Community Building For Marketers: Finding Your Why

This edited extract is from Community Building for Marketers by Areej AbuAli ©2025 and is reproduced with support from Kogan Page Ltd.

There are galore antithetic concepts of what a assemblage is, and assorted definitions.

Outside the discourse of selling terminology, the connection “community” is chiefly associated with section areas oregon neighbourhoods.

The conception of assemblage arsenic a marketing oregon maturation tool is 1 that lone truly began to summation traction successful the 21st century.

When I archetypal launched my ain community, Women successful Tech SEO, which I volition notation to arsenic WTS, I didn’t usage the word “community.” I utilized words similar “group” oregon “network,” but neither word felt rather right.

As the connection astir community marketing became much common, I realized that this was, indeed, what I was creating – this connection felt similar a overmuch much earthy fit.

What Does A Community Look Like?

There are tons of antithetic focal points astir which a assemblage tin beryllium built.

The cardinal is that capable radical attraction capable astir that happening to privation to link with different radical that besides attraction astir it, and to speech to them astir it.

In 2022, Allie Volpe wrote an nonfiction successful Vox connected “Why assemblage matters truthful much,”¹ and referenced the probe connected “Sense of Community”² done by David W. McMillan and David M. Chavis, which suggests that a assemblage is defined by 4 criteria:

• Membership – to consciousness a consciousness of belonging done shared identity, purpose, oregon crushed for being successful the group.
• Influence – to consciousness similar you marque a quality to the radical and that the radical makes a quality to you.
• Integration and fulfilment of needs – to consciousness similar your needs volition beryllium met by different radical members.
• Shared affectional connection – to consciousness that you stock past oregon akin experiences.

If your assemblage members don’t consciousness immoderate of these things, past your assemblage breaks down – fundamentally you don’t person a assemblage astatine all.

In assemblage marketing, the marque exists mostly successful the background.

Convening a assemblage astir a peculiar taxable establishes you arsenic an adept and person successful this area, and forms a adjacent narration with the assemblage members, who are apt to beryllium members of your people audience.

But a narration is not one-way – you should each get worth from 1 another.

What Is Community Marketing?

Community is not a synonym for customers. In building a community, you are not simply gathering unneurotic a radical of radical that you tin merchantability to.

Some of your assemblage members whitethorn beryllium customers, oregon whitethorn spell connected to go customers, but others volition not. Some of your customers volition ne'er beryllium funny successful joining your community.

When you pull a customer, you are looking specifically for idiosyncratic who wants to bargain your merchandise oregon service, and you past effort to nurture a semipermanent narration with them wherever they proceed to bargain from you.

When you pull a assemblage member, you are inviting idiosyncratic to go portion of an ecosystem of which you are conscionable 1 part. They volition link with you and the different members of the community.

They whitethorn stock attributes successful communal with your people customer, oregon they whitethorn beryllium linked successful different ways with your country of focus.

As counterintuitive arsenic that whitethorn sound, the extremity of a assemblage is not to crook members into customers. The worth of a subordinate is not successful whether they walk wealth with you.

They whitethorn go advocates for you, enlistee caller assemblage members, and assistance caller radical get to cognize your brand.

They whitethorn supply utile insights to you and your members, oregon they whitethorn go partners with whom you tin collaborate.

You astir apt already person defined personas of your perfect customers. But, erstwhile it comes to assemblage marketing, don’t autumn into the trap of reasoning these are the personas you privation to pull to your community.

Consider the wider situation you privation to create, and who would privation to beryllium portion of that. Who could marque a invaluable contribution?

With marketing, we make blogs, videos, social media posts, FAQs, email newsletters, guides, and resources that our people customers simply consume.

With a community, connected the different hand, we are gathering interactive relationships. This feels overmuch much personable, and you link with your members connected a much quality level. You get to cognize them arsenic existent people.

To get to that point, though, requires dedication. A assemblage marketer needs to beryllium continually serving their community, and perpetually reasoning astir however to amended it.

You request to recognize what your members privation from the abstraction and from you.

What are their needs, their concerns and their frustrations, successful the discourse of your assemblage topic? Where tin you assistance them, and wherever are they presently struggling to get assistance from you?

When you amusement your members that you attraction astir them, you show that this is simply a existent community, not a income platform, and a abstraction wherever they tin belong.

Benefits Of Community For Brands

So, with each this effort involved, wherefore is it worthy investing successful assemblage building?

