Why Building A Community Is Crucial For Your Digital Marketing Efforts?

COVID 19 has been the bearer of change in our world. Nobody thought that billions of people can be locked away in their homes for a year! Tech businesses experienced the most rise in real-world applications and rescued us from being more infected. The Startup funding has gone wild, and their stock prices are at an all-time high. Our world has seen more Startups becoming unicorns and solving yet another big problem.  

There have been changes in the marketing world too. A new kind of economy had been growing exponentially fast since the pandemic. It’s the creators economy. As people were homebound, many people lost their livelihood and they had nothing to rely on for a continuous source of income, so they turned to social media platforms.  

What is the creators economy?  

When a creator creates content on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, they start building a loyal audience that consumes their content. As the audience’ engagement grows they consume more and more content and gradually start trusting the creator. They have built not just a following but a digital community of people who trust the creator/influencer. So, when the creator or influencer promotes or suggests a product or service, their loyal audience considers it and buys it too.  

Basically, these creators have found a way to monetize their loyal audience. The creators economy works on a simple equation: 

Build an audience + earn their trust = make money promoting services and products  

But how is this relevant for businesses? 

To understand the link, first consider two realities of our world today: 

1. Customers want to be educated about the product before buying it. They don’t blindly trust the brand anymore.  
2. Mobile phones are at the centre of online communication and marketing channels. Its penetration in people’s lives is impeccable.  

Now, for businesses, this means that they can’t expect to just explain the benefits of a product and the customers will rush to buy it. This is not how you satisfy customers expectations. Businesses need to make their buyers a part of their decision-making process. All the marketing focus has shifted from product to customers and now they demand to know what is happening with the brand and products which they use every day.  

And because smartphones and social media apps are the main channels to connect with your audience, businesses need to take their marketing efforts to these channels.  

Also, just like the creators are working to build a digital community, businesses also need to create a loyal community to reap the fruits of their digital marketing efforts.  

Reasons why a community is crucial for digital marketing  

• Continuous improvement of products  

Digital communities are constantly in touch with the company. They are the voice of the customers. If your Startup or company is planning to launch a new feature or a product, the first feedback is vital, and your digital community can provide instant feedback and share their honest experiences with the new launch online.  

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This helps companies shorten the time taken for feedback innovation loops significantly. Updates and changes can be made rapidly, especially if the business has digital products. This also enhances the customer experience and takes their opinion into account.  

• Customer satisfaction  

An online community is an easier way to measure customer satisfaction.  

All brands need to do is post on social media to fill an online form or take a survey to share their experience and rate the new product or feature. The company can easily record the real-time data for further improvement.  

Simply ask the community on a social media post and company’s can get customer satisfaction rates through online communities.   

• Brand development  

For any product or service to become a brand needs a strong community base. A community is active and helps promote your brand without any cost. They want your company to grow.  

Community-based Startups also have the benefit of community members helping each other out and solve issues. This way everyone in the community gets to learn and creates a sense of belonging and trust.  

• Higher customer retention  

An active online community grows and learns together. They help solve customer issues which leads to higher retention of audience and users.  

Also Read: Key Engagement Metrics of Social Media and How to Increase Them

Through helpful comments and questions, the community makes sure that any issue is resolved quickly. Thus, customers do not have to go anywhere else. This can also drive engagement outside the online world.  

How to build a digital community? 

It is important to build, engage and nurture digital communities, it is also crucial to do it right. The first thing you should focus on is your content marketing strategy for social media. Plan the content, search out what is relevant for your audience, what is it that they relate to the most. Make a posting schedule and stick to it.  

You can also try to collaborate with influencers in your niche or invite them on podcasts or a live on social media platforms. This will get new customers and an audience base for your brand.  

The key to keeping your audience engaged is to create informative and entertaining content which makes them feel good. A positive emotion will make your audience remember your brand and they will keep coming back for more.  

There is also a downside to this. If your content is not good enough, the audience might not want to come back and worse they’ll tell others to do the same. With content, the golden rule is to provide value. Keep in mind that you are there to inform the customers about your products and services.  

As your community grows with time, you can also reward the most active individuals who are recognized as problem solvers and help the rest of the group genuinely. This will motivate other members to do the same.  

A thriving and proactive digital community is not a desire but essential for the digital marketing efforts of all businesses that are planning to grow and get ahead in today’s ever-changing commercial ecosystem.  

Our digital and social media marketing company can help your brand create and nurture a long-lasting community to help your business reach new heights. Contact our creative marketing team today.