As a community manager, I believe your primary concern is building a community that you can bank on in the distant future (as a person or a brand). While you can always get strategies available online (even from us), my aim is to inculcate that insight into you that will let you take the right inspiration and decisions and customize the strategies as per your community’s requirements. Because let’s be honest: there is no one-size-fits-all. Even the ones that I have listed are the best ones I have tried for 2024.
Now, if you resonate with what I am saying and want to know further, let's quit the dilly-dallying and see how we can help each other with community building, which is and must be the concern of most brands in 2024.
Why Do Community Managers Need Community Building Strategies?
Now, assuming that you know all about community management and just want some insightful strategies to go in 2024, let me first brief you about why you should have one. The reason to do it is very simple. You cannot build a community if you are not motivated enough to know why you should have one.
So, let's get straight to it:
- Community strategies ensure your actions align with your community’s goals.
- Effective community-building strategies help attract and retain members.
- Let you focus on ideas that will actually work out for the community.
- Helps you re-evaluate the best practices for your community that are currently not working.
- Gives insights into what customers really think of your brand.
- Opens a two-way communication with your target audience, creating greater transparency and long-term relationships.
These are some of the pivotal perks that are associated with creating a successful community in 2024. And if you agree with these perks and want the same for your community, I believe it is never too late to develop or revisit your strategy.
12 Community Building Strategies To Use In 2024
If you want some fresh stats to get that validation, let me tell you that almost 85% of online businesses agree that communities have positively impacted their business. This impact can be reflected in different ways for different businesses. But that is a concern after implementation.
Let me help you with a roadmap that community managers need to create, grow, and sustain thriving online communities that deliver value for both their members and the organizations or causes they represent in 2024.
Find Your Purpose
Strategy: Define a clear purpose or mission statement for your community that aligns with the interests and needs of your target audience.
Practical Approach: Quite obviously, the initial planning will involve you outlining your community's why. Practically, the reasons why it should exist. So ask yourself:
- Who are you building the community for?
- What does the community achieve from this?
- What are the long-term goals?
- What is the mission statement?
- Who has what contributions?
- How will that have an impact at large?
Yes, these are very fundamental and rudimentary questions that you need to be honest about. Because great online communities have a “bigger than money” purpose behind them, and that helps them thrive.
Example: The vision of Martinus Evans to start his community of “The Slow AF Run Club” was to create a space for "back of the pack" runners to find people like them and make them feel seen and heard. He definitely didn't want just another Facebook running group for his fans and was clear about what value he wanted from his community.
Segment Your Audience
Strategy: Divide your audience into smaller segments based on demographics, interests, or behaviors to tailor your communication and content to their specific needs and preferences.
Practical Approach: Who doesn't like personalized interaction with brands nowadays? Gone are the days of sending the same targeted email to all your potential customers. In fact, now, if you send a single tone-deaf email, the effects can be quite the opposite. They might feel unimportant and uncared for and question whether they’re buying from the right company. So, the mantra is to segment different audiences based on different buyer personas to make them feel part of the bigger picture in your community. This segmentation can be done on the basis of age, lifestyle, location, values, hobbies, personality, etc.
Examples: The initial vision of Nike was to target serious athletes with its “Just Do It” campaign, but as it has evolved in years to come, the brand has tailored its approach based on the vision of its community, which is especially targeting women and girls and their opportunity on sports-based programs across the globe.
Choose The Right Platform
Strategy: Select the appropriate platform(s) to host your community based on your audience's preferences, behavior, and the nature of your content or goals.
Practical Approach: Without the right platforms, any community you create doesn't have much of a chance to thrive in 2024. Hence, be thorough in your research. Study your community’s unique dynamics and understand their preferred ways of engaging. Are they mostly preferring LinkedIn or Facebook? Do they prefer chat groups or discussion forums? Additionally, consider factors such as demographics, user engagement features, content format support, moderation tools, and analytics. So, whether it's industry-specific Slack channels, Facebook groups, or trending platforms like Discord, choosing the right platform allows you to gauge audience response and interaction level in the most natural way.
