Why creating a Community is becoming the new mantra in the marketing world

Community marketing: these are the main advantages for companies

The world of marketing is experiencing a significant transformation, with increasing emphasis on creating a Community of users around an organization or brand.

Building a cohesive group of loyal and engaged customers, who are seen as people and not just numbers, can have a significant impact on a company's long-term growth and sustainability, a reality that they are increasingly realizing. businesses.

Being a rather recent approach, we believe it is useful to introduce it to those who wish to know more with the following article in which we will delve deeper into the concept of 'Community' and illustrate the main advantages linked to Community marketing.

What is a Community?

A Community is a group of individuals who interact with each other, coming together around a common point of interest and shared values, characteristics and/or objectives.

It can take the form of numerous different forms: a group of sports fans who support the same football team, an association of activists who fight for the defense of the environment and even an organization of individuals who carry out the same work activity and who decide to relate to each other to exchange information and contribute to each other's professional growth.

Regardless of the ways in which it manifests itself, however, a Community always has the following characteristics:

sharing interests, values and/or objectives;
active and two-way communication between its members;
active participation of the individuals who are part of it;
creation of interpersonal relationships;
building a sense of belonging and group identity.

The Community: a cohesive group built around the brand

One of the main benefits of community marketing is that it helps businesses build quality relationships with their target audience, increasing their brand loyalty.

In today's digital world, it's easy to forget that there are real people behind every computer screen. Companies often forget this and interact in a rather detached way with their users, maintaining relationships that do not go beyond the transaction. But a customer who is treated this way, like a number, is a customer who will most likely not return in the future.

A Community, on the other hand, allows you to form much more personal bonds with users, making them feel appreciated and involved in a group that recognizes their value. And once they feel part of a cohesive group that takes care of them, they will hardly decide to abandon that brand and turn to a competitor.

The power of word of mouth

Those who belong to a community and feel involved by the project tend to act spontaneously to promote the brand through 'word of mouth', recommending it to family, friends and acquaintances both in person and on the internet through sharing posts and other web content.

And word of mouth marketing, also known as referral marketing, pays off.

According to recent statistics, when referred by other customers people have a 37% higher retention rate and a 70% higher conversion rate. And Communities, as a space where people can gather around a shared interest or goal, are the perfect place to encourage and stimulate referrals.

The Community as a hotbed of ideas

Companies that own a Community have at their disposal a large think tank engaged in a permanent brain storming session.

You see, the people who are part of it act in a collective space characterized by a variety of perspectives, experiences and opinions that meet and intertwine with each other. In short, they share a habitat in which many minds and souls work together and collaborate, exchanging opinions, doubts, proposals and so on. And these dynamics make the Community a real 'hotbed of ideas' from which to draw ideas for developing innovative strategies and solutions.

Giving people what they need: simple to say, but how do you do it?

We live in the era of relationship marketing. Companies have understood that to remain competitive and obtain concrete results it is necessary to focus on people and their desires. Practically everyone has understood this by now, yet there are still very many cases of companies failing because they are unable to intercept users' needs.

The problem is that moving from theory to practice is not as simple as it seems. In other words, companies often find it difficult to understand what the people within their target audience need.

Yet the solution is so simple: you just need to know how to listen to people and obtain this information directly from them.

Having a Community means having a privileged communication channel with users that allows you to easily collect their feedback and precisely know their opinions and interests. This is the main reason why more and more companies choose to adopt a community marketing strategy in order to obtain a decisive advantage over their competitors.

In conclusion

Communities are a precious resource for companies that want to build long-lasting and significant relationships with their customers and obtain valuable data for user profiling and the optimization of marketing strategies.

Naturally, the effectiveness of such an approach is measured by the ability to access all of this information. A possibility that, unfortunately, traditional social media does not give you.
Luckily you are not forced to use these platforms: there are alternatives thanks to which you can have total control of your Community and access to user data at an individual level, so as to know who they are, what they do and what their interests down to the smallest details.

Platforms that allow you to gain access to all the data necessary to manage your marketing campaigns in an optimal way in relation to user needs and your business objectives.
Just like SelfCommunity, the solution to create unique brand experiences with our Community Platform and build an active and solid Community around your brand.