One of the most important – but often overlooked – marketing strategies for e-commerce businesses is “Community Marketing.”
Put simply, community marketing is all about building and cultivating a natural community around your product or service – and often this community becomes you best method for ensuring repeat purchases as well new connections with other ideal customers. A raving fan can “sell” your brand to others in a more authentic way than any other form of advertisement.
While community marketing is an effective strategy you should consider adding to you marketing plans, it isn’t easy or quick. However, there are steps you can take to ensure you’re growing your community marketing while also pursuing other forms of advertising.
Here are 4 tips your e-commerce brand can use to start or improve your community marketing today:
1. Reward Community Participation
Even though your business is done online, you still want to create a human connection and engagement with your community, especially those customers who have been most excited to work with your brand, have bought from your company multiple times, or have achieved impressive results with your offer.
Even e-commerce businesses run by lean teams or solopreneurs can benefit by making time to communicate directly with their best customers. A quick back-and-forth exchange with the company’s founder can make a customer feel like they’re part of your brand’s journey, and that sense of connection can make it more likely that they will share your story with others.
2. Discover & Provide What Your Community Wants
Community marketing is all about learning what your ideal customers really, really want. If your brand hasn’t yet generated a community, start thinking deeply about why people might want to be loyal customers to your brand and connect with other users.
You’ll probably have to go through a process of experimentation with your content, but you’ll want to pay attention to what resonates and double down on what works. You might even want to directly ask your best customers what else they might need to succeed with your offers. For example, a cosmetics brand might want to provide tutorials for their products and/or branch out into complementary skincare or hair styling offers.
Ultimately, it’s all about what your brand can do to provide the most value for your growing community so that they’ll want to spread the word, which thus helps your community grow.
3. Give Your Community Exclusive Access 
Everyone likes to feel special. You can let your community know how special they are to your brand by offering them exclusive access to new products, additional features, or special sales.
For example, you might want to re-create your best-selling product in a new, special color that’s only available to your best customers. They’ll feel as though they belong to an exclusive club, which can help not only drive their sense of brand loyalty but also encourage them to serve as de facto ambassadors for your brand.
4. Facilitate Community Connections
What is the commonality that your ideal customers share, and how can your brand be the facilitator of a valuable community around that trait?
For example, if your brand sells baby items, you could create a special forum just for new parents. They could come together in a safe environment to share their struggles and learn from other new parents, possibly even forming friendships and play dates for their children.
There is an intrinsic value for people with common interests to meet, connect, and share with each other – plus it provides just another opportunity to let your customers know what new and additional offers your company might be able to provide.
Does your e-commerce business need a better marketing strategy? If you want to optimize your digital marketing campaigns with unique solutions for your business, schedule a quick conversation with our expert team here at JXT Group. Just give us a call at 718-690-730 or fill out our online contact form with your information.
