Our blog is full of useful tips, tricks and information on how to build a brand community – but today, we’re taking it back to basics.

As the country continues to adapt to ‘the rule of 6’, we thought we’d introduce you to our own rule of 6 by offering up our 6 fundamental principles for building a brand community.

Today’s post isn’t about getting into the nitty gritty. Instead, we’re giving you the key factors that should always be at the forefront of your approach when curating a brand identity that has your customers at its heart.

Champion authenticity

Authenticity and transparency go hand in hand.

To establish a genuine relationship between customer and brand, look to champion these core values at each and every opportunity. Whether it’s in the content you produce or the way in which you interact with your audience, the way your brand operates within its community should encompass your core values in order to stay true to your brand identity.

Keep your brand voice consistent

If you’re championing authenticity in the way you present your brand to your community, you’ll find that a powerful brand voice begins to emerge.

Keeping this consistent at all times is critical to successful community management. Why? It helps define your brand in a way that’s unique and instantly recognisable. Better yet, it’s one of the most effective ways of communicating your brand’s values in a transparent and authentic way – meaning pinning down your defined brand voice ticks two of these boxes in one fell swoop.

Be persistent with engagement

It should go without saying that regular engagement is important to keeping your community, well, engaged.

With that in mind, look to check in on your brand community regularly. Whether it’s reaching out on your social platforms or getting involved in the conversations on your community engagement platform, knowing where your community congregates online and making sure you’re visible on those platforms will help you to keep your audience more engaged for longer. 

Listen to your community

Engagement isn’t just about interaction. 

On the contrary, if you’re only interacting with generic responses or duplicated ideas, your audience is going to see right through it. As we’ve already touched on, authenticity is key to making your audience feel valued, so ensure you’re listening to what your community has to say.

Of course, listening is all well and good, but this alone won’t cut the mustard. As such, make sure you’re acting on all customer feedback and adding genuine value to any conversations in order to show your audience their opinions matter. This will help you to build a more powerful brand community by better understanding the wants, needs and expectations of your audience.

Appreciate your audience

Your audience is the very essence of your brand community. 

As such, showing your appreciation for members of your audience is a great way of illustrating their value and keeping them engaged.

This doesn’t have to be a mammoth task, either. Whether it’s welcoming new members or championing your regular contributors, it’s all about making your audience feel valued.

Do this correctly, and you may even see your community members become brand ambassadors. 

Explore new methods of engagement

To keep your community engaged, there needs to be an element of innovation. 

Fear not – this doesn’t mean wacky experiments and out-the-box inventions. Instead, you can simply look to vary your content types in order to keep social pages and community engagement platforms fresh and interesting.

From videos and how-to guides to news updates and giveaways, there are options galore when it comes to keeping your community on their toes.

While the government’s rule of 6 is hopefully not here to stay, our rule of 6 is sure to help you build a successful brand community now and well into the future. For more information on how our community engagement platform can help you on your way, get in touch to request your free demo today.