Founders Series: Build your digital community

Welcome to our Founders Series, where we aim to give advice, answer questions and provide solutions for people starting their own businesses. If this sounds like you, read on! We've got plenty of content on a wide range of topics, all to help you grow and succeed as a founder.

Over this blog series, you’ve learned how to build your marketing team for long-term growth, and how to turn your personal profiles into an effective channel for lead generation. But the silver bullet for developing a loyal brand following? Community.

An online community – a hub where your business can interact with current and potential customers directly, with tailored messages and personalised approaches.

What does an online community look like?

The key feature of an online community should be communication – and there are a number of formats to facilitate this…

Digital forums – think Discord and Slack
Social media channels – think Facebook groups or Instagram channels
Learning communities – think Skillshare courses or LinkedIn groups
Creator/fan pages – think Reddit or Patreon
Bespoke platforms – look at Miro or Salesforce for great examples

But whatever channel you choose, expect to reap the rewards that a powerful community can offer.

Why build a community?

Research has shown that an online community can help organisations improve engagement by up to 21%. Over half of branded communities report improved customer retention, more generated leads, increased sales and improved brand SEO. But why does it work so well?

When crafted effectively, an online community is like a warmed-up audience that’s primed to connect and engage with, especially compared to scattered social media posts or mass email marketing, for example. The result? A greater affinity with your brand, a stronger identity and a community of followers ready to buy – or re-buy – into your business.

But it’s not just your marketing that could see a boost through the power of community – 90% of brands say that suggestions from the community have been used to improve products or services. Dedicated forums provide an ideal setting for conducting customer surveys, finding case study participants, and collecting testimonials – just remember to offer your members real value in exchange for their feedback.

How to build your own community

Your marketing team will prove invaluable here, and should be mobilised across the board to help create, nurture and reap the rewards from your community. Lean on their expertise, and consider the following structure to help guide the process:

Know your audience – Identify why you’re building a community and who it’s for.
Assign and engage internal stakeholders – Count on your marketing team to recruit members and manage the forum – and your product team to help provide service insights.
Set KPIs – Think NPS scores, client sentiment, retention, leads generated and sales achieved.
Understand your platform – For example, if it’s a forum, you’ll need to set moderators and identify clear roles for who will manage it.
Set up a content strategy – Create a calendar for community posts and engagements, leaving room for reactive interaction – E.g. one blog share per week, one poll per week.
Leverage targeted promotion – Find the members you want – consider application forms on your website, an email campaign, or direct communications with current and potential clients.
Launch with core members – Warm up the most engaged audience first so future members can enter an active community of loyal followers. Then, encourage them to share and invite others – try gamifying this process for better results.
Keep adapting – Pay attention to KPIs, manage members as your business evolves, and consider whether the market or your ideal target has changed.

Your community awaits

A sounding board for new services, a hive for client advocacy or a hotbed for repeat sales – your online community can be harnessed for all kinds of purposes. And the best time to create one? Right now.

Want more insights into how you can optimise your online presence? Take a look at our previous blogs in this mini-series to learn how to supercharge your digital marketing.