Thomas Griffin — December 6, 2019 Today, it’s not enough to advertise your business and hope that people believe your message. Such an approach treats your audience impersonally and won’t leave an impression on people’s minds.
With the advent of the internet, people are met with ads and products everywhere. There’s a high risk involved in buying from unknown online businesses, and people may not get good quality products and services.
People depend on their peers, now more than ever, to help them make buying decisions online. Your business can build trust and get an endorsement from the public by creating an online community.
An easy way to build an online community is to create social media pages and to create content that wins followers. You can also create an exclusive membership portal for your WordPress website by using a plugin.
There are many ways an online community can grow your business. Let’s look at why you should make community building a priority.
Brand Advocacy
A loyal community will be your biggest advocate online. You can count on your brand’s community members to inform other people about your brand through recommendations. Word-of-Mouth and personal recommendations are hard to get and extremely valuable.
People are very likely to make a purchase or join a membership site platform when they see ringing endorsements from their peers. Your online community can be your spokesperson through online engagements and discussions.
Lower Advertisement Expenses
One of the biggest perks of an online community is that it can help reduce your marketing expenses. When you’ve nurtured an active online community, you’ll get better responses to your marketing communication. This is because your message is reaching your intended audience. Your community will also share your content, and you’ll reach more people. In these ways, an online community will bring down your advertising spends.
Repeat Purchases
If your business is based on a membership site platform, you’re very likely getting an income from yearly or monthly subscriptions.
Your online community will consist of people who are interested in your product or have already bought your product. They are far more likely to make repeat purchases, buy upgrades, or go for lifetime licenses.
You save money and increase sales by focusing on customer delight and retention. Building your online community enables you to connect with your community better.
Social Media Engagement
An active online community is more likely to follow you on social media and share your content.
Such activities will bring your posts to the attention of other people online, creating brand awareness.
Building your follower-base on different platforms is an essential part of your social media strategy. You can also build your community on your site and connect it with your social media pages. You can do this by adding calls-to-action asking users to share on social media. It’s also a good idea to use email marketing to get community members to be more active on different platforms.
Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people tend to do what other people are doing. In online marketing, you can leverage social proof to develop trust quickly and easily.
An online community will help your business showcase social proof. When visitors see that there’s active discussions and engagement taking place, they’ll buy from you readily.
User-generated Content
User-generated content is the content that your audience makes online. It consists of blog posts, posts on social media, reviews, and others.
An online community will generate content for your business. By leveraging it carefully, you can develop your community into a hub for your domain. You’ll get a resource-base of valuable information that helps your customers and other people in your industry.
Better Customer Service
An online community can help solve its members’ problems. You can create a space for people to ask questions and give answers. In this way, people can help each other by solving minor concerns.
This frees up time and resources to focus on better customer service and support.
- Ecohaus: An example of a brand community
Grow Your Business With an Online Community
Building an online community takes time and effort. It is, however, an activity that pays off over time. Your community can give your business the momentum it needs to grow faster.
You can build an online brand community easily using online tools., an activity that pays off over time. Your community can give your business the momentum it needs to grow faster. Foster your online community, and you’ll get returns that make it more than worthwhile.
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