Online businesses have witnessed a huge increase in numbers in recent years. Online marketing has revolutionized the business industry and allowed it to completely focus on the customer’s power. Even though we are in a highly connected digital society, customers still like to feel like they can build a meaningful relationship with their favorite brands like they used to with shops. Brands now have the priority of building a friendly community for their customers where they can achieve that, as well as increase their sales. However, it doesn’t come easily or quickly, so here are a few marketing strategies to help you get the best results in the shortest amount of time.
1. Set a Goal
You can’t start building a community without having a clear vision of its purpose. If you don’t understand why you’re building it, people won’t understand why they should join. Do your research about the benefits of having an online community to find out how it can help you. Make sure you pick dedicated team members who can share and contribute to your vision to come up with the kind of experience you are looking to give your customers through this community.
2. Pick the Perfect Platform
Now, your vision needs a home to be realized, and there are plenty of platforms to choose from. You can have more than one platform for your community, but most of your efforts should be focused on one to guarantee the quickest results. Your choice should depend on the nature of your business and the size of the community you’re aiming to create. Take into consideration your target audience analysis, which can help in choosing the most suitable platform. For example, Snapchat would be perfect for the younger audiences while LinkedIn is ideal if you’re reaching a professional audience.
illustration by Hurca
3. Target Your Audience
Once you’ve chosen a platform, the next step is to make your page or profile appealing to target your audience. It should depict a clear message of its purpose and services as well as details about your brand. Start looking for your targeted audience and take note of the content that interests them to align it with your own while still staying on-brand. Make sure you further your reach by sending messages to potential customers to build a solid relationship. The experts emphasize that SMS Marketing is an effective marketing strategy. It gives you a wider reach and a quicker response, not to mention it has an 98% open rate while e-mail marketing has only 20%.
4. Engagement is Key
It’s the consistency in engagement that is the key to building a loyal community with a strong foundation in no time. The frequency of posting content and your engagement with your community should be planned ahead with your team to ensure consistency. This will build trust and reliability with members because they will know exactly when they’ll hear from you. Make sure you’re responding to as many comments as you can or even just ‘liking’ them can show that you are present and engaged. The best way to build a strong bond is by treating members as individuals, not just customers, and not opt for automated responses that would make them feel like they’re talking to a robot, not a person.
5. Exchange Knowledge
If you use your platform wisely, you can build a large community in record time. One of the ways to do that is to share your knowledge regarding your area of business. Ask your audience what they want to know or if they have any questions that you can help with. This will not only give you a point in engagement but will guarantee that you’re putting out content that people are interested in. You can even post things that are not directly related to your brand, but within the general knowledge of it to show your customers you care more about just selling. Before you know it, your community will become a trusted source of information that people want to join.
6. Promote Your Community
A great marketing strategy to quickly build a community is to actively promote it to increase your numbers. Show people why it’s great to be part of the community; advertise strong points like how you solved a pain point expressed by a member or rely on your contact list to spread the word by sending invites to anyone who might be interested. If you really wanna hit the jackpot, partnering with an influencer with brand proximity is the fastest way since it causes a merge of both communities.
illustration by Hurca
Ultimately, even though you’ll want the fastest possible results, you have to remember to be patient. The important thing is to stay authentic to yourself and your brand as well as remain organized and in tune with your team about managing your community. The best approach is to focus on the people; posting about members who are enjoying your product or including their feedback in your official reviews. It’s an approach that will give you a loyal and quickly-growing community.
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