Apple... Lego... Sephora... Harley Davidson…What do all of these brands have in common? They all have a brand community! All these brands have poured a lot of time and energy into creating and maintaining a powerful brand community that keeps their customers engaged, informed, and a part of their brand. And, after all, isn’t that the key?!Before we dive into how you can build your very own brand community, we first need to know...

What is a community?

Brand communities are constantly evolving. “At its heart, communities are a collection of people who have come together for some common purpose, interest or activity, and who are able to get to know each other better over time.”- Amy Jo Kim, author of Community Building on the Web: Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities

‍We’ve all heard it before, the more engaged a customer is with a brand and its values, the more loyal they will become. A brand community is exactly that! It’s where customers can interact and connect with members of the team to deepen (and in some cases create) those key relationships. Especially amidst fierce competition in the market, brand loyalty often guarantees higher adoption rates for newly introduced products, which helps in creating a positive brand value and word-of-mouth. It’s not made up of customers whose business relationships end at the checkout counter. A brand community goes far beyond a transaction. it is made from customers who are emotionally invested in your company and brand. Now that you know what a brand community is, why is it so important to have one?

Customers feel Valued

This is one of the biggest selling points for a brand to launch a community for its customers. Everyone wants to be a part of the “cool kids club”! A community is kind of like the adult version of that. Your customers will love getting that special “just-for-them” invitation. And as a bonus… your customers may feel even more motivated to actually engage with your community:

• they feel heard by you, so they’re willing to let you know what they’re thinking
• they feel like they have earned the privilege to be a part of this community so they’ll do what they can to make sure they stay a part of it.

However, if you want your customers to feel special, there has to be some exclusivity in your community. Think about layering your community access in some way - whether it’s a “members-only” community or simply an exclusive sub-group with member-specific groups.

All your top advocates in one place

By establishing a community, you can easily pinpoint your top brand ambassadors - the customers going above and beyond to engage with others and your brand in your community. With a closed community, that becomes even easier to spot as well. Say goodbye to those days trying to filter through the thousands of “likes” and “comments” on your Facebook page.

With a community, you’ve got a solid content channel when it comes to distributing useful resources, announcements, and even deals with your customers. Instead of having to release all this information to the masses using the perfect Instagram hashtag, you can easily blast it off in your community instead. This method ensures that it is reaching all the right eyeballs for the most cost-effective distribution approach.

Opportunities for Direct User Feedback

Let’s face it, everyone wants to be customer-centric, but very few companies really understand what that means. It’s about putting your customer at the center of all the decisions you make as a company. In order to put your customer at the center, you need to put yourself into their perspective. You can’t do that without getting their feedback and input.

A community is like a melting pot of customer feedback, ideas, opinions, suggestions, and even complaints. In a community, it becomes very easy to tell when a new feature has soared or flopped with your customers. Just monitor what they post about it! Even before a new release, you can sort ideas from your top advocates to see whether a feature or product release is worth your investment. With a community, you don’t need to guess what your customers are thinking, or try to “put yourself in their shoes”.

Faster Customer Support

As customers start configuring your product offering, they’ll begin to have questions. For products that require steep learning curves, these questions might come at a fast rate. A rate that is faster than your customer service associates’ ability to answer them. What’s great about a community is how you won’t be the sole provider for answers, because other customers, who either:

• have great product knowledge
• have encountered similar situations before, can freely address other customers’ queries.

Having more parties who are able to address questions also means speedier customer support. It improves a customer’s overall satisfaction with your service! You might even save time from having to answer similar questions as customers can refer to older posts centering around the same topic. A great way to save the need to hire additional customer service associates.

Exclusive Content just for You

Consumers value exclusivity. How can you, as a brand, provide such a sense of exclusivity for them? One of the best ways is by providing content that is exclusive to members of your community. These contents can range from product-specific instructions, useful tips, to additional resources that they can utilize, the options are truly endless.

Sharing such exclusive content within your community also ensures that you are providing resources to your highly valuable customers, instead of the public, which might also act to incentivize more people to enter the community!

Join the Remo Revolution Community

We introduce to you Remo’s very own community, the Remo Revolution Community. The community is open for all virtual event creators, trail-blazers, and change-makers. Or anyone interested in learning more about Remo’s offerings and virtual events in general. Weekly events ranging from Quickstart Workshops, Virtual Pizza Parties to Masterclasses and Success Labs are open to particular groups, if not all community members. What are you waiting for? Register to our online community now if you haven’t, and join in the fun as we unravel more about the tips and tricks around Remo, virtual events, or each other’s favorite pizza topping combinations!

Want to learn more about Remo? Sign up for a group demo today, and unlock your virtual potential!