Brands need not be digital heavyweights to win. But to carve their own niche, they need to be where their audiences are and deliver what they care about the most.
Enter online communities.
The time of passive engagement has given way to active involvement. For brands, it is no longer just about inviting the audience to the brand’s space and making them a part of that. It is also the brand being part of the conversations the audiences are having.
Our recent article discussed the importance of community building in this era where engagement is not just about likes and reacts anymore. More internet users are gravitating toward these communities. It is about time you did as well.
Rules of engagement
Traditional communities have been said to thrive on the three Cs of engagement: connection, collaboration and commitment. The same principles apply to online communities.
Communities — both offline and online — answer the basic human need for belongingness, validation and bond. Online communities are now providing these for a growing number of netizens.
Increasingly recognized as a safe space, online communities offer a sense of privacy and anonymity that encourage conversations and long discussions. Members of an online community not only express their ideas and opinions. They also seek recommendations, even advice, from other members.
This two-way communication bolsters engagement and connection, which can lead to trust, cooperation and a long-lasting relationship. Definitely something brands and organizations want to achieve.
Where and how to start
As with traditional communities, friendships or other people groups, the ideal foundation is organic: People converging, finding they share similar interests and deciding to gather regularly or more often until they form a bond.
But starting such nexus with intentionality will not be totally wrong or unacceptable. In fact, there is no better way to begin your own online community than with a clear purpose or vision.
1. Define your goal.
Start with finding out the why for starting a community. What is the community’s value proposition? How will members benefit from it? Why is it needed now?
These are good questions to base your online community project on. Your online community must have a purpose. Because otherwise, you will create a community that nobody joins but you and your team.
If there are common pain points among your customers, these can form the baseline for an online community aimed at addressing these customer challenges. This means though that prior research needs to be done to identify customer issues.
One thing to note: Your goal is not just about the brand or creating awareness for it. Your community is independent of brand promotional work. There will be other platforms for that.
2. Identify your target audience/member.
Who do you want to engage in your online community? Which demographic of your audience universe will the online community serve?
Focus on a specific group with a shared interest. A community that caters to everyone will be so big not only will it be too hard to manage but the conversations will also be diluted at best.
Tech companies can create online communities for IT specialists or engineers, for example, where members can discuss new and emerging technologies for specific hardware. A clothing company with a community focused on sustainable materials or fashion trends can invite suppliers and young fashion enthusiasts, respectively.
If end-users are your target member, you can narrow it down further to a more specific demographic, say based on age, gender or any other factor. This way, the community will be more specific and the conversations, more focused and engaged.
3. Decide on the type of online community to create.
There are several types of communities. Choose depending on your goal or purpose and the audience you hope to engage as members.
More communities online center on specific hobbies or interests, sports or lifestyle topics. There are advocacy-based communities as well. Gaming communities are increasing in number. LinkedIn has a growing population of profession-specific groups.
Your organization or brand cannot be everything for each and every user. A generic, all-encompassing community will not do, and is why brand communities sometimes fail. Not only are they oftentimes thought of as a disguised marketing jump-off point but also because brand communities can have vague or imprecise purpose and parameters.
Studies show specific or niche communities have greater chances of success. For businesses, would the community be for exclusive offers or new product promos? For many, tech or customer support is more likely to generate interest among end-users.
These communities can be a support or feedback mechanism for users with questions or concerns about purchased products. There can also be a community for users looking for reviews or related information about products.
4. Decide on the channel or platform.
If you have done your homework, you would know where your target audience converges.
LinkedIn, for example, is where professional online communities are usually found. Meanwhile, many consumer-centric discussions happen in Facebook Groups.
Use the platform that your target audience frequents. But also consider the following:
- Privacy mechanisms
- Mobile accessibility
- Security settings
- Scalability
- Pricing
The platform must have notification and moderation tools as well as integration capability with existing tools. Some companies prefer platforms with rich media support and even virtual event facilities.
For organizations that need to keep branding accessible in their online community, customizable branding features would be important.
Reddit and Telegram have been experiencing a surge in popularity in the Philippines. Reddit is a strong hub for millennials and Gen Zs, with discussions spanning local pop culture, current events, job and employer reviews, and even gossips. Notice how search results increasingly include subreddit links?
Telegram, meanwhile, has been popular for communities dedicated to gadgets, gaming, travel and cryptocurrency.
TikTok, frequented by more than 60 million Filipino users, is obviously a hub for many niche communities. With a huge chunk of the Filipino population spending a lot of time on the platform, the country was projected to grab the seventh place in TikTok’s global advertising reach.
The platform now has many niche communities for shopping, unboxing, fashion hauls and even budols. Filipino netizens flock to the platform to get product reviews, announcements and other related info.
TikTok is also the go-to platform for beauty and skincare topics, food spots and books. With its many localized and active communities, the platform is influencing the creation of subcultures on hyper-specific interests and topics.
5. Invite members.
You must have read about the build it and they will follow thinking for community building. Well, that mentality does not work here.
An empty online community will not generate interest. Do not launch one without any members or activity.
Reach out to your most active customers and top clients. They can be your first community members. Invite also brand advocates or influencers associated with the company or brand.
This is what is called seeding in terms of online community building. With your core group of members, start conversations and activities. Throw a question or share some content to spark a discussion.
Hashtag content or campaign can invite reactions and encourage others to join in the conversation.
6. Set guidelines.
Be transparent about the rules for your online community. This helps in making it a safe space for everyone.
Ensure privacy, IP protection and data safety. Prioritize respect in discussions and define unacceptable language and behaviors, with corresponding actions for violations.
Keep the rules easy to understand. If a moderator is needed, set that up, including maybe a team to manage the community once the population starts rising.
Building an online community needs a different mindset and approach. For many, this could be a real roadblock. For one, most traditional brand building strategies have always prioritized brand value proposition.
Online community building, however, will require brands to look outside of themselves. They need to instead look to their audience and meet them where they are or where they want to be.
This also means brands must move away from the brand-to-audience communication pathway. It will cease to be about merely broadcasting updates through posts and generating reactions and feedback from these posts. For two-way engagement to start and flourish in their online community, brands will have to learn to be a better listener as well.
