A community needs three specific elements: a segment of people who are forming relationships around something they have in common. Get the ingredients right and you have a recipe for scalable success.

With traditional marketing efforts, customers give you money and you give them a product or service. And the only way to make more money is to keep putting better offers in front of them and continuing the transactional cycle. That marketing is important- and it’s labor-intensive and expensive.

Communities prioritize emotional relationships with your brand. It helps your people find their people - and creates a sense of belonging to your brand that is stronger and lasts longer than flash-in-the-pan transactions.

I’ll tell you a secret: anything someone else has to say about your products or services is incredibly more valuable than anything YOU have to say about your products or services.

Also, your customers know their pain points and desires better than you.

Communities can give your brand advocates a platform to share their authentic experiences with your brand to your prospects - and give you incredible insights to help you build a bigger, better customer-centric company.

Glad you asked! Online communities can impact your bottom line in lots of different ways:

Customer Engagement and Retention: Engaging with customers on a deeper level fosters loyalty and repeat purchases.

Referral Programs and Advocacy: Empowering community members as brand advocates expands the customer base.

Co-Creation and Product Feedback: Involving the community in product development leads to customer-centric offerings.

Upselling and Cross-Selling: Showcasing additional products/services to existing customers increases sales.

Exclusive Offers and Promotions: Rewarding community members drives sales and nurtures loyalty.

Partner Collaborations and Sponsorships: Strategic partnerships create additional revenue streams.

Data and Market Insights: Leveraging community data informs decision-making and improves targeting.

Building a successful and revenue-generating online community requires long-term commitment, active management, and delivering value to members.

Community is a long-term play - with long term results that can save you thousands in marketing costs:

Word-of-Mouth: Loyal community members become brand advocates, spreading positive recommendations.

User-Generated Content: Leverage community-generated content like testimonials, reviews, and recommendations for marketing.

Targeted Reach: Engage directly with the right audience, minimizing spending on broad campaigns.

Feedback and Insights: Gather valuable feedback and market research from your community to optimize marketing strategies.

Co-Creation: Involve the community in product development to reduce the risk of launching unsuccessful offerings.

Customer Retention: Engaging communities boosts customer loyalty, reducing the need for costly acquisition efforts.

Investing in community management and delivering value are essential for long-term success.

It’s not a quick win. Building relationships takes time and intention. Get this wrong and you’re finished before you start.

It’s not for direct sales at scale. If the focus is primarily on buying and selling products or services rather than building relationships or engaging in broader discussions, you’ve not achieved community success and are missing out on the magic.

It’s not about how many followers you have. Followers may passively consume content without actively engaging or building relationships with each other.

Community means an easily identifiable shared identity, a sense of belonging, and sustained engagement.