocate for your brand in 2018 and beyond.

The Decline of Consumer Trust in the System

The decline in consumer trust is a major indicator pointing to the increased importance of building a community around your brand. The lack of trust in authority figures is shockingly low according to Edelman's 2017 Trust Barometer. Only 37% of the public trust CEOs. 29% trust government officials, and 85% of the public lack faith in the entire system. So, with this incredibly low level of trust in the system who are people looking to for advice and guidance? They are looking toward peers. A peer is considered by 60% of people asked to be very or extremely credible (the same as experts). “People like me” are the experts, the people they trust. They have the same likes, experience the same problems, and use the same products. This change alone has thrown marketers for a loop.

The Uber Mega Influencer Lacks Authenticity

Influencer marketing is a key part of community building. An influencer is a “person like you” they are just the coolest friend of the group. But the key to influencer marketing is having someone who does actually use the brand they are representing. 2017 marked the end of the celebrity influencer era, 2018 will mark the rise of the mini and micro-influencers. Consumers are looking for a more authentic spokesperson. For today's consumer a peer to peer review, and employee testimonial or a customer's story can carry more weight than the celebrity endorsement. The rise of the mini-influencer is another reason it is important to build your community. Tapping into the feedback from your community will lead to the discovery of these key assets and personas. It will also provide invaluable insight into a customers journey and what customers are looking for from your brand.

True Belonging

The third reason I believe that building a community around your brand will be an essential step is based on Brene Brown's research on shame, vulnerability, and true belonging. Brown states in her book Braving the Wilderness, “Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us. Because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval, which are not only hollow substitutes for belonging but often barriers to it. Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” To get a fuller understanding of the concepts she studies check out TED Talks for two phenomenal thought-provoking talks. But for my purposes here, the concept is simple, humans want to belong to a community. An idea larger than ourselves. If a brand is able to provide that, you have a win on your hands.

So we all agree, community building around our brand is essential, right? Okay, good! Now, how exactly do we build a community, where will we build this community, and what does it really look like. The answer is simple yet complex, it is different for everyone! But I believe the following are must have parts of the formula…

Defined Brand + Engaging Story + Inspiring Leadership + Focus on Consumer + Goes Above and Beyond Daily

Define Your Brand, What it Is and What it is Not!

Want a little guidance on brand identity v. brand check out this post…

You can not build a community around a brand that is not defined so your first step of community building is defining what your brand is and is not. Is your brand representative of something? What does it sound like, taste like, feel like, and how does it look on paper (logos etc)? How do you want your followers to feel when they use your brand or product? Is it exclusive? What do you include and what do you make sure to leave out? What would your brand post about on social media?

After you define your brand you explore your differentiators. Are you different from your competition? What is different about your product? Why will people choose you over another brand? Taking a deep look at what makes you different from all the other brands. This will help you define what makes your brand special. And it will help you be able to define and communicate key differentiators to your followers.

Tell Your Story

If you are not telling your story, you are not doing your job. Your story sells. Stories win over customers. A story is the difference between success and failure, Your story is your golden ticket. Make sure that you feature your real, authentic brand story. Whatever your story is it is essential to your business and your brand. It is how you got to where you are. It is the basis for what you do. And your story will continue to develop as you continue to learn and grow. Your story is human, unscripted and real and it what allows you and your brand to connect with the community at large.

Give Members A Reason to Join

What will members get for being a part of your community? Inside information, special discounts, cool swag? Not ready to take a hit on the bottom line to encourage community membership and engagement? Then encourage the development of an inside language, inside jokes, memes, or other member exclusive items that set them apart from non-members, just make sure that you have a plan in place to get new members up to speed.

Make Sure Your Focus is the Customer or Follower

Real engagement and meaningful interaction should be the focus of your brand community. What questions do your followers have? Why did they join your community in the first place? What information can you provide them that can help them in their everyday life. Your goal is to have real relationships with these followers not just see how many followers you can quickly add so that you can boast about the numbers reached.

Don't be Afraid to Engage and Inspire

You have a great brand, people like you, some may want to be like you. It is likely that some of your followers look up to you, and that is okay. Engage in the conversation when it's appropriate and lead the conversation if you see a chance to inspire someone. Your followers want to be inspired and they want to feel like they are part of something (your brand) important!

Speaking of Being A Part of Something Important

Ask your community questions and listen listen listen listen to all of the feedback that you get. Your followers and community members want you to be successful and they have ideas! Listen to the ideas that they have, listen to the feedback they provide, listen to the chatter amongst group members. Then after you have listened to what they have to say make sure that you take some action based on the feedback you are provided. Every single person counts and listening to all the ideas, taking the time to really understand the feedback and then acting on it shows that you value your community members and that alone can be the win for your company.

Let Your Brand Ambassadors Be Ambassadors

Let your brand ambassadors be ambassadors and let them speak to your story, your product and your brand in their own words. If you think this is crazy then you are fucking insane! Brand ambassadors are employees, influencers and regular customers that like and support your brand. They believe in you and support your company. These people have actually spent time activating people. Encouraging them to try your offerings. Brought you new followers. They do this because they are passionate about something that you do. Let them share that passion in their own words. Allow their passion to show. How they choose to speak and what they choose to say should be up to them. Don't fill their mouths with your uninspiring quotes, and perfectly word-crafted statements. Those statements are bullshit and your followers see thru them.

Go Above and Beyond All Day Every Day

It does not matter if you are dealing with your best customer or the browser that never buys anything. Your goal should always be to surprise and delight your customers and followers. All Day! Every Day! It is never a good idea to discount your customers or followers, you never know what that breakthrough moment for one customer could be your breakthrough moment, period! Read Discounting Your Customers

Over the course of my 18-year retail career, my proudest and most impactful campaign was not a campaign at all it was a crazy bet. I challenged my team to ask everyone if they wanted their gifts wrapped, and to wrap each and every item they wanted wrapped at the counter as part of the checkout process. And that year we wrapped every present bought with us, some presents bought at other stores and that year we destroyed our sales budget for Christmas and had delighted hundreds of neighborhood customers and followers. People came throughout the year and asked us if we would be doing that again, or if we could wrap a birthday present for them, of course we could it was a little niche we had won simply because we were the only ones doing it.

What is Your Little Niche?

Whether it is on social media, or something that you can do at your storefront, what is your niche and how can you do a little something that will surprise and delight your customers? Can you figure out how you and your team can go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations everyday?

In my opinion this is the make it or break it moment for your business and for building a brand community. Nail this and you win!