Is Building Community The Key To Brand Success?

In a world where customers have endless options, building a deep connection with your audience has never been more essential. After all, your brand needs more than just awareness. It needs people who will rally around it, share the benefits of what you do and shout it from the rooftops. That’s what brand communities are fantastic for. But what exactly is a brand community, and how do you build one for yourself?

But What is a Brand Community?

A brand community is just a fancy word for your most engaged customers. A brand community can exist online and in person and is made entirely of loyal customers sharing their love for your brand. Brand community showcases brand loyalty at its best. The people in your brand community are the ones who are emotionally invested in you – they will buy from your content, consume your content, tell their friends and family all about you and more. They’re actively engaged in your brand and will share that passion with other members of your brand community.

Brand community can look wildly different depending on your industry, your products or services and the people in your community. The specifics there don’t really matter. What matters is that your brand community represents a space where people who have really bought into your ethos, messaging and products can come together, express themselves and connect with like-minded people. It’s like any community built around a specific thing – but the thing is your business.

Why Does Brand Community Matter?

The important thing to remember is that brand community is not the same as brand awareness. People can be aware of your brand without being a part of your community, but they can’t be a part of your community without knowing about it.

There’s a whole host of reasons why your brand should invest in your community both online and offline, but we’re going to keep it to a few of our favourites:

Brand loyalty: Building a strong community is what fosters a true sense of belonging among your customers, leading them to be more loyal to your brand. It also breeds passionate brand advocates who will actively amplify your message, promote your products and 

Customer engagement: Customer engagement is everything in business, and the more connected and engaged your customers are, the more they will buy from you. An active community, particularly online, provides a platform for direct interaction between your brand and your customers.

Customer feedback: It’s not just your bottom line that will benefit from a good brand community. That community can provide you with valuable insights and feedback, helping you understand your customers needs and make more informed decisions moving forward.

Product improvement: If you’re looking for a way of making real and meaningful improvements to your products, your customers are your best weapon. But only if they are already engaged with you. Real-time discussions within the community can highlight areas for improvement so that you can make changes quickly – ahead of your competition. There’s no better way to do market research!

Content generation: You will spend a lot of time and money creating content for your brand – but it would be great if someone else could help you with it. The bigger and stronger your community is, the more likely its members are to create their own content around our products or services. User-generated content can be anything from reviews and testimonials to creative expressions and uses of your products. Just take a look at ASOS and their #AsSeenOnMecampaign, which allowed customers to upload photos of their ASOS outfits to the website for the brand to use as product photos, or the Starbucks ‘White Cup Contest’ from 2014.

Does Community Make Brands More Successful? 

Absolutely! There’s no doubt that brands that manage to build strong communities are more successful than those that don’t. But what does that look like exactly? Here are a few examples of successful brands and the communities they’ve built.

Harley-Davidson: Harley Davidson has perhaps one of the most iconic brand communities in the motorcycle industry – in fact it’s so popular that it’s a well-known brand outside of motorcycle enthusiasts. Anyone who buys a Harley Davidson is invited to the Harley Owners Group, which provides perks to its embers, including a lifestyle magazine, free entry to the Harley Davidson Museum, and even an elite Visa credit card. They also frequently participate in group rides, rallies and events, creating a strong sense of community and a shared passion for the brand. 

Fun fact for you – in 1983, the Harley-Davidson brand faced extinction. It took them years of reputational rehab to build it back up. Once they realised that motorcyclists often consider their bikes as an extension of themselves, they were able to build one of the strongest brand communities in existence. Which is worth £3.28 billion by the way!

LEGO: The community that LEGO have built (get it?) is strong, stable and love creativity. Adults are known as AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego) and come together online to share their creative builds, discuss ideas, and problem-solve together. The main Reddit sub has over 1.9 million users, and there are over 47 other subs for LEGO-related discussion. 

LEGO themselves also created a forum for members of its brand community to come together, share ideas and even send them to LEGO for consideration. This active collaboration not only fosters innovation but it strengthens the bond between the company and its fans, allowing them to actively participate in shaping the brand’s future. On top of all that, the company regularly runs community events, competitions and festivals all over the world to engage their fans in their products.

Disney: For a company that was founded over 100 years ago, Disney have done incredibly well at moving with the times and creating a community that embraces as many people as possible. They’ve done everything possible to make their brand more than just a media company, but a complete entertainment experience, using their films and stories to build lasting emotional relationships with each of their customers all over the world. Their fan club brings Disney fans together to share their excitement and attend VIP events. Friendships have been formed through a shared love of Disney, and you can even invite Mickey and Minnie Mouse to your wedding and get a personalised response!

Building a brand community is about more than just increasing sales—it’s about creating a space where customers feel a personal connection to your brand, fostering loyalty, and turning customers into lifelong advocates. There are a huge number of ways you can build this community up, but you have to start with the customer at the heart. At Fizz Experience, that’s exactly what we do. We take your products and put them in front of prospective customers using skilled brand ambassadors, allowing you to build a genuine connection with people and start creating that brand community. To find out more, get in touch with the team today.