Your brand’s database is not a community – but it’s a start

In adland, perhaps no word is as overused right now as ‘community’. So, let’s get one thing straight. Social media followers, names on a mailing list, users in a CRM system… none of these constitute a brand community. They’re databases. And until we make a significant investment in changing that, that’s all they’ll ever be.

But there are potential community members hidden in your database. How can you find them? By using the three Cs of community-building – consult, co-create, continue – to form a roadmap, turning them into a brand community that’s authentic, effective, and ultimately sustainable.

How to identify your brand communities

Another myth we need to bust is that brands have just one community. Most brands cater to several. That can be a reflection of the diversity of the brand’s values, the different ways in which people interact with their products and services, or (crucially) the various levels of engagement and awareness in a single consumer base. Each of these requires a bespoke community-building strategy.

But first we need to find out who (and where) these people are. So, what can we find out from user data collected through social media and CRMs?

Email addresses, phone numbers, and basic demographics provide something to chew on. But I suggest a mix of user-generated content (UGC) monitoring and first-party website data (brand mentions, purchase frequencies, and average order volumes are the key metrics here) to gain a better understanding of who’s already engaged with your brand and use that information to break your database down into three categories: loyalists, first-timers, and window shoppers. You can then break down tactics to target (and build a community around) each one of these.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Very soon, brands may even be able to use AI to identify potential community members by analyzing their followers’ followers, and the followers of those followers. Look up ‘social network analysis’; you won’t be disappointed.

Growing, nurturing, and sustaining community with the 3 Cs

Communities are all about bringing people together to celebrate a shared set of values. The Three Cs are a roadmap for doing exactly that.

Let’s start with ‘consult’. Brands shine brightest when they conscientiously address the requirements of their core consumers. So why not ask for customers’ input? The dynamic exchange of ideas, opinions, and insights between a business and its community is a treasure trove of deep consumer insight. Creating that feedback loop right from the beginning can inform everything from product development to communications and customer experience – ensuring your brand’s output is aligned with the needs of your communities.

Next up, ‘co-create’. Everyone’s talking about co-creation; expect an even greater emphasis on co-creative marketing and brand building – in all its diverse forms – in 2024. Creator marketing and user-generated content (UGC) are two of the most effective channels for building community, thanks to how they drive authenticity and organically extend your brand’s web of influence.

Our media team recently ran an A/B test for an international tech client, comparing UGC to brand-made content on TikTok, and the former outperformed the latter on all counts, especially click-through rate (CTR).

Finally, ‘continue’. Long-term engagement is the glue that brings the first two Cs together. Not only should brands be continually consulting with consumers to become the brand their community craves; they should also be co-creating with the same influencers, on a longer-term basis. Working with a core team of influencers boosts ad recall due to the repeated nature of the brand-influencer engagement. The more one influencer works with your brand, the more their communities feel like a part of yours.

As an industry, we need to move the community-building conversation forward. Otherwise, the very idea of community will get lost in buzzword purgatory. So, let’s remember that what we are talking about is more than just a marketing strategy. It’s an ongoing exercise in discovering, nurturing, and co-creating with the people who are emotionally connected with your brand. When you do that effectively, you get even more than just lower customer acquisition costs, higher average order values and bottom-line growth. You get a brand that’s built around people, and future-proofed as a result.