Why is an effective brand community important?
Brand communities can be useful for the customers as well as for brands. Here's how:
Your customers get to come together to talk about topics relevant to the products you sell (like a sportswear brand would have its community talking about fitness), ask questions about your products, and feel a sense of belonging. This makes them feel more connected to your brand.
As a brand, you get to host exclusive events, giveaways, and offers. You get instant feedback from the members of your brand community about how they feel about your products. You can use these insights to make improvements. What’s more, when customers feel connected to your brand, they’re likely to trust you more and continue to shop from you, increasing brand loyalty and conversions.
How can a brand community help in building brand loyalty?
Brand communities foster brand loyalty by providing a platform for customers to engage with each other and the brand, creating a sense of belonging and emotional connection. This interaction builds trust, encourages repeat purchases, and turns customers into brand advocates who spread positive word-of-mouth.
In this blog, we’ll dive into 10 great examples of brand communities built by ecommerce companies and how they’ve been set up so that you can draw inspiration for yours.
10 ecommerce brand community examples and how they’ve set them up
Lululemon
Lululemon is an athletic apparel brand known for its chic styles and innovation in developing unique fabrics, like compression and moisture-wicking designs.
Lululemon offers a membership for its new customers through its app. Members can access perks like early product drops, easy returns, and free hemming.
But, the brand best harnesses its community with unique events, experiences, and classes. These range from record-breaking events like an ultramarathon for Women’s Day to group workouts at Lululemon’s partner studios like Peloton.
FreshChile
Fresh Chile Co. is a family-run brand with an extensive line of unique sauces to elevate any meal.
The brand has a Facebook group which functions like an online forum exclusively for their customers to share how they use the sauces. With a community of more than 29K members, the group is buzzing with recipes and tips on how to use the sauces in different ways. The brand's community managers are maintaining the group pretty well and keeping it active by commenting on posts from members and even sharing posts that put a spotlight on member-developed recipes.
Purple Mattress
Purple is a mattress brand founded by 2 founders, with a mission to develop the best mattress that allows people to sleep right.
While the brand has a highly responsive customer support team, its shoppers also have the option of speaking to users of their products. The subreddit r/LifeOnPurple lets anyone ask questions about the products, compare them, and even figure out which one is right for them. This creates a very strong brand image and going through the reddit thread also helps them collect customer feedback, and valuable insights which they can implement to further improve customer experience.
DRMTLGY
DRMTLGY is a medical-grade skincare brand that uses science to develop effective products for every skin type, tone, and gender.
They have a Facebook group called DRMTLGY Community with 96K members. Here, shoppers can ask questions about skincare, ingredients, and skincare routines, as well as understand more about the brand's products. This works as a powerful tool to increase community engagement and improve the brand's social relationships.
Kitsch
Kitsch is a haircare brand founded in 2010 when the founder would sell hair accessories door-to-door. Today, the brand is known for its sustainable practices as it sells products that let people take better care of their hair.
Kitsch has a Facebook group that allows women to talk about the products they've bought, share feedback, and ask questions about haircare and the brand's products. With 41.7K members, the community is a great way for the brand to learn more about its customers' needs.
What's more, the brand continuously engages with its members, like giving access to test new products before they launch, hosting giveaways, and giving exclusive offers.
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson is one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers, with a legacy worldwide. The brand has owner clubs and events worldwide that host its loyal following.
The brand's community exists within an exclusive app where members can track their rides, talk to other Harley owners through the social feed, and discover and create events like a Sunday ride. This creates a sense of community between a group of people and the brand. The brand also has a rewards program where owners get additional perks like roadside assistance, a subscription to the brand's lifestyle magazine, and even entry into the Harley-Davidson Museums.
LEGO
LEGO sells plastic construction toys with a distinct interlocking design that appeals to both kids and adults. The brand has innovated vastly since it began in 1949, selling everything from a car model to a stadium.
LEGO has a thriving brand community of active participants on Reddit that is built by fans of the brand. On r/LEGO, people can share their creations, show their collectibles, discuss launches, and ask questions.
But, the brand’s community efforts are much more impressive. They’ve set up different kinds of initiatives over the years:
- LEGO Life is an app where kids can be creative and social, sharing their LEGO creations and safely engaging with other LEGO creators, especially since they are kids.
- LEGO Education has designed a learning curriculum that is engaging and allows kids to pick up real-world skills like computer science, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
- LEGO Ideas allows users to share their creations, submit ideas, and participate in activities. Through this, LEGO fans aren’t just showing off their creativity but also getting to be a part of developing new products.
This way, the brand gets to tap into different interests of its target audience and offer different ways to get involved with the brand, like engaging with other creators socially, sharing their creations through challenges, etc. LEGO’s learning initiatives especially show how they champion curiosity and creativity.
GoPro
GoPro was the first brand that developed and launched action cameras. Besides their innovation, the brand is known for its social media presence, especially on Instagram which often feