Objective
Community building
Bringing together people who share an interest in what the brand does.
Community building brings together people who share an interest in what the brand does, and gives them reasons to talk to each other, not only to the brand. An integrated plan hosts the community in owned and social spaces, feeds it with content made with members, events and ambassadors, and links what members do to the customer record so that its value can be shown.
What matters when choosing
- A shared purpose that members care about, beyond the product itself.
- People with the time to moderate, welcome newcomers and keep conversations useful.
- Clear rules on behaviour and data, and on disclosure when members or ambassadors receive benefits.
- A space the brand can rely on, with a way to keep in touch with members if a platform changes its rules.
- Measures set from a baseline at launch: active members to steer, their retention compared with non-members to prove.
Questions to ask vendors and agencies
- Why would members come back if the brand stopped posting for a month?
- Who will run the community day to day, and is that written into someone's job?
- How will we compare members with similar non-members to show what the community changes?
Common mistakes
- Treating the community as an audience to broadcast to rather than people to listen to.
- Launching without anyone whose job it is to look after it.
- Counting members instead of showing what members do differently.
Typical disciplines Community and word of mouth Social media Content marketing Events and experiential Influencer and creator marketing CRM and loyalty
Platforms that fit (3)
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- HootsuiteServes Community buildingStrong match100
- SprinklrServes Community buildingStrong match100
- Sprout SocialServes Community buildingStrong match100