What Is Community Marketing?
Community-based marketing – when a brand speaks directly to its community – is all around us, especially with the ubiquity of social media platforms.
Online communities offer forums in which consumers can get their questions answered, share ideas, and plug into a brand in a more meaningful way than is often possible in real-life interactions. Customers who feel part of a brand's community are more likely to become loyal, long-term buyers. Brands can practice community marketing on their own web and social media platforms or by joining related communities and networks within their industry.
Community is defined as a group of people living together or sharing a particular interest or characteristic. But when it comes to locally-oriented community marketing, businesses must consider both sides of that “or.”
Community-based marketing is one thing to larger companies, especially those whose products or services are sold solely online, and different for the smaller, independent businessperson whose livelihood depends on customers entering a physical storefront. Such local businesses can and should leverage community-driven marketing, even if coming at it from a different angle.
Localize Your Website
Your website is one of the first places where customers and potential customers might interact with your brand. A quality website lends legitimacy to a business, which is important when potential customers are searching online for a provider.
There are simple several hosting services that enable small businesses to build websites with just a few clicks – and to easily expand and modify their sites as the business grows and evolves.
To optimize a website for the local community, include keywords and phrases derived from SEO research and search engine analytics tools, some of which are free, on your website. The city and state are important, but also consider identifying terms, such as regional nicknames, local landmarks, and even products the area is known for.
It’s also a good idea to improve your website’s local ranking on the search engines your customers are likely to use. Ensuring that your profile information is accurate, complete, and engaging maximizes the chances your business will show up in relevant local searches.
Build a Social Media Presence
Social media is a big driver of community. Your business website should include buttons that make it easy for people to reach your social media sites, just as your social media presence should direct people to your website.
Especially if resources are limited, it’s important to determine where your core audience spends most of its time online. To start, you should focus efforts on the one(s) that your business’s customers and potential customers frequent most.
In community-based marketing, brands speak directly to customers. If you’re looking to breathe new life into your local business, start with new strategies to build community.
No matter the social media platform, ensure that business profiles are up to date with the latest information about where your business can be found and how people can contact you. You can also use localized advertising and tools like Facebook Events to promote local events. Make sure to share the event with friends and followers.
To manifest a community spirit – and not a self-serving agenda – engage with other social accounts your customers are likely to follow. For example, if you own a clothing boutique that sells vintage clothes, like and engage with fashion influencers in your customers’ demographic.
Engage Consistently
Once you've established an online presence with a website and social media profiles, it’s time to engage and build your local community. This can be done in several ways, but the goal is to create a kind of self-sustaining group whose members build on the content and conversations you develop – inspiring people to continue to gravitate toward your business.
For example, let’s say a small business makes and sells bottled balsamic vinegar in a variety of flavors. In the store, the business could prominently display signs promoting its social media handles. It could also offer a certain percentage off a bottle of vinegar to anyone who shows proof of liking or following any of its social media pages.
On its social media platforms, the business could list the flavors of vinegar currently offered and ask people to comment and suggest the next new flavor to try to win a free bottle of vinegar. The business could post recipes using the vinegar and invite customers to share pictures of their own recipes, then host an in-person potluck or tasting event based around the recipes.
In fact, the in-person component of community-driven marketing is key to breathing life into your local business.
Once the community gets going, consider hosting regular events on-site. You could extend the local community marketing strategy effect even further – and do some good along the way – by donating the event's proceeds to a local charity. Be sure to let local media know about your events. Any content they produce will likely provide you with backlinks, which help SEO, and social media mentions. Of course, you'll want to share that content on your social channels too.
There’s really no end to the conversations that can be started and fueled by a business's relationship to its community.
The Takeaway
Community-based marketing has become key to driving new business and retaining existing customers. Local community marketing, however, requires a specific approach. Companies should optimize their website and social media presence for localization, but also find a way to link the online community to their physical business if they have one.
