Establish a brand community
A brand community is an online space where customers, often connected by shared interests or brand loyalty, engage with your brand and each other. In this video, you’ll learn the concept of a brand community and key action steps to establish your community's tone and voice.
Identify your target audience
Next, it’s important to identify your target audience. As a best practice, encourage your most active customers to join your community. These customers may become active participants, driving discussion and audience engagement.
To identify your most active customers, there are 2 types of segments you can create to start off strong with an active community:
Engaged customers
An engaged segment includes anyone who opened or clicked an email at least once recently, thus showing that they are interested in hearing from your brand. Here are 3 variations of an engaged segment that we recommend in Klaviyo:
- Engaged (30 days) - as shown in the image below.
- Engaged (60 days)
- Engaged (90 days)
Need support creating your engaged segment? Check out how to create a 30-day engaged segment in Klaviyo.
VIP customers
A VIP segment groups loyal customers based on their distinct characteristics and behaviors that you determine to meet VIP status. There are 3 primary VIP segments you can create based on RFM data (recency, frequency, monetary value):
- Big spenders
Customers who purchase at a high monetary value. - Frequent purchasers
Customers who purchase often and recently, but don't spend as much as your big spenders. - Blended
Customers who purchase often, recently, and at a high monetary value.
For step-by-step instructions, bookmark how to create a segment of VIP customers.
Where to host your community?
Once you solidify your vision, your community needs a home or a solid base where customers can interact with you and each other. You can choose to host your community on your ecommerce website, on a separate webpage, or in a physical location.
Take Beantown Coffee as an example. Through enacting innovative strategies and collaborating with their most loyal customers, Beantown has built a dynamic community hub where they nurture relationships and customers feel supported. Plus, thanks to in-person events, their brick-and-mortar coffee shop is now a beloved local gathering place.
Like Beantown, there are a few options for you to host your community. Let’s take a look at 3 common options so you can determine the best one for your brand.
Use your website
Start with your ecommerce website. Create a separate area, along with your homepage and catalog, that is specific to your brand community. For instance, you may build:
A blog
Use this as your brand’s online journal where you can:
- Write regular posts about new or trending products.
- Feature articles written by experts in your field.
- Share customer stories that highlight their positive experience with your brand.
For example, if you sell baby products, let your customers share their experience through pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenthood.
Community forums
Hosting a forum can be a cost-effective support resource for your business. It allows you to create a space to:
- Address customer service issues and offer technical support.
- Promote new or best selling products or services with links to buy.
- Direct potential purchasers to 5-star customer reviews that may entice them to shop.
If you create a forum for your community, you’ll have to decide who on your team will moderate the forum and how actively you will do so.
Connect on social media
Next, consider using social media in addition to your website. For example, encourage customers to join an exclusive Facebook brand community. Let’s walk through how.
Facebook groups
While your brand’s main Facebook page is important, people are increasingly turning to groups for relevant, familiar content. They are reliable hubs that let you:
- Provide public or private spaces for conversation.
- Post exclusive promotions for specific audiences.
- Collect feedback from group members.
Best practices
Here are some tips to set you up for success:
- Create interesting and useful video or imagery that promotes community and exclusivity.
- Use community chats, feed channels, and at mention (e.g., using @) to help you start conversations, ask questions, build connections, and create a self-sustaining community.
- Moderate your group so everyone feels safe, welcome, and included.
- Encourage customers to check out your blog or community forums for more articles, recommendations, and insider best practices.
Note
You can likewise integrate Facebook Advertising with Klaviyo so that you can advertise to key audience segments within Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
Host local meetups
Whether you choose to host your community on your website and/or within social media groups, you can also expand to in-person events.
Local meetups
While local meetups might not be feasible for every brand, there are a few benefits to meeting your customers in person. You can:
- Share your brand story first-hand.
- Create a fun space where customers can enjoy your product or service while raving about your brand.
You should tailor local meetups to your business. You may host events at your physical store location or consider partnering with other businesses to co-host.
Examples of these locations:
- Bookstores
Host book clubs. - Eyewear company
Host free or discounted eye exams. - Food or beverage companies Host tasting events.
- Home and garden company
Host enthusiastic community members to meet and discuss their techniques.
Tip
Promote your local meetups using targeted campaigns to local segments of customers, in forms on your website, or with call-outs on your Facebook group
Tip
Regardless of the platform you choose to host your brand community, remember to listen to your customers. People want to know that you value their feedback.
