What is community marketing and how to start

If you follow a traditional marketing strategy, you’ll likely find yourself carefully crafting ads and campaigns that broadly target specific demographics or markets. However, community marketing takes a more personalized approach. It involves creating a dedicated community centered around your brand that favors individual interactions and deeper connections to turn existing customers into brand advocates.

It shouldn’t come as a shock, then, that customers of brands that engage in community marketing feel both valued and empowered. After all, these brands are listening to them.

With community marketing, customers are invited to share their experiences and feedback directly with the brand. They’re also encouraged to take on a more participatory role in shaping the brand’s direction. This sense of ownership cultivates a branded online community that acts as a hub for discussions, knowledge sharing, and support. If the community is publicly accessible, it can also be a great way to attract new customers who have questions or are on the fence and want to hear from others.

Community marketing can help you:

1. Build a better customer experience

The customer experience matters — a lot. A great customer experience can drive customers back to your brand just as much as a bad experience can deter consumers. The good news is that community marketing can greatly improve the customer experience.

In community marketing, businesses can provide customers with a dedicated space for everything from technical support to user-generated product reviews. And having that strong, branded community can completely transform the entire customer experience — and your company’s bottom line. In fact, 84% of companies that put effort into their customer experience saw an increase in revenue, a clear sign that prioritizing the customer experience pays off.

2. Increase customer loyalty and retention

It’s no secret that making your consumers feel valued often directly translates into loyal customers, higher retention rates, and better sales. After all, the probability of selling to a new customer rests at just 5% to 20%, while your chances of selling to an existing customer are higher, at 60% to 70%.

People may forget what your brand said or did, but they won’t forget how you made them feel. That’s precisely why building an online community can raise customer loyalty and retention. Forging personal connections and providing a unique experience takes your business’s offering to the next level. Your product or service still matters, but that personal experience will help your brand better resonate with your customers, turning them into ambassadors who feel valued, connected, and involved.

3. Reduce dependency on paid advertising

While community-based marketing may require more effort upfront, it can help you save money and increase profits in the long run. Once your community is thriving, community advertising and word-of-mouth can help you spread awareness, allowing you to reduce spending on paid advertising.

4. Sell directly to your community

Community marketing provides a direct avenue for engaging with and selling to your community members, which can be more effective and affordable over time.

By developing strong relationships, you can build a consumer base willing and ready to purchase directly from you. This streamlines the buying process and allows you to tailor offerings to meet your community’s specific needs and preferences, ultimately resulting in higher conversion and customer satisfaction rates.

1. Engage with your community consistently

Consistency is vital in marketing in general — and it’s no different with community marketing. You need to regularly interact with loyal and engaged customers to build a base of loyal and engaged customers. Only showing up on their feeds when you have just released a new product or service won’t cut it.

Instead, engage with your community consistently. Remember, this doesn’t have to be anything major. Consider providing regular updates via your community manager, responding to comments and messages, and initiating discussions on relevant topics to provide value to your community and demonstrate your commitment to nurturing relationships. This can also help you build trust, encourage customer participation, and keep your brand top-of-mind.

2. Host events

Nothing makes someone feel more involved in a company than receiving an invitation to an event. While events require planning and can be expensive, they offer a unique opportunity to create memorable experiences and deep connections.

Whether you opt for intimate, in-person gatherings or large-scale online functions, events are excellent for face-to-face interaction. Additionally, events can be a powerful marketing tool, as they generate buzz, foster brand loyalty, and drive engagement.

3. Be authentic

Community-based marketing is personal, genuine, and relatable. It will allow you to deeply connect with your audience, as long as you don’t lose sight of that human element. Be authentic in your interactions to better resonate with your customers because people prefer to buy from people, rather than corporate entities or faceless brands.

4. Develop advocacy and ambassador programs

A passionate group of advocates and ambassadors can make all the difference in cultivating a thriving community where members feel like they truly belong. Not only can these customers drive conversations, welcome newcomers, and provide valuable insights, but they will also serve as trusted voices that reinforce your brand’s authenticity and credibility. Plus, your advocates and ambassadors can amplify your brand’s reach and influence.

So, it’s worth rewarding them! Whether you start a VIP club, create various reward tiers, or send out gifts to show appreciation, your loyal customers will value the gesture.

5. Provide useful information

Providing informative, educational information can also increase community engagement. After all, you’re the expert — and your customers rely on that expertise to guide them. Sharing insightful tips, how-to guides, and industry insights will position your brand as a valuable resource and strengthen your credibility.

6. Find the perfect balance between advertising and community

Community marketing thrives when there’s a delicate equilibrium between promoting your brand’s offerings and fostering genuine connections within the community. If you’re too forward with your community advertising, customers may feel you aren’t being authentic or become overwhelmed by far-too-frequent blatant advertising attempts and leave the group.

That’s why you need to craft a community marketing strategy that strikes the right balance. You can still communicate offers and collect feedback, but you have to prioritize providing a space for customers to connect and interact first.

Not sure what community marketing might look like for your business? Here are some branded community examples to provide you with some inspiration:

1. Visa

Through forums, developer blogs, API documentation, and direct support, the Visa Developer Community encourages open dialogue and collaboration among its members. This results in a vibrant ecosystem where developers can share ideas, solve problems, and contribute significantly to

the payments technology landscape.

For Visa, honing in on community marketing has resulted in more engagement than ever before, with a 124% increase in users with the help of Khoros Communities. They are a great example of how a brand can create value for its users by investing in a community-driven approach.

2. Sony Europe

Sony Europe leverages its community marketing strategy to engage users by offering tutorials, workshops, competitions, and a platform for user-generated content across its product lines and its electronics and entertainment divisions. This strategy demonstrates how Sony not only listens to but also values its community's input, leading to continuous improvement in product offerings and customer satisfaction, ultimately fueling the brand's growth and marketing success.

3. Bell Canada

Bell Canada has also benefited from community-based marketing. As Canada’s largest communications provider, they already had a lot on their plate when it came to helping customers but during the COVID-19 pandemic, the influx of calls substantially increased.

In response, they created a customer support community and self-service channel. This initiative enabled customers to quickly connect and find answers to their questions, fostering a sense of mutual support among users. By utilizing Khoros Communities, Bell Canada was able to enhance its service quality significantly, with a 23% improvement in same day contact rates and a 46% year-over-year issue resolution rate in 2023.

4. Autodesk

Autodesk also embraced community marketing and saw success by providing users with a space for peer-to-peer interactions. As many Autodesk users are software professionals in various industries, the Autodesk community allows them to ask technical questions and share knowledge.

They even launched an Expert Elite superuser group serving as a recognition program for users who greatly contribute to the community. If nominated and chosen, these users help to

drive engagement, improve the customer experience, and create more loyal customers.

Autodesk also introduced Answer Days to encourage community engagement and support by hosting special events. Customers can hear directly from the Autodesk team about everything from development to workflows.

Community marketing can be a game changer for your brand, especially if you have the right tools. Khoros Community management software simplifies community marketing by providing everything you need to build a custom, branded community and scale engagement.

You can create a centralized hub where customers can connect and engage with one another and your brand with the help of Khoros’s comprehensive suite of features. Whether you’re considering providing discussion forums, knowledge bases, or Q&A spaces, Khoros’s next-gen community management software can help.

Build and scale your community fast while reducing service and support costs. If you’re ready to take the next step, request a demo today.