Since its inception, communities have changed significantly in how they function, their roles, and how people perceive them.

Earlier, a community just meant a large group of people following a brand. That was the only metric that mattered. But today, things have changed. Communities play a significant role and are built more strategically so that businesses can achieve their goals faster and better.

In this blog, we will discuss the definition and importance of online communities and much more. So stay tuned.

What Are Online Communities?

An online community is a digital space where people can share their experiences, connect, and interact with like-minded people over a common interest.

The size of such communities has no limit. These can be as big as millions as seen on social media platforms or a closed group of a handful of people.

A great example of an online community would be Mumsnet, created by parents for parents. There are also platforms like Weverse, designed to facilitate interaction between celebrities and their fans. You can also find online communities designed for B2B interactions. For example, Winmark has a platform for its employees to interact with each other.

What is the Importance of an Online Community?

Here are some advantages of creating an online community:

Improves Engagement

Online communities act as platforms for brands, organizations, and individuals where they interact with their audience.

You can get feedback, complaints, and ideas in one place. You can further address the issues of your target consumers and interact with them to make your brand seem more humane.

Increases Trust

A brand or establishment with a more open relationship with its audience eventually gains the trust of its targeted mass.

Here, your audience will get first-hand reviews of the products or services from your existing consumers. Moreover, if you can emulate that you listen to their suggestions and make necessary changes, you will create a loyal community.

Increase in Sales

You can use your community to nurture and create newer prospects for revenue generation. In the case of B2B companies, thought leadership communities can let your prospects know about your authority over the assistance you offer.

A great way to establish authority over a subject would be to start your podcast. For instance, one of our customers, Angie, swapped webinars for private podcasts. It helped her boost her conversions significantly. She sold out her coaching offer in just 3 days after launching.

If you’re curious, book a demo with Hello Audio. Let us show you how we can help you transform your knowledge into engaging podcasts and build a community of active listeners.

What is a Branded Online Community?

As the name suggests, a branded online community is where individuals interested in a particular brand interact. This can start with them liking one product from the brand and lead to them following it religiously altogether.

Nowadays, many brands create social media pages to encourage discussions around them.

The brands would connect their website and other communication channels to encourage re-purchase. You can also add special services and bonuses to your consumers to ensure they join your community.

What is Online Community Management?

In a nutshell, online community management is the procedure of building an authentic community. This space is where customers, employees, and the partners of the brand interact.

By managing a genuine community, a brand makes itself more approachable and humane. This community is a way to express how much they care about their stakeholders, consumers, and team members.

Common Features of Online Communities

You will find the following features in almost all popular online communities.

User Profiles

A community member expects impressive value with extreme ease. Integrating a rich user profile lets them express themselves as industry experts and even build personal brands.

A user profile is also known as single sign-on or SSO. This means your audience can log into their saved items with just a single click. These profiles will also help you to record a member’s preferences and behavior.

Moderation and Administration

Since the crux of online communities lies in user-generated content, you must have a system to moderate its content.

A strict administration would keep members from upsetting sentiments and posting unsavory content. If you do not regularly moderate your community activities, it can lead to you losing members.

Tracking user behavior will let you understand whether you need to upgrade your guidelines.

Membership Rules and Guidelines

You can prevent your members from creating an issue at the very beginning by establishing membership rules and guidelines.

Add all that you do not wish your audience to practice in your guidelines and state the consequences they might face for them as well.

Customization and Personalization

You can also use behavior tracking to create a custom-curated feed for each member. This way, the user will only come across media they are already interested in.

If they keep seeing what they like, they will keep frequenting your community and increase its effectiveness.

Personalizing content for your members also makes them feel you care for them. Such feelings lead to becoming loyal consumers who might also relay your brand’s name to others.

About 71% of customers want a personalized experience from the brand, and 76% are frustrated when their wants are not met.

Community Engagement Tools

What is an online community if not a space for people to engage and interact? You will lose members if you fail to make the interaction process smooth.

Hence, the platform you choose for your community must have all the tools your audience might need.

Integration with Other Platforms

You can only offer the most value to your audience when you integrate your community with robust platforms.

Proper support will ensure a seamless engagement process if you use multiple channels for your online community. You can further integrate your CRM to record interactions and revert to unanswered questions more promptly.

4 Different Types of Online Communities

These are the four primary types of online communities you will come across on the internet. 

1. Knowledge and Learning Communities

Such communities are ideal for organizations that rely on information and knowledge-based content.

If you are a coach, own a training company, a thought leader, etc., you would want to create a knowledge community. You can discuss tips, how-tos, and other insights with your audience who have similar interests.

