The Future of Marketing is... COMMUNITY

Hello community! Welcome to the 4th edition of my monthly newsletter, The Modern Marketer. If you are new here, click SUBSCRIBE to keep receiving notifications and share with friends whom you think would benefit from these insights.

Stay Social, MM

Communities have been forming, evolving and dying consistently since the beginning of time. While “community” may be the latest social media buzzword, it’s become a fundamental part of a strong business and brand. The essentials of how communities begin has always been the same, a group of people who share a common interest come together for a shared purpose. Whether you’re building a community for a tribe, a city, or for a brand, you can use that same social psychology – create a space for people to connect authentically.

This past year community proved its value when traditional ways of connecting were disrupted. People found solace in connecting online. They moved to social media to find safety and validation. They shared their stories, their triumphs, and challenges and found each other. At the same time, many companies and brands had to shift to social media to find ways to engage audiences they never had before. A great example is the Ocean Spray CranRaspberry viral moment last year. Ocean Spray was not present on TikTok but had to join because a viral moment created a community they never even sought – read more about that in The Modern Marketer Newsletter Issue 1.

Today, creating an engaged and thriving community is essential to businesses and brands. It’s more than just bringing together a group of people with a shared interest; it’s bringing together a group of people with a shared passion and purpose.

What I love most about communities is that you can’t growth hack them. They start small and grow organically and eventually build to create a movement. A strong community is grown through authentic connection, one impassioned member at a time. I’ve experienced this myself as I’ve grown this amazing Linkedin community over the past few years (thanks to all of you).

For a brand or marketer, the authentic conversation and dialogue that comes from communities is invaluable. Strong communities inspire brand advocates. They create a powerful group of loyalists that will tell your brand story for you and invites others . There is nothing better than a consumer advocating for your product or service over another’s.

Here are some of my favorite brand communities - brands that have grown through creating a strong and vibrant community:

• Reddit
• Quora
• Morning Brew
• Harley Davidson
• Peloton
• Gymshark
• Glow Recipe
• Disney

What each of these brand communities have in common is that they know what their customers care about and they have empowered their customers to live out those values through a connected brand experience. Building an engaged, active community is not about driving sales or generating leads but building loyalty and connection by meeting consumer’s needs where they are.

Whether it’s through rewards, special events, user-generated content, or brand advocates, the world’s biggest brand communities give their members the tools to bring other like-minded individuals into the brand’s story, the motivation to keep them engaged, and the power to spread the love far and wide.

How will you build community in 2021 and beyond?

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Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter. I also post regularly on branding, marketing, career tips, social media and Linkedin. For more on me, check out my profile or visit kristingallucci.com. I'm also passionate about using social media for good, check out my TED talk.

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