All consumer-facing businesses must recognize both the importance of branding and the importance of building a brand community. When you have a well-developed brand community that captures the minds and the hearts of your target audience, you can increase engagement and also drive greater reach. By giving your clients that sense of connection in today’s turbulent world, you can give your customers a voice and watch your brand evolve organically. Unfortunately, not every organization takes the time to invest in branded community development. Here are 10 stats you should know about building brand communities, renovating them, and nurturing them:
86% of Fortune 500 companies report communities provide insight into customer needs
When Fortune 500 retailers, food and beverage companies and sporting goods brands were surveyed on the value of private online communities, it was reported that the interactive communities were a platform that provided the companies with a deeper insight on customers’ needs, according to Mycustomer.com. This lead to not only increased customer satisfaction, but also a rise in brand loyalty.
96% of companies see the value that customer collaboration presents for the marketing department
According to Oracle’s “Socially Driven Collaboration” report, community building should not be isolated in the marketing department, but having an engaged brand community can present a major value to your marketers. By giving your clients a platform where they can socialize and collaborate, your marketers can target the right channels and develop the right types of campaigns that will have a greater reach.
66% of companies say they turn to brand communities for product development
There are a number of ways that organizations can use their community engagement to develop their products said Cause Marketing. Some will have ongoing focus groups where they invite their loyal customers to give their feedback on potential products. Others will read comments and conversations to use the content to develop products.
71% of companies use customer collaborations for market research
CMO essentials reported that collaborations between members of the community and marketers can also assist in generating some organic and company-specific market research. Companies spend a fortune to have researching firm run reports and identify trends. With branded communities, this can be done within the organization which can improve productivity and benefit the organization economically.
64% of companies state the brand community has improved their decision-making
According to a study from Innsbruck University School of Management, branded social community filled with followers and customers has proven to help nearly two-thirds of companies accommodate their clients by making smart decisions that could affect the organization long term.
36% of companies report using fewer surveys for marketing research and development
It can be expensive to create a customer satisfaction survey and then blast your email lists and subscribers to provide their feedback. Some clients do not feel like their responses are heard and others do not have the time. If you want a high response rate, you must offer incentives that cost the company money. With a branded social community, your engaged customers can provide feedback publicly so there is less of a need for surveys, according to Mycustomer.com.
33% of companies report that branded communities alone have changed marketing plans and products
Developing a successful marketing plan and a great product design takes time and money. Mycustomer.com reports that while there are many steps that must be taken along the way, companies who have invested in brand communities have used engagement alone to change a design or a plan that needed changing.
80% of marketers indicate that building brand communities has increased traffic
According to Hubspot, one way to improve search engine rankings and ultimately drive traffic to your website to increase brand recognition is to engage your already loyal customers via brand community platforms. Using your members of the community to help you convince others to join that community will offer a payoff in the form of brand expansion.
53% of Americans who are part of a social brand community are more loyal to the brand
Your online presence on social media platforms can have a strong affect on brand loyalty. According to a study published by Convince and Convert, having a strong sense of community in a social platform means that you will more than likely have loyal brand fans who are less likely to defect.
80% of consumers say that authenticity of content will influence them to follow a brand
You cannot expect to engage every single customer that buys what you sell. You can, however, increase changes of earning a follower with authentic content that is engaging and entertaining. If you post content to your community more than 3 times per day, success rates go down, according to Bazaar Voice.
The first step for brand engagement is to build a community where customers feel comfortable to speak their voice. These stats show you just what a businesswide impact social communities can have when they are strategically built.