As a brand, you can also create a learning community to add depth to your product and services. Create content offering a glimpse at the research process of your products or give insightful information on how to use them, the benefits, etc.

2. Brand or Company Communities

If your brand does not require too much in-depth knowledge, a company community will be more suitable for you.

Develop content hyping up your product or services and make your audience create a buzz around it. Such communities are great to increase the popularity of your products as well as get first-hand feedback.

These communities make your customers feel that they are also a part of your team, treading through the process of product development.

3. Membership-Based Communities

Membership-based communities bring people belonging to similar professions or ideologies together. It takes the essence of communities a little too seriously, prompting innovative and collaborative practices.

The membership process also creates a sense of exclusivity. STEM organizations tend to use such communities to bring brilliant minds together to develop remarkable ideas.

4. Social Media Communities

This has to be the most popular among the four kinds of communities discussed here. With over 4.9 billion people using social media platforms, there has been a significant hike in the number of social media communities present. Here’s why it’s so popular:

• Social media communities are great for brands to actively interact with their audience and directly address their queries or complaints to build trust.
• They are a powerful tool for individuals to promote their work and build an audience without spending a dime on ads.
• They are easier to establish and have less stringent rules, making it easier for people to join.

No matter which kind of online community you want to create, you need the right content. With today’s fast-paced lifestyle, everyone is rushing somewhere. They mostly don’t have the time or patience to sit and read or watch your content. Therefore, create something that they can engage with while doing whatever work they have at hand, like Podcasts.

Even better, use Hello Audio to create private podcasts from your existing content instead of public ones. You’ll be able to expand to a targeted audience without the effort of creating fresh content. Sign up for a free trial or get an instant demo and see how we can help you. No credit card is required.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Communities

Like most marketing tactics, creating an online community has pros and cons. Hence, we suggest you read the following before making your final decision.

What Are Some Positive Aspects of an Online Community?

Some great aspects of an online community are:

Creates Genuine Connections

People enjoy being surrounded by like-minded individuals, and a community is exactly that. This creates a space for employees, customers, and companies to interact with each other more closely, creating a special bond.

Lowered Support Expenses 

You will be able to resolve most customer issues in the community itself. You are hardly spending any extra buck on the interaction. However, a personal response from a company member can make the customer feel important.

Improves Customer Lifetime Value

As the cost of acquiring new customers is rising, brands are always looking for new ways to retain the old ones. Since you create deeper connections with your consumers in an online community, they remain loyal.

Diminishes Networking Barriers 

Your community operates on your rules. So, you can manage its elements to ensure you effectively network with the right people. Networking becomes even better because your community is essentially a group of individuals sharing a common interest.

What is a Negative Part of Being in an Online Community?

Being in an online can also have issues such as:

Toxic Encounters

People tend to become more confident behind their screens under the shroud of anonymity. If not regulated properly, a community may harbor individuals with toxic ideologies that they relay further to other members.

Getting Misinformed

Not everyone on the internet is an expert, but the easy access to information has made people believe otherwise. Since the foundation of communities is built on trust, you are more likely to believe another member.

But there is no guarantee that the information you received is legitimate.

Privacy Issues

You mustn’t share more than necessary information about yourself in a community. Not everyone has your best interest at heart. Some people wait for such opportunities to breach your privacy and cause inconvenience.

So, when you create an online community for your brand, ensure such instances do not take place.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The following are some frequent queries people tend to have once they have learned what is an online community.

What is the Goal of an Online Community?

There is no set goal for an online community. The end goal can vary depending on the type and size of a community. However, usually, the goals are to communicate, inform, co-create, educate, entertain, and support.

How Are Social Media Communities Formed?

Social media communities are formed when like-minded people connect over a shared interest. Brands can build such communities by selecting a topic that is either relevant or related to it.

What Are the Rules of Joining an Online Community?

There is only one rule to joining an online community: to have the same interests as the members of that community. However, if your choice of community is membership-based, then you can have regulations specific to that community.

How Can Businesses Benefit From The Creation of Online and Offline Communities?

Creating a community around your brand brings individuals interested in your products or services to one place. Here, you can engage with them and even offer better customer support. Creating a sense of importance in them increases their long-term value and improves sales.

Conclusion

The current way of living has isolated people from many group activities. Online communities have provided such individuals with a sense of belonging.

You can create such spaces around your company and leverage that idea of solidarity. Want to go one step ahead? Improve your brand’s market positioning by creating a private podcast community. It can even increase your sales, customer loyalty, and retention. However, you should have a proper plan before you dabble into this.

If you already have a library of existing materials, use Hello Audio to repurpose your video and audio content and create engaging podcasts to support your community-building efforts. Here’s where you can sign up for a free trial.