At a clip erstwhile we’re each moving hard to physique societal media followings and email lists, is this conscionable different level to person to effort to grow?

Unlike your societal media followers and email subscribers, your assemblage members are successful a adjacent narration with you.

They are rooting for you, brainstorming with you, helping you to uncover ideas and opportunities, and consenting you to succeed.

Community members volition often beryllium the archetypal to stock caller products and services that you merchandise – they actively amplify and beforehand your marque for you due to the fact that they consciousness arsenic though they’re portion of something.

They tin besides beryllium actively connected the lookout for imaginable customers whom they volition knowledgeably transportation to articulation you, adjacent helping to onboard these radical for you.

They supply invaluable insights into what caller features, products, oregon services you request to make and wherever definite elements mightiness request refining oregon adjusting. They volition beryllium your beta testers and troubleshooters.

They assistance you recognize however to trade your messaging due to the fact that regular conversations with your assemblage volition fto you spot however your imaginable customers speech astir your merchandise oregon your manufacture and what they are looking for.

When you person nonstop entree to a community, it tin instrumentality minutes to get insights, arsenic opposed to requiring large-scale probe projects that whitethorn instrumentality months to extract invaluable accusation from your people customers.

“For excessively agelong we’ve seen consumerism propulsion brands into unsustainable maturation models,” says Pete Heslop, Managing Director of Steadfast Collective.

For the past decade, Pete and his squad person built bespoke platforms that alteration community-led brands to thrive. Pete believes that assemblage is foundational for regenerative concern growth.

“We’ve taken work to supply an alternative,” Pete says. “Steadfast Collective believes that radical thrive erstwhile gathered successful community; that generative places, spaces and platforms are wherever communities grow.”

The Digital Community Leaders Survey Report³ states that communities assistance individuals, organizations, and nine thrive by enabling cognition sharing, collaboration, and the cocreation of value.

The study goes connected to item that integer communities play an progressively indispensable relation successful 21st-century lives, organizations, and societies. They impact concern outcomes.

Today, brands “earn loyalty and growth” by participating successful them. The study besides highlights that communities “lessen reliance connected costly selling campaigns and accepted lawsuit enactment methods.”

And that “empowering customers wrong online communities cultivates a feeling of ownership, starring to user-generated content, invaluable insights, and adjacent support.”

The study besides states that a bulk of 70% online communities person grown implicit the past 12 months, and immoderate of the factors driving this maturation include:

• The displacement to beingness online.
• The normalization of contented instauration and sharing.
• The tendency for brands to entree lawsuit feedback directly.

Community goes acold beyond brand awareness oregon engagement – it’s the adjacent level of retention and loyalty.

“Community gives you a competitory edge. It truly can’t beryllium replicated,” says Laura Roth, B2B SaaS assemblage and selling leader.

With acquisition managing communities astatine Amazon, WeWork, and Vodafone, Laura knows conscionable however impactful the benefits are.

But she besides knows that, to execute those benefits, you request to enactment successful the work. You request to make thing unique, that comes from your circumstantial ngo and values arsenic an organization, and that speaks to the peculiar needs of your community.

“Community is simply a semipermanent game,” Laura says. “It doesn’t hap overnight, and you can’t transcript it.”

If you’re not prepared to put the time, past you won’t spot the outcome.

To work the afloat book, SEJ readers person an exclusive 25% discount codification and escaped shipping to the US and UK. Use promo codification SEJ25 astatine koganpage.com here.

¹ A. Volpe. Why assemblage matters truthful overmuch – and however to find yours, Vox, 24 March 2022, www.vox.com/22992901/how-to-find-your-community-as-an-adult (archived astatine https://perma.cc/6F9H-GT4T)

² D. V. McMillan and D. M. Chavis. An Introduction to Sense of the Community, nd, www.drdavidmcmillan.com/sense-of-community/ article-1 (archived astatine https://perma.cc/H56M-ZWWS)

³ Digital Community Leaders. 2023 Digital Community Leaders Survey Report, 2023, https://digitalcommunityleaders.com/ (archived astatine https:// perma.cc/275F-E4C5)

More Resources:

• Reddit Is Ready For Brands: How To Build Real Connections And Succeed
• The Rise Of Micro-Communities: What This Means For Social Media Marketers
• Building Brand Authenticity Through Community

Featured Image: DavideAngelini/Shutterstock