The modern consumer landscape extends beyond simple transactions. Companies today do more than just sell products, they create communities. This transformative shift in business approach is helping companies foster spaces for customers to engage, connect and champion their products.
Brands like Harley-Davidson, Apple and Lego have skillfully built communities wherein shared interests and brand loyalty intertwine, forming a large network of devoted advocates. Below, 20 Forbes Business Council members explore the key tactics companies should use to build brand communities and why these approaches successfully strengthen customer loyalty.
1. Bring People Together
Plan events that resonate with your brand’s values. These gatherings create a space for customers to connect, strengthening the brand community through shared experiences and common interests. Your brand becomes more than a product—it’s a bond between people. – S.W. Miliano, Terrazel, Inc./The Stone Register
2. Anticipate Customers’ Needs
As a software provider for field service businesses, we like to treat our customers like they treat their customers by providing top-notch service. We strive to anticipate customers’ needs before they ask and be a consistent and reliable resource as they navigate their service offerings. This trust helps build long-term relationships and cultivates community through word-of-mouth in our industry. – Anand Subbaraj, Zuper
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3. Regularly Get Customer Feedback
It’s likely that you have untapped opportunities to grow your reach with existing customers. Customer relationships that thrive and last keep the focus on uncovering and fulfilling customer needs. Create a consistent, repeatable process for finding out what your customers are saying. Schedule discussions to find out what’s on their minds and share insights about what you see ahead. – Mike Esterday, Integrity Solutions
4. Connect With Underserved Communities
Adding real value to a community isn’t difficult when you understand what they need and respond with appropriate resources over the long term. Too many companies virtue signal rather than genuinely connecting with the underserved. You can do no better than hearing the unheard voices in a community. When organizational leaders do that, their brand grows exponentially. It’s a win-win outcome. – Nuala Walsh, MindEquity
5. Provide Exclusive Content And Experiences
Offering exclusive content or experiences to engaged customers creates a sense of belonging and exclusivity, encouraging interaction within the community and with the brand. It not only boosts customer loyalty, but also turns customers into brand advocates, amplifying your brand’s reach and impact. – Jeff Pedowitz, The Pedowitz Group
6. Build Positive Relationships With Those In Your Community
Being community-driven is a fantastic trait that a company can adopt. We are in the age of information, which means that branding, image and relationships are at a premium. Expanding your ecosystem to serve the greater community in which your company serves, employees work and customer lives will give your organization the competitive advantage of positive community relationships. – Alexander Chandler, Alexander Advisory Group
7. Let People Be Themselves
When done well, community engagement is one of the lowest cost ways to promote a business, but it requires guts and confidence that companies rarely display. To build successful communities, companies must shift the focus from management to plain monitoring, allowing people to run amok and be themselves. – Anna Stella, BBSA
8. Provide Value
Value should be at the heart of your community-building efforts. Always consider why someone would want to join your community, what would keep someone engaged periodically and what would make community members invite others into the community. – Abdulmuhsen Fakih, Systemize It
9. Authentically Engage
Building brand communities revolves around authentic engagement. Prioritize genuine interactions over promotional content. When brands actively listen, respond and create value based on community feedback, they build trust and loyalty. Authenticity fosters deeper connections, turning customers into brand advocates. – Ari Chazanas, Lotus West Properties
10. Ensure Your Values Are Aligned
I call it “tribes that vibe.” When we help companies use AI to align communities based on their mindsets, participants very quickly and naturally feel like they’re “home.” It’s like matchmaking for communities. Some people need more formality and structure, some like to learn from and exchange ideas with other experts and some want to brainstorm and create. Each group contributes to the ecosystem. – Karrie Sullivan, Culminate Strategy Group
11. Provide Customers With A Sense Of Belonging
To cultivate a robust brand community, it’s crucial to define and live by your company values. Communities form around more than just products, they rally behind the values that a brand embodies. When a brand can offer that sense of belonging along with its products, it creates a win-win situation that enhances customer loyalty and lays the groundwork for a vibrant, engaged community. – Denys Grabchak, Performetry
12. Initiate Brand Story Sessions
Host monthly virtual sessions or events where customers share personal stories related to your product or service. Doing this fosters deep emotional connections, transforms customers into brand ambassadors and builds a genuine sense of belonging, making the brand an integral part of their narratives and life journeys. – Henri Al Helaly, Skytex Aero
13. Offer Recurring Opportunities To Meet With Customers
We’ve found that hosting regular property investment webinars fosters a brand community. Offering valuable insights on real estate trends, investment strategies and property management creates a space where investors connect, share and build a sense of belonging. These webinars enhance their investment journey and strengthen our brand’s position as a trusted partner in their real estate endeavors. – Johan Hajji, UpperKey
14. Find A Platform To Build Your Community On
Very large companies often see communities organically develop, however, in the early stages of a company life cycle, it’s better to choose a location and platform for the community to build. Then, feed that community with information and resources, give passionate customers the opportunity to co-manage the community and point new customers to the community to facilitate its growth. – Jason Foodman, Leaf.page
15. Avoid Asking Your Community To Spend Too Much
Don’t charge your brand community for everything all the time. Offer free advice, expertise, know-how and experience for the sake of providing value, as your target audience would certainly appreciate expert opinions. You can share insightful articles and thought-provoking webinars, engage in networking and different events and more. Building a community is more a matter of giving. – Ivan Popov, Vipe Studio
16. Utilize Online Forums
Engage authеntically with customers through online forums. This will cultivate a sеnse of bеlonging and еnablе dirеct fееdback. By valuing their input, we build trust and loyalty with customers, driving organic growth. – Khurram Akhtar, Programmers Force
17. Prioritize User-Generated Content
Encourage customers to share their experiences, stories or creations related to your product. This empowers them, makes them feel heard and builds trust. User-generated content acts as an authentic endorsement, drawing more people into the community and strengthening brand loyalty, all while providing valuable insights for the business. – Andrei Neacsu, HyperSense Software Inc.
18. Be Consistent
Always deliver for your clients and strategic partners. Always. The primary reason that the majority of our business comes from referrals stems from the fact that we always deliver the results that these people expect—and in most cases, far better than they expect. Referring clients and strategic partners fosters brand community like nobody’s business! – ‘Smitty’ Robert J. Smith, Robert J. Smith Productions
19. Create An Online Resource For Your Community
One tip to foster a brand community is to create a dedicated online platform where customers can connect, share experiences and engage with each other. This fosters a sense of belonging, encourages collaboration and allows for meaningful interactions between customers and the brand. – Tomas Keenan, Step It Up Academy
20. Leverage The Power Of Word-Of-Mouth Marketing
Encourage your customers to share their experiences about your product or service. Give them a platform to voice their opinions, and offer incentives such as exclusive discounts. When customers become your advocates, they not only promote your brand, but also influence others, leading to the organic growth of a community. – Mark Snell, Polestar Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning
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