Community engagement is something that a lot of brands and businesses seem to struggle with. Community members and engagement strategies are not something that CEOs seem to be concerned about, but it is a huge part of business success and maintaining brand loyalty. In this article, we will be going over the best practices for community engagement so you can build your own active audience, all while staying true to your brand voice.
While there are all sorts of community engagement strategies floating around on the internet, we’ll mostly be focusing on tactics that you can use to build a robust online community. We’ll touch on subjects such as the voice of your brand, how to use Facebook and social media to your advantage, what resources are available to you as a brand or business owner, how to use feedback and gain insight into your own community members, and much more.
If you are someone who is struggling to build active community engagement, then keep reading.
Can You Buy Community Members?
In this current competitive market, it’s not far-fetched to say that tools and companies have been developed that allow you to buy pretty much whatever it is you need. Brands these days have seen the impact that having a lot of community members and a large presence on social media can make. It is definitely something that every brand should be striving for, which begs the question: should I buy community members, or should I let community engagement grow organically?
There are definitely providers out there that will allow you to buy Facebook views and community members, and while some of them will drive your engagement up, they can’t build you a strong community. A strong community requires you to have people who actually know and enjoy your brand; thus, you need to purchase community members from a reliable and reputable provider. Active members and real people can give you valuable feedback and participate in community engagement activities.
Now, that’s not to say that these community engagement strategies aren’t good in their own way. If you are a new brand that is lacking community engagement ideas, then these firms might also be an excellent way to start. Starting new channels and building them up can be slow and painful. These sellers can help drive your page to the forefront until you find the right community members. It is something that, as a brand owner, you must decide to use on your own.
Why Are Community Engagement Strategies Important?
So why do you actually hold so much value on community engagement strategies, and what makes them so important? Well, these strategies build the bridge between the company and community members. It is a vital part of building a solid community that your brand will rely on to survive. Having engaged members and effective community engagement is the difference between life and death for many brands.
Building an effective community engagement strategy to reward active members and appease community stakeholders is crucial in seeing that your brand or business flourishes and thrives. Some of the benefits that businesses see when they have involved community members are:
- Trust – Trust in the company grows as people within your community become more actively involved in the company itself. Their feedback is heard and acted upon, and this, in turn, builds trust.
- Identifying problems – Identifying problems within your company or with the product or service becomes easier when the people who use your product or service give you honest reviews.
- Sense of community – Communities can be formed when the brand and audience participate daily in discussions on open channels. It is a great way for both sides to share knowledge, encourage communication, and connect with like-minded people.
5 Community Engagement Strategy Practices to Follow
Now, to get onto what you came here for, the best practices for community engagement. Currently, there are quite a few, and depending on what you want to do exactly, these might not be the right ones for you. If you’re looking to develop effective strategies to overcome challenges online, focus on outreach, create organization within the community, and encourage people to share an idea or two, then you’re in the right place.
1. Develop an Effective Brand Voice
The number one community engagement strategy that you should use is your brand voice. Most companies don’t realize just how crucial it is when trying to reach your target audience. Creating a voice encouraging community members to share their thoughts and feelings is not easy, but it is doable.
Everyone on your team should know the core values of your brand and always stick to them when posting on social media or any other channel. A strong brand voice knows what the stakeholders and community members want; it should resonate with them. It should be a voice encouraging feedback that community members can identify with.
Most importantly, the brand voice is the most important tool to establish trust.
2. Focus on Multiple Channels
If you want to build a strong community of members, you must create numerous channels where your brand can engage with them directly. By making numerous channels, you open the door to outreach to more people who might be interested in your products or services. I can not stress this enough: having and building multiple channels is one of the best practices for community engagement.
So, where do you find new members? What are your options? Well, social media is definitely useful for this. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch are the most commonly used platforms by brands to increase engagement. By creating multiple accounts, you can build communities where users can communicate with each other and the brand directly. It’s a great tool to use to bring in more members; it means bigger and greater communities
It’s a great way to stay in touch with what members want and need from your product or service. Answering questions about any concerns that members may have. You can gather ideas from user-generated content to make your brand voice more personable and bring in new members. The options are endless once you build a community.
3. Hold Community Meetings and Create Events
Another great community engagement idea is to connect members to a platform specifically centered around your brand, such as a Facebook group. It is a great way to invite community members so that they can discuss among themselves the brand and service.
Having community management within these groups can give you a direct line to someone who knows exactly what a particular member may want. Private groups also feel more exclusive and can be an excellent tool for businesses to show loyal customers new products first.
Another valuable community engagement initiative is to create certain events that center around the members themselves. It can be a community challenge where members must do something to receive something else. Now, of course, you could also arrange a member meeting where people can meet up in real-time to grow your community even more. It’s a great way to contribute to your community and keeps people connected.
4. Be Organized and Active
When it comes to being active and organized, the first thing you should do is discuss with stakeholders and try to come up with new community engagement ideas. Once you have new ideas, you can easily create a content calendar. New content should be shared in smaller groups first so you can receive feedback from a lesser audience to evaluate how it’s doing. By staying on top of all your content and being effective on all channels, your reach will grow, bringing in new members each day.
5. Don’t Forget to Have Fun
Last but not least, fun is one of the best practices for community engagement. Community fun should be your secret weapon! Who wants to be part of an organization that isn’t fun? You can increase engagement and gather inspiration from other members on how to do this, or you can do it the traditional way. Hosting competitions and giveaways is always a fun thing to do. Posting memes and jokes that are politically correct is another way to do this. You can provide downloadable resources that your community might find useful as well.
FAQ
Why is member participation so important when it comes to community challenges?
For the whole community to benefit from one another, member participation is key. Members must communicate and share ideas and insights for the community to thrive and overcome challenges.
Why are shared resources fundamental for achieving the best community engagement?
Shared resources are a great community engagement strategy. Resources benefit members by enriching their awareness about your service and product, as well as creating space for more conversation around the brand.
Are these the only best practices for community engagement?
No, there are many more strategies and practices out there; we suggest you do your research and find out which ones fit your brand and image the most.
