In these extensively digitised times, a generous part of our social life can be tracked online. We already talked about working remotely in a previous article entitled Remote Working during Coronavirus: a Blueprint for the Future Work. Now, it’s the turn of online communities to occupy our attention.
Online communities should be one of the main priorities for those interested in improving their marketing and branding strategies. Following the results of GlobalWebIndex in 2019, 83% of internet users worldwide share on a monthly basis a great range of information online in the form of videos, photos and reviews & 76% participate in online forums, blogs and vlogs through multiple devices. Hence, the importance of creating strong online communities is and will be raising. Moreover, having a branded online community can lead to building a loyal customer base who is willing to promote the brand’s identity.
So, what exactly are the online communities? The most influential explanation has been given by the American critic, writer and teacher, Howard Rheingold back in 1994, who mentioned that “virtual communities are cultural aggregations that emerge when enough people bump into each other often enough in cyberspace. A virtual community is a group of people […] who exchanges words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks”. However, online communities nowadays can vary broadly from private social networks, to intranet softwares and customer service platforms. The audience is becoming more and more demanding as they get familiar with the digital culture, it has needs, pains, interests, and seeks for innovation. Therefore, it is important to stay aligned on their incessant change of preferences.
The Process of Online Community Building
The word building applied to digital social connections, is more than a metaphor. It describes vividly the process that is needed and consists of three core pillars: knowledge, roles, and method.
· Draw knowledge from the beginning
Before the launch of any type of community, you should conduct research and develop a framework that could answer all potential questions. Which are the most appropriate platforms? What kind of audience are you targeting? Will the community be private, public, or a hybrid model? Which is your main goal(s)? How can you achieve an extensive engagement of members? Acquiring an answer to these questions would make it easier for you to understand the purpose of building an online community and to set up a structure to promote original, interesting content and other resources. Originality is a crucial aspect to take into consideration. As everyone is bombarded with multiple advertising messages on all social platforms, especially younger generations have built a resistance against promotional content, which ultimately needs to be visually pleasing, but also really creative even to draw the attention of the audience. It is also meaningful for the business to implement social listening to understand how the online community develops, what do they talk about, and adjust the feedback in order to satisfy the audience and improve the community management.
· Set up the key-roles
After identifying the reasons why to build an online community, it is crucial to define the roles of the people involved in the process. One should begin from the management scope and build the community vertically, prioritising a top-down approach that will provide insights on the possible composition of the community. The managerial figure is the person responsible for everything that is going on within the community, the human embodiment of the brand. Professional people who know how to deal with social media and other online networking platforms are those who should develop and operate an online community. However, there are many departments involved in this process in big branded communities. support departments can be involved. Marketing team, operations, R&D and creative departments all support online community building efforts with different activities that must be always aligned.
· Humanisation
In order for a community to be successful, brands should establish an emotional connection with the audience. This can be done by humanising the brand, meaning that its behaviour within online communities should be as close as possible to the one of an individual.
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Originally published at www.spatial-experience.com on May 20, 2020.
