What is a brand community?

A brand community is where people prioritize establishing an emotional connection with the brand, consuming its content, and sharing products/services with others. In other words, they love seeing what their favourite brand has to offer. Communities are key to brand loyalty, awareness, and overall success.

What makes a good brand community?

When businesses can create a sense of community among their customers and around their products or services, they will have the upper hand in the long run. Individual consumers will become brand advocates, and loyal customers will feel even more connected to your products/services.
A brand needs a community to increase brand awareness, understand customers, improve outcomes and build brand loyalty. This is a successful trend, especially in tech companies.
A brand community can be understood by the following characterization:

Personalization

The most successful brand today knows the power of personalization can change your marketing game. By adding an AI-driven layer of personalization, each customer will have their needs met consistently- that means more loyal customers are on the way. It also helps in retention.
Over the past few years, personalization has played a major role in shaping brand communities through social commerce. A company like Starbucks is the best example of this. It creates a personalized shopping experience for its customers by writing their names on the drink offered and also has offers for loyal members.

Engagement & Collaboration

Successful online communities don’t just help you sail through marketing campaigns-they offer good space for customers to connect and find a solution in real-time. Many brands are hopping on this trend of building customer engagement platforms- but few are diving deep into it and understanding it better. If you can create a two-way engagement community, then loyalty will follow without a doubt.
The internet is full of a blank walls. And due to these customers being left unanswered about their most important questions and sometimes redirected for hours, as we get most of the time on customer care calls with teleoperators. It’s a defiantly frustrating ordeal!
As much as it’s important to ask a question in the community, allowing customers to pitch in and present their ideas sometimes can also be beneficial for a brand. This is the case with LEGO and its collaboration efforts. Once this company was on the verge to file bankruptcy, and today it’s one of the best examples of building a huge brand community. Members could submit new concepts, vote on them, and choose ideas to receive their share of royalties.
These types of exchanges allow the company to grow incredibly and gain a loyal customer base. This is also a direct contact between the brand and the user.

Key benefits of building a brand community

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur and having a community is you will have complete control over what content and visual identity is presented in front of the public. Below are some of the benefits:

Customer retention increases

Promoting and growing your brand community through apps is a great way to ensure it will be used for a longer period. When your community is happy about what they experience, they will bring more members into the group- this makes retention easier and cheaper as there is less acquisition cost.
Brands can retain customers by adding engaging features to their platforms like Live chat and streaming. As you are using customer data to find out more about their needs and sell accordingly, better provide the best experience. If you have built trust with them, you will not need much convincing to sell your newly launched product.

Creating brand advocates

It’s hard to get the word out right in public about your company. But your loyal army can do that for you. The online community of followers who are ready to give you reviews and positive feedback will spread the word too. This is why it’s important to transform your brand community into your advocates.
If user-based content is increased that will automatically uplift your brand value and increase sales. Your fans are the most valuable assets you have. Your brand advocates create authentic content that reduces the risk of distrust as it’s real people giving feedback- which means having them on your side is building loyalty with others.
Starbucks is the best example of having a good brand community and creating a success story. Starbucks’ online community is a valuable brand advocate. Because Starbucks allows them to share their ideas and experience on the Starbucks blog and even earn money for their contribution. Starbucks always give prompt reply to their customers online, this enhances engagement and brand loyalty.

Better customer experience

The best way to meet expectations is to know what your customers want, and you can easily know this by collecting customer data and getting feedback through surveys or online communities. Use the data collected in improving their experience with the brand and improve future interactions.
Apple is the best example of this, has always cared deeply about its customers, Apple’s support community is a space for feedback, support, and knowledge sharing. This in turn fuels the engagement among its active fan base. You as a company should make it easier than ever for a better customer experience.

Less dependency on ads

How did you make a recent purchase from your favourite brand? Was it when it was on sale or did you come across an ad? Most likely you purchased it because you have an emotional connection with that particular brand and if we need something we always go back to that same brand without seeing ads.
When you establish a strong brand community, it will automatically draw people towards the brand without putting ads in front of their faces. It is more of an emotional connection.
A proven study shows that User- Generator Content impacts the purchasing power of people. Hence, a brand community leverages this business strategy, and users are more likely to trust the brand as a whole.

Naturally, brand communities are no longer a buzzword but something for all marketers to consider beyond just a tactical drive to sell.

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Online Shopping- New Normal for Buyers

India’s rise in online shopping is fueled by the 639 million strong internet population, and COVID-19 accelerated the process by adding 80 million online shoppers in the last three years and that makes it 130 million today. During the pandemic there was the temporary closure of physical stores and the public was diverted to online shopping which gave rise to this D2C market and it flourished. Online shopping in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35%+ from $39 billion today to $200 billion over the next 5 years, also supported by internet and payment infrastructure developments.

Advancement of Consumption Pattern

Women, the new class of consumers have the final say in more than half of household decisions now. And more than half of them are online shoppers. Consumption trends are also progressing, new-age consumers want niche and customized products and are ready to pay large amounts for them. Traditional players are not able to fulfill that. So, every shopping experience is made keeping women as consumers in mind.

Inclination Towards D2C brands

Companies with D2C channels have an emotional connection with their consumers, fostered by a unique brand identity and clear value proposition. D2C brands are characterized by their innovative marketing style, efficient operational processes, and effective use of technology. With easy access to customer data D2C brands work on the shopping pattern and a feedback-led model and develop products to ensure that customer needs are met.

Emergence of D2C Brands in India

There are 800+ D2C brands in India as of April 2022 and the expected market opportunity by 2025 is $100 billion. India is witnessing a rise in D2C brands across categories. As many women-led businesses are been funded and early-stage funding activity is huge we can see many women-led D2C brands now. As women are the majority of consumers so the market has risen in products consumed by women. D2C brands such as Zivame, MyGlamm, WOW skin science, Mamaearth, Sugar cosmetics, and Spring Dairies, among others, are occupying niches and creating brands with extraordinary value in their respective sectors.

Future of D2C Brands in India

The pandemic has changed the game and made everyone realize that nothing is certain in business. And brands have been trying out new strategies in cost, retail experience, and research to provide a personalized experience to customers to excel in their segment.

To boost sales, D2C companies will play more in personalization and customization using more and more technology. Famous brands like super smelly which is a skincare brand and WOW Skin science are planning to increase their retail presence and expand pan India. All D2C brands will touch customers wherever they are online or offline.

Written by- Seema Lalwani

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Source: Women Entrepreneur

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