Example: For instance, check out this LinkedIn group of E-commerce Executive Network, which is basically about enhancing the customer journey that keeps them coming back. The group members interact and discuss their opinions and insights about enhancing the same. Here’s one interaction you can spot.
Be Active And Interact With Your Community
Strategy: Foster active engagement by regularly participating in conversations and responding to comments and messages.
Practical Approach: You can never hope to nurture or build something (especially a community) if you don't keep at it. I know it's difficult. But that's the effort you are going to have to make if you want your community to work. Keep your community in the loop on topics that interest them. It's a great way to show them that you have your ear to the ground and value them.
Plus, I am sure content like polls, quizzes, contests, newsletters, etc., will engage them and encourage them to interact. And when they actually start interacting at volume, online community management tools can help you keep a steady track of them.
Example: Lego has a very active Twitter group for members and guests to connect, share tips, and ask for advice relating to the product. Here’s one conversation I could trace.
Undertake Community-Driven Initiatives
Strategy: Empower your community members to take ownership of initiatives and projects that align with their interests and passions.
Practical Approach: Once you build yourself a community of loyal customers, take community-driven initiatives to go a step forward for which the community stands. Without a frontstand, your community members would never feel the urge to take active initiative for a noble cause. The best way to do this is to create channels or forums within your community where members can propose and vote on ideas for initiatives or projects. You can also organize in-person meet-ups to let your community members engage in collaborative initiatives. Appoint moderators who can regularly communicate updates and progress on community-driven initiatives and keep members motivated.
Example: For instance, Apple's community expanded its education initiative, accelerating learning opportunities in more than 600 communities around the world to provide access to coding, creativity, and workforce opportunities.
Embrace UGC To Make Them Feel Valued
Strategy: Encourage user-generated content (UGC) by inviting community members to contribute their own content, experiences, and perspectives.
Practical Approach: If you already know the impact of UGC, I believe you can gauge its impact on a community. It's one of the best ways to nudge participation from your community members, either through contests or challenges. Platforms like Twitter and Instagram are the ideal places where members can submit their UGC, such as photos, videos, stories, or testimonials. It's the most authentic and powerful endorsement for your brand that turns your community members into brand ambassadors. Depending on your response to their initiative, they will gradually start feeling obligated to your brand and become more involved.
Example: If check out Starbucks' Instagram Page, you will get the right inspiration for leveraging UGC to make a strong brand community. They are consistent in involving their customers, influencers, etc, with whatever initiative the brand is taking or the product launches it's doing.
Tap Into Influencer Marketing
Strategy: Leverage influencer marketing to amplify your message and reach new audiences by collaborating with individuals who have a strong presence and influence within your community or industry.
Practical Approach: If you want to give your community-building efforts a boost, I recommend creator partnerships. Influencers can help you build that goodwill around your brand through constant collaborations and all overall hype around the upcoming campaigns. This will happen in addition to the expanded reach of your target audience. Hence, create a dedicated brand ambassador program with people who feel passionate about your brand and let them spread the word on social media or at events.
Example: Gymshark is highly dependent on influencer-generated content to build a loyal following in their community. It has handpicked influencers and athletes to represent its brand, who will share their experiences and spread the word, inviting more people with similar visions to join.
Co-Create Community Related Content
Strategy: Engage your community members in the content creation process to encourage them to develop and produce community-related content, fostering a sense of ownership and involvement
Practical Approach: While you can always create content for your brand, what's better to co-create for community-building purposes? Let's just assume that you don't know everything. You can just grab this opportunity and involve your community to create a lot of content. This is going to significantly cut down on the time and resources needed, and you will have access to relatable content that will better connect with consumers. The reason is simple. Influencers and creators from the community have a better understanding of the grassroots demographics and their preferences. So you can partner with them and put them to use to create a range of content, including social media posts, flat lays, product-only images, videos, and so on.
