5 Reasons Why Building an Online Community is Important for Your Brand
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A small business entrepreneur must start an online community to build relationships and establish brand awareness. Many companies today rely on social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn to engage customers. However, if your company has a website, a technical team, and a marketing department already in place, there is no reason why you cannot create your own online community to build profitable relationships.
There are many benefits to having a thriving online community. In this article, we will tell you the reasons why building your online community is leading your brand to the next level and will empower your success.
5 Reasons Why Online Communities are Beneficial To Your Brand
It Reduces Your Support Costs and Increases Revenue
Online communities decrease your operating costs while increasing revenue. This is a win for any company. Leaders in the industry report that an online community reduces their support cost by enabling members to reach out to each other to solve any problems instead of racing out to the company’s call center for help.
Increased revenue for your business happens when community members spend an average of 19% more than people that do not engage in these communities. These community members are usually willing to pay premiums for products and services, as well as an increase in interest to purchase products.
It Increases Online Engagement and Retention
Consumers love to connect with a brand and other online community members. This builds loyalty to the brand, and therefore this loyalty increases retention. Your customers also want to know that they are being heard. A direct response from the company about their concerns is enough to increase the customer’s loyalty. Even if a community member’s suggestions are not adopted, the consumer will appreciate this acknowledgment.
If an online community influences a minimum of a company’s revenue by 16 percent, an average of 64 percent of community members will have strong engagement. If a company influences less than 15 percent of the company’s revenue, the engagement will decrease to only 26 percent. This is the primary reason why these online communities are the best forum for customer engagement and retention.
Product and Service Feedback
A community forum for your customers to provide product feedback is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness. Consumers love the fact that they can provide feedback directly to a company about their products or services. In these forums, your customers can tell you exactly what they want from your product or service. This feedback can help you tweak your product for even better sales.
Another great aspect of community forums is that they are cost-effective. When you try to obtain customer feedback through surveys, market research, or direct calling, it can be quite an expense for your company to obtain that information. You can get the same results by cultivating your online community.
Promotion of Future Products and Services
When you build a branded online community, you can establish a virtual marketplace. You already have engaged community members as well as paying customers. Your online community gives you a place to promote your new products and services.
There are also lower acquisition costs associated with an online community. These communities are easily accessible through search engines like Google. This is also another way your online community can facilitate lead generation strategies that can help you find new clients.
Better Overall Impressions For Your Brand
An online community will give your brand the best overall impression to consumers. When your customers visit your community, they will read positive feedback about your product. It also provides quality information to all members and allows the community to communicate with each other.
An online community will also increase brand loyalty. Your company and brand will benefit from the buzz your customers will generate online. Customer advocates will be your most active participants in the community and will show the most loyalty to your brand.
An online community is the best way to build relationships with customers and even find new clients. This power of relationships will enable greater loyalty to your brand and foster continuous engagement. These online communities also make it possible to sell a product or service without the usual hard-selling tactics that are usually implemented with traditional marketing techniques. This makes your brand more approachable when consumers are looking to buy.
Online communities are how to make your business profitable through relationships. They have become an integral part of creating a relationship strategy with consumers that facilitates your business development. If you cultivate your online community, it can lead to increased revenue as your online community grows.
Promotora Systems Inc. can help grow your business and create a relationship strategy with your online community. Contact us today for all your business development needs.