Using Community to Build Your Brand & Your Business
Let’s face it, we all feel a little isolated from time to time. COVID has created a culture where we’re uncertain about getting together. It’s one where we might find ourselves feeling more comfortable staying behind a screen with our pj’s on, or attending a conference virtually rather than in person. But it’s absolutely critical that we create the time to build – and participate in – community. Without it, our lives, our businesses, and our brands cannot be truly healthy or successful.
The personal benefits of community participation are undisputed. Getting together with other individuals fulfills that sense of connectedness and support that we crave so much. It’s a key part of what defines us as human – and also an essential, yet widely overlooked, element of lifestyle medicine.
When you start looking at the benefits of community on businesses and brands, it gets interesting. Who would think that it’s as critical to a brand’s success as it actually is? Small business owners will immediately talk about the opportunity to expand their network, for both potential business opportunities and support.
Community participation offers so much more for businesses:
Learn from others. We all experience good, bad, and “what was I thinking” moments as we navigate business. Connecting with a group of your peers allows you to hear what’s worked for other organizations and what hasn’t. Then, you can apply those principles (hopefully the ones that worked) to your own business. A particular tactic or idea may be something you didn’t think of yourself, and it can save you the valuable time, effort, and the expense of trying something that might not have been successful in a similar business.
Reinvigorate your purpose. If you’ve been running your business for a while, it’s easy to get caught in the day-to-day routine. But taking the time to immerse yourself with like-minded individuals reconnects you with why you got started in the first place. Conferences offer the best opportunity to experience this. Given the right environment, attending one should feel like receiving a giant hug. You’re immediately surrounded by individuals who are every bit as excited to be there as you are. And when it’s time to leave, you’re ready to take on the world, educating everyone about your passion.
Participate in new conversations to expand your horizons. Inspiration can strike at any time, and its even more likely if you’re listening to the thoughts of other people who share the same core values as you. There might be different angles to what they’re offering in their business, but these nuances are exactly what could add dimension to your organization. During conversation, something that’s shared or said might create that ‘a-ha’ moment that you didn’t know you needed. These are the types of interactions can create the foundation for new partnerships with a bigger impact.
For your brand, participation in a community can:
Create evangelists, potentially lowering your marketing costs. If you offer your audience the support they’re looking for, a loyal fan base will result. If they are feeling energized, then they’ll also feel empowered to share the news about your company, product or service.
With word-of-mouth referrals still at the top of the heap when it comes to business development, and studies show that 84% of people are more likely to trust a referral or recommendation than they are if they come across a business organically.
Offer a chance to test, refine and maintain your messaging. This is especially true if you’re using social media to create your community. With the frequency of posts, you can experiment with the language and tone you’re using from post to post while remaining true to your brand ideals. And don’t be afraid to dive into analytics, which provide an essential window to evaluating engagement and results.
Open the door to a new type of dialogue. People feel safest when they’re among others who share their values and that’s also the time when they feel most free to get creative and bounce ideas off one another. By participating in (and potentially building) a community, you might just be taking part in a think-tank that evolves your business, product, or service to the next level. Feedback on your existing and even potential offerings is invaluable and may save you money in the long run.
The bottom line is this – no matter if you’re a brand looking to strengthen your market share, a business trying to reach a new audience, or simply an individual who wants to benefit from person-to-person interaction, community is where it’s at. It’s an integral part of how we all relate to each other and to the larger world.
