The Importance of Building an Online Community
When many companies and marketers are reducing digital ad spend due to external factors, the significance of organic community-building has probably never been higher.
Today, an increasing number of businesses seek to create an online community to assist their consumers in learning, discussing, and interacting with one another, promoting development and relevance in their particular sectors.
Listening is the most important thing you can do. Communities are created to listen to what people want and allow them to influence their development. The goal is to listen to what people want and then give them the tools they need to create change. Organizations often establish online communities to bring individuals together around a similar goal for extensive online cooperation and growth.
What exactly is an online community?
You may describe it in various ways, but in general, it is characterized as a group of individuals who communicate with one another through the internet (email, websites, messaging, social media, etc.). Shared ideals and a similar interest will bring together this group of individuals - they will be brought together for a reason. Depending on the online community, the aim may differ. In your case, you want people to engage with and enjoy your brand and what it represents.
There are two kinds of online communities:
Shared social communities: You're operating on a public platform with little control over the story and data you may gather. Most social communities are open to the public; but, if you want a more local community, you may establish private groups on Facebook, for example.
Owned or branded communities: This is a dedicated community you created, typically hosted on your website, and is often secured by the membership. You have greater control over the data you may gather as well as the day-to-day administration of the platform.
Shared social networks are the most prevalent among small companies. Building a social network requires less money upfront, but don't forget about the time it takes to do so!
The Perks of Forming an Online Community
"A new kind of business is emerging—one that makes extensive use of collaborative technology to link workers' internal activities and to expand the organization's reach to consumers, partners, and suppliers..."
This statement from a McKinsey research has always struck a chord with me when I contemplate the advantages and effects of online communities on the way businesses are conducted.
Companies strive to optimize their possibilities and establish the underlying strategy of adopting an online community to connect, engage, and expand connections with consumers, workers, and partners in today's competitive economy. Online communities offer a solid use case across various sectors, from high-tech to higher education, as long as the approach is driven by business goals and audience requirements and fits current processes and systems.
Here are the top reasons why building an online community so important in today’s business landscape:
- Collaborative Social Action
Unexpected solutions are often the outcome of bringing individuals together in a community to debate fresh ideas or solve issues. This is one of the primary reasons why internal communities are growing in popularity.
On the other hand, you may utilize public communities for collaboration provided they are correctly structured for it and allow you to identify and engage individuals in a mutually meaningful manner. You may use this for co-creation or crowdsourcing initiatives in which people work together to achieve a shared objective and feel engaged.
- Differentiating yourself from the competition by providing a superior client experience.
Online communities serve various internal purposes for your company, ranging from content production to marketing intelligence. Still, users often play a significant role in their entire experience and satisfaction. On paper, you and your rivals may seem identical, but an online community may be a considerable difference.
An online member community or customer community allows you to differentiate yourself from the competition by answering queries and providing moments of surprise and pleasure, either in real-time or by creating goods and services that meet the requirements of your customers.
- Relationship Development
Community building provides you with something that no other SEO or online marketing effort can: connections with actual people. Word-of-mouth advertising is and will continue to be the most trusted type of promotion accessible to companies. In order to survive today, businesses must gain attention and develop an audience, often known as a community.
By doing so, you open yourself up to industry influencers, colleagues, individuals who will read and spread your material (raising the visibility of your business), existing and prospective consumers, and others. By acquiring those consumers at a cheaper cost, you are defeating your competitors, discovering new niches and verticals for your company, and, most importantly, creating a far stronger business.
- Being a trusted adviser and providing answers.
When consumers have questions or concerns regarding services, they often turn to the Internet for solutions. In search results, keywords from online consumer communities or topic- and content-related communities will appear. As a result, online forums may be excellent sites for consumers to discover answers to their research queries.
- Listening
When implemented right, you should listen as much as you are sharing in your online community; in fact, it is sometimes preferable to hear more. This is an excellent way to obtain feedback and insight into what your organization is currently doing. In fact, in most cases, you will receive immediate feedback. You may alter your entire company plan if you can get into your audience's requirements, pain points, and interests.
While listening is essential, it is also critical that you act on the information you gather quickly and positively. Telling your consumers they're not right won't go down well, but if you listen to what they're saying and adopt some of their ideas where it makes sense, they'll feel appreciated.
Conclusion
An online community has advantages that are considerably beyond those of a traditional social network. Your company may harness the power of its internal and external audiences to enhance its processes and outcomes by establishing a solid strategy and execution plan.