Often the advantages of a brand community seem so clear it’s not even worth measuring. After all, which organisation wouldn’t want a group of customers who like and support them? Yet a brand community has the same opportunity cost as any other investment. Every precious rand invested in the community is a rand that can’t be invested in anything else. And a successful brand community doesn’t come cheap.
What Is The Definition Of Brand Community?
The brand community is frequently run by a for-profit company and their core business is not to run a brand community. They often sell some service or product, and the community directly or indirectly turns around that, however, isn’t often part of the core offering itself.
The brand community is managed by paid community managers who are a part of the marketing, branding, sales, customer service or – alternatively – customer relations department. The community mainly exists online.
Brand communities are different from tech platforms as these are built on the principles of network effects. These platforms are Quora, Product Hunt and Facebook. There the community is a key part of the DNA.
A Brand Community Isn’t The Same As Brand Awareness
Just as someone knows about or has bought from your brand doesn’t mean that they’re part of an engaged – or even an engageable – brand community.
Rather, your brand community consists of the people who follow all of your content that appears on social media, who share your products or services and content with others, and who appreciate seeing everything that your brand is doing.
More straightforward, a brand community is a place where individuals who have an emotional connection to your brand are able to connect with each other as well as with your brand.
