What's up brand builders Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this video you're
going to learn what a brand Community is and why you should build one so you can Leverage The Power
of your people and their passions to build a solid base for connection affection and communal growth
now every brand provides a solution to a problem that problem is often an obstacle and a challenge
to achieving a bigger goal and sometimes that goal belongs to a passion problems solutions passions
obstacles challenges and goals these are part of who we are as people and what bring us together
now when we are able to connect with like-minded people around those issues quite often we find our
tribe and we feel a sense of belonging for Brands this represents an opportunity an opportunity to
bring people together around the passions that they have around the problems and challenges
that they have that that brand aims to solve and in this video you learn what brand communities
are and how they're so powerful and why you should start building one for your brand so let's start
with the basics what is a brand Community well it's a group of people who congregate gather and
connect around a shared interest or passion for a brand its products and quite often the
lifestyle that that brand supports customers within such congregations are more often than
not on a shared path with similar interests and goals as well brand communities are quite often
passionate groups of people with shared enthusiasm for the lifestyle that that brand supports so for
example GoPro has a passionate brand Community who not only connect through capturing video
but connect through the extreme and exciting environments that they're often captured in
communities and their members don't just support the brand by regularly making purchases of your
Brand's products they also act as brand Advocates spreading the word about their brands to their
families their co-workers and other people online and those shared interests are really
important when we gather with other people to talk about our passions about our hopes and dreams and
aspirations and then challenges and problems that are getting in the way of us achieving those we're
able to share those problems we're able to share those hopes and dreams and desires and often lean
on other people who share those hopes and dreams and often have some interesting information that
we can use to better Our Lives as well so there really are powerful environments in bringing those
people together and giving them the platform to open up these conversations and to really
buy into the lifestyle that they're trying to achieve by listening to other people by engaging
with other people by sharing those hopes dreams aspirations challenges problems and lending their
information to other people it really Fosters that sense of connection now of course building
a solid brand Community where people are excited to get in there and to connect and share it takes
a bit of work from Brands they really do need to nurture that relationship first and foremost with
their customers and then to bring those customers together and manage that community as well really
build that Community build that engagement and stay in touch with what's going on there and
really spark that conversation so it does take a lot of work from Brands but it really is worth it
to build those connections and those associations with the lifestyle that those customers are trying
to achieve now of course the benefit is not just for the group members the benefit is also for the
brand as well and any brand leader should see the value in having a ready-made receptive audience
to bounce ideas off gather insights and engage in dialogue to understand what their greatest
challenges are your brand Community probably already exists on social media platforms so it's
your job to bring them together into a genuine online community where they're open to share
those ideas and share those challenges so you need a marketing strategy to build on those connections
and to gain some significant brand benefits now of course there are many benefits to having an
Engaged brand community and here just some of those benefits you can convert customers into
brand ambassadors who spread your message on your behalf you can ensure that your customers get the
most out of your products and services by sharing helpful information on how to use it in the best
environments in which the user and how to get those best results you can spread brand awareness
organically instead of relying on paid ads you can get direct feedback as well from new clients and
your target audience about what new challenges are coming up in the market today so you can really
keep your finger on the pulse in a gauge Community also boosts customer retention levels it's a
potential source for users generated content and it is also an outlet to reward loyal customers
as well opportunity exists to go out and meet like-minded people often that opportunity doesn't
exist in the real world so the digital world and those online communities give them an opportunity
to meet those types of people anywhere in the world it also gives them an opportunity to share
their frustrations what's going on in their lives within this community within this lifestyle what
their frustrations are what their problems are and to lean on other people that might have overcome
those problems that can help them overcome those problems so it's not always the brand providing
the information quite often it is other customers in there who have met that challenge and overcome
that challenge and they all support each other in their ideas and their objective to achieving
their goals so it really does Foster that sense of connection and bring people together under that
lifestyle now to dig a little deeper into some of these benefits customer research and market
research is really really valuable Within These communities the overarching benefit of a brand
Community relates to the idea that all marketing and branding relies on information gathering and
sharing to really understand your customers understand their problems and what better
environment to understand their problems than a brand Community where they're openly sharing
those problems successful Brands understand their audience therefore a brand Community is
an immensely valuable source of information that you should use to better understand your loyal
customers use your insights to influence your brand strategy your marketing and your overall
product development now I've already mentioned the value of making those connections with your
customers and for customers to make connections with each other and just to dig a little bit
deeper on that just to give you a little bit of insight as to what is shared within these
types of communities sharing challenges asking and answering questions sharing wins joining
discussions sharing opinions gaining and giving support helping one another recommending Solutions
and sharing contacts are just a few ideas that can be shared Within These communities
to really help to grow that sense of connection and to help one another to achieve those goals
so there are multiple ways that communities connect which are all different depending on
the category but regardless of the category these platforms provide that environment to make true
connections within those categories now there are a ton of great examples of brand communities
out there from Harley-Davidson to GoPro Red Bull Patagonia but Lego is one of my favorite
examples because it is a great example of a brand tapping into communities of fans that
already exist they just needed to steer their fan base in a direction that optimized the desired
results for Lego now Lego recently acquired Bricklink an independent fan discussion site
and marketplace with over 1 million members now the site has an active discussion forum where
community members share ideas and thoughts and various Lego products as well they share those
ideas on how to build different products and how to connect different products with one another and
by acquiring the group Lego has gained access to another source of valuable insights they also did
a great job at engaging with their brand Community to Foster those discussions and to set challenges
within those discussions as well to really get people involved they come up with regular original
competitions all the time and challenges for those Lego enthusiasts to really get involved now this
group generates an insane level of Engagement from Their audience all while reinforcing the Brand's
status as an entertainment provider now one of the fundamental principles of branding is that it's
relationship building now traditionally that's understood to be relationship building between the
customer and the brand and that is most certainly true but more and more it's about nurturing those
relationships Not Just Between the brand and the consumer but between consumers themselves
to give them that platform to share their ideas share their opinions share their problems and
challenges and really to connect under the lifestyles or passions that they have for
the lifestyle that the brand supports brands that take the time to facilitate relationship building
between their customers and followers solidify the base for their individual relationships with
those customers and the relationships between those customers as well now look the truth is
the more connected people feel to a group The Brand facilitates and the more value those
people take from that group the stronger the feeling of connection the audience has for that
brand and their products staying top of mind and garnering feelings of connection or even affection
is one of the most potent ways to become a brand of choice now if you're looking to build a brand
for the long term then a brand Community is a solid base that you can build from now if you
want to dive deeper into brand strategy then this video here will help you out but before you click
it if you want to become a master of brand make sure you hit the like And subscribe to get new
videos just like this until next time Brian like a master and I'll see you in the next video [Music]
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