Well, one would identify community as a buzzing concept, living at the curiosity of all the brands aspiring to settle in the minds of their customers. Observing closely, the idea definitely holds tremendous opportunities for growing brands to build closely-knit long-lasting relationships. It not only paves the foundation for trust and loyalty between the brand and the customer but also enhances the market worth and goodwill of the business. After all, customers make us businesses what we want to be!

However, besides being of utmost remarkable, the quest lies in understanding what turns and transforms a mere group of customers or potential customers into well-built and thriving communities. Let’s learn it from the experts at Cohora, who have been contributing to customer success for businesses through their revolutionary tech platforms enabling brands to facilitate community interactions and build deep-rooted connections.

Here is a closer peek into what makes brands turn their customers into engaging and strengthen communities:

Putting together the purpose:

Brands exist for a purpose; they speak and promote values that define their identities. Similarly, communities originate from a purpose that relates to the audience of a particular brand and resonates with its values and ethos. It begins with identifying the unique brand characteristics that lure your customers and innovating on extensions of these characteristics which can unite the customers together. For instance: Starbucks promotes the idea that each customer is unique and hence you would see Starbucks offering their unique coffee customizations based on the customer’s tastes and preferences.

Identifying the community platform:

‍It is vital for brands to decide the platforms for community interactions. Though traditionally brands interacted with their customers only through social media platforms, lately they have discovered the importance of owning their tech platforms facilitating the required control and data privacy. Hence, one would see businesses investing in their community platforms along with carrying out their community interactions through social media.

Chalking the community plan:

‍One might have a customer base but building a community requires a vision and a plan in the direction to achieve the collective community goals. A community plan is shaped based on the mutual expectations and goals of the community members. One has to understand the reasons for members to exist as a community and plan initiatives for fulfilling these reasons.

Building meaningful Interactions:

‍People today are all the more social, they are excited about new meaningful conversations and collaborations. They are keen on exploring opportunities and platforms that enable them to interact. Thus, building a sturdy community invites good thought and effort on campaigns and programs that would enable the community members to interact effectively and collaborate on mutual goals.

Contributing to Value Addition:

People exist as communities because the presence of related people around them contributes towards their personality, experience, perspective, growth, etc. Brands need to decide on the additions their community makes to their customers. People continue being a part of a community because of the constant value they drive out of it.

Reward and Recognition:

‍Reward and recognition not only works for exceptional human resources but also for our beloved community members. Knitting a sound community calls for recognizing the support and loyalty of our old community members and rewarding them for their endless contributions to the growth and development of the community.

Creating a brand community is an art and a constant effort. Incorporating the requisites above would definitely allow businesses to shape in their group of customers in the desired community they have been longing for.