Example: A good example is Sephora and its Beauty Insider Community, which gives members a place to share their beauty tips and tricks and co-create content to inspire a new generation of beauty enthusiasts towards the brand.
Host Exclusive Live Or In-Person Events
Strategy: Host exclusive live events to provide unique and interactive experiences for your community members.
Practical Approach: Nothing can beat the allure of exclusive live or in-person events because who doesn't want a little enjoyment? The strategy is to plan and organize live events such as webinars, workshops, Q&A sessions, popup shops, masterclasses, virtual meetups, or in-person events exclusively for your community members, adding a personal touch. So, the sooner you are ready to take your initiatives offline, the faster you can achieve the stronger community that you envision.
Example: For instance, Rainbow Room hosted an in-person pop-up tiki bar event to bring together their loyal community of followers, offering them a more casual setting with snacks, drinks, and cocktails as a part of their community-building efforts.
Offer Incentives And Acknowledge Contributions
Strategy: Encourage engagement and participation within your community by offering incentives and acknowledging the contributions of members.
Practical Approach: I believe community participation always works both ways, and you need to acknowledge or reward the members of your community for their immense dedication and contribution. Appreciation and recognition go a long way, and they will feel motivated, which will encourage further participation and dedication. You can offer them incentives like:
- Exclusive perks
- Rewards
- Discount Coupons
- Free event invites
- Community awards, badges
- Free lessons courses
- Gift cards
- Free Merchandise
- Free giveaways, etc.
Just ensure that the rewards are related to your company's objectives and align with the interests of your community members.
Example: For instance, Adidas has a brilliant approach to community building as it offers a great rewards program to boost member engagement for their community adiClub. Members can potentially enjoy perks like exclusive offers, discount codes, or early bird access to completing simple activities. This is a great tactic to keep them engaged in the long term.
Encourage Cross-Promotion With Other Communities
Strategy: Promote collaboration and expand your reach by encouraging cross-promotion with other communities that share similar interests or audiences.
Practical Approach: Lastly, this is a strategy that I would definitely recommend. It can achieved just by Identifying complementary communities or organizations within your niche or industry that align with your brand or community values. Simply reach out to them and gauge their interests. See whether they are willing to explore partnership opportunities through guest blogging, social media takeovers, co-hosting events, sweepstakes, challenges, or joint events. Collaborate with them on promotions or campaigns and ensure that the outcome provides value to both communities and their members. This way, it opens up future opportunities to target new markets and demographics.
Example: Let me tell you about the famous collaboration between Nike and Apple if you don't know yet. They have collaborated together to bring a new product experience to their customers and community members. Together, they managed to create the Apple Watch Nike that both companies claim runs along with the Nike Run Club app. It's a great product for runners. You can find this product both on Apple’s and Nike’s official websites.
Tap Into The Power Of Communities With Statusbrew!
Hey, still reading? If you have reached this section, let me share with you an insider tip: Take inspiration and craft your own. While these are definitely tried-and-tested strategies and will no doubt serve you well, there is always a space for additional variables. This involves you and your growing community making the right decision shaped by your unique vision and needs.
As you keep growing your community, Statusbrew can help you listen, interact, and manage it like never before. Yes, you read that right. You can:
- Interact with your community by responding to their comments, mentions, messages, and reviews across social media & review platforms in one place.
- Automatically hide, delete, and remove spam comments by creating custom rules that automate complex workflows.
- Take action on multiple/all comments under a post and switch to the All view, scroll, and quickly select the desired comments or all comments on that post via the checkbox on top.
- Analyze community insights by tracking engagement rates, sentiments, and demographics.
This will help you create targeted content, improve your overall community management strategy, and engage with your community on social media at scale.
So why wait? Start your FREE trial now to unlock the full potential of your community engagement efforts!
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