the top 4 brand community crimes

okay, ‘crimes’ is a bit of a stretch - they’re not actually illegal. maybe they should be though, because the four points we’re about to cover will kill your brand community faster than you can say ‘community manager’.

and they’re actually really common, because most brands don’t know how to operate an online brand community.

crime #1 - not having a plan

more and more brands have realized that communities have value, but they don’t actually know why. they’re just jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else is doing it. a brand community is a key asset, but building it is a heavy investment for everyone involved. it’s like a secondary service your brand offers, and you need to treat it as such.

just like a product or service, you need to have a clear value proposition, and a plan for how you’re going to continuously deliver that value. often, it is simply a variation of their product’s value prop, perhaps with an additional layer of social interaction. either way, you need a reason for community members to stick around, and you need to deliver on that reason.

there’s a lot to plan before starting a community. everything from the value proposition and target audience, to the selection of a platform and the type of content and events you’re going to create. and yet, most brands just skip this essential step, and jump straight into it.

so they don’t have a plan, they don’t know what they’re doing, and they don’t know how to measure success. nor do they know how much resources they need to dedicate to the community to make it functional (see crime #3). overall, not a good combo!

after all, your community needs to have a solid offering, or else your members will allocate their time elsewhere. hell, they could be watching netflix, or going for a walk, instead of engaging with your brand community.

crime #2 - using the wrong platform

there are two simple rules for choosing a platform for your brand community:

go where your audience already is, or where they want to be.
use a platform that fits your desired community topology.

the first rule is simple. if your audience is on facebook, create a facebook group. if you have a younger audience, maybe you should create a discord server. if you have a professional audience, maybe you should create a slack workspace.

the second rule is a bit more complicated. the platform you choose will dictate the type of community you can create. the most important part is how the platform enables communication between you and your members, and how it forms the content you can distribute in it.

for example, a twitter account or a tiktok profile allows you to create content that your audience can engage with. they can comment, share and repost, but it’s not really a direct two-way communication like a discord server or a slack workspace. it’s also not that easy for your members to find and engage with each other. of course they can see each other’s comments, but it’s not the same as a chatroom or a server where they can talk to each other directly.

this also has to do with the topology being open and diffuse, rather than closed and defined. a tiktok audience is very open, since your posts can find its way into the feed of anyone on the platform. a discord server, on the other hand, is closed, since you need an invite link to join, and you can’t see the content unless you’re actually in it.

if we really dive into it, there are more considerations to make when choosing a platform. if it’s important for your community to facilitate communication between members, you should choose a platform that enables that. or, you may want to have a platform where you can:

track engagement and activity
create events, polls and surveys
highlight and reward active members
give vip access to certain members
monetize the community access, etc.

you don’t want to force a community into a platform where it doesn’t belong. if you choose the wrong platform, you’re going to have a hard time creating the type of community you want, and you will not be able to grow it to its full potential. the platform matters!

crime #3 - not dedicating enough resources

a key aspect of a brand community, is that it allows your members to engage with you. not just your brand, but you and your team. if you just create a space for your customers, but don’t have anyone there to engage with them, it’s not a community. you need to dedicate resources to the community, and ensure that you or your team are there to engage with the members.

communities have a ‘cold-start problem’, where it’s hard to get the first members to engage. most community members have an easier time starting to engage if they can see other members being active, or if they have events, polls, or content to engage with.

so when you first start a community, it’s going to be empty, and you are the only one there to entertain your first members. if you have a pre-existing brand with a nicely-sized audience, you can leverage that to get the community started. but you still need to be there to engage with the first members and spark that initial activity.

and the best way to do that is to create content and events that engage the members. most businesses underestimate the amount of resources needed to run a community, and it’s a common reason why they fail. you need to do events, polls, surveys, and create content that engages the members. being there is really important (see crime #4), but making content and planning events is crucial.

if you don’t have the resources to dedicate to the community, you’re better off not starting one at all. don’t underestimate the amount of resources needed to create and sustain activity in a community.

crime #4 - not committing to it

building and growing a brand community is an eternal uphill battle. in a sysiphean way, you’ll always have to push the rock up the hill. you and your team are the only ones who can keep creating value for your community members and ensure its survival.

so one thing is dedicating enough resources to the community on paper, but another is actually being active and running it. every single day. you will get to stages where it feels like it runs itself. and you can take a day off every now and then. but you can never fully let go of the wheel. your brand community will die if you do.

remember that your core community members are there because they like you and your brand. they can create relationships with each other that can sustain the community for a while, but they’re there because of you. so if you’re not there, they will notice.

plenty of companies have started communities that eventually fizzle out as they stop showing up. even if it is a fan-run brand community, the community creators have so much credibility and influence, that they need to be there to keep it alive.

you, your team and your brand is the glue of the community. so even if you dedicate resources to the community, put in some community managers, you still need to show up. this is perhaps the most important point if you are a creator, influencer, streamer, or have another type of personal brand revolving around you.

the transparency and authenticity that comes from this is what builds trust and loyalty. your customers will feel special if they’re able to talk and engage with you directly, rather than just a faceless brand, an email support system, or a chatbot.

tl;dr

alright, so we’ve gone through the most common community mistakes (in no particular order). the key takeaway is that you need to dedicate yourself to your brand community. you need to have a plan for it, choose the correct platform and topology, and then you need to be there every single day, to continuously create engagement and reasons for the members to stick around.

if you want to learn how to do it the right way, our guide will help you.