- Read their stories and experiences.
- Share these stories and experiences within blogs, community, or Facebook groups.
- Respond whenever possible to improve their overall customer experience.
Best practices for running a brand community
Let’s review a few essential best practices to cultivate a thriving brand community. That way, you can build a space where loyalty, advocacy, and meaningful interactions blossom.
Promote your brand community with Klaviyo
It is crucial that you spread the word about your brand community among customers and subscribers. Here are a few ways to do so:
- Campaigns
Create a targeted campaign that encourages your subscribers to check out your blog, ask questions on your community forum, or join your Facebook group. Target your engaged and VIP segments, as well as new subscribers.
- Flows
The welcome series flow is the perfect place to introduce new subscribers to your brand community. Welcome community members warmly, point out perks of being part of the community, and let them know that you can’t wait to hear from them!
Create exclusive perks for community members
Create perks for members of your brand community to provide clear benefits to membership. For instance, you can:
- Host special events (e.g., invite them to the grand opening of a pop-up store, or lead a member only in-person event).
- Offer exclusive sales or member-specific discount codes.
- Highlight member only promotions (e.g., buy one, get one deals or free gift with a purchase).
Your brand community members are your VIPs, so treat them as such by offering perks and discounts created exclusively for them.
Run a contest to generate user content
User-generated content (UGC) is a valuable marketing resource when building your brand community. A 5-star customer review or video of a brand enthusiast using your product is worth more than a thousand words.
Host a contest to collect a video, photo, or post to encourage community members to create UGC. Here are a few ways to encourage participation:
- Use Klaviyo forms or subscribe pages to run a contest and share it on social media.
- Encourage your customers to create UGC by including a call-to-action (CTA) in your emails, letting them know that you want to hear from them, see videos of them using your products, and read posts about your brand.
- Encourage customers to create UGC in a Klaviyo product review flow or post-purchase flow.
Tip
Build a contest entry welcome flow to retain your customers after they submit their contest entries.
Encourage social sharing
Encourage your most engaged customers to share on social media. Let’s take a look at how you can accomplish social sharing:
- Include social links in your email templates
Make it easy to share by incorporating social links in your non-transactional emails. You can easily accomplish this by embedding social links in your base email templates. Be sure to only link to your most active social media accounts.
- Include hashtags in email banners
Everyone loves a clever hashtag! A catchy hashtag can help your brand get discovered; helping you become part of a larger conversation around topics related to your business. Consider using a brand-consistent logo across Meta (formally known as Facebook), Instagram, and X (formally known as Twitter) and feature your hashtag logo in campaign or flow emails.
- Encourage customers to tag your brand
Social media users are always looking for ways to increase visibility and engagement amongst their followers and the brands they love.
If you are a business with a small social media presence, consider a photo submission contest to give prizes away to a select few that tag your business. Then, continue interacting with contestants by liking or commenting on related posts to help you strengthen loyalty and grow your following.
For businesses with a larger following, a photo or video submission contest can serve as a way to encourage user generated content. You can offer winners the opportunity to be featured and tagged on the official brand page along with receiving a small gift.
- Encourage customers to re-share posts, tweets, and reels
Similar to a brand reposting a customer's posts, you can motivate customers to re-share your content through giveaways, contests, or limited social media promotions. When followers repost your content on social media, it helps you reach a wider, more diverse audience and potential customers.
Give back to your community
One of the best ways to build your community is by giving back to people and organizations that need assistance. Some organizations are able to donate money and resources. Others may be unable to donate financially, but can donate their time by volunteering.
Here are some common ways to give back to your local community:
- Donate resources or a percentage of your sales
Social responsibility is a strong thread connecting your brand community. Donating a percentage of your profits is a testament to your values. This is a great way to connect to causes that community members value and demonstrate a shared commitment to social responsibility. For example, during a time of crisis in your wider community, many businesses donate to relief funds or related initiatives.
- Set up a donation link on your website
Add a donation link to your website for a charity that speaks to you and your brand community.
- Organize volunteer efforts
Host a volunteer day among your employees and share it with your community. For example:
- Volunteer at an Earth Day event.
- Host a clean-up day at a local park.
- Sponsor a local children’s organization or team.
- Endorse a worthy cause like the Special Olympics or Race for the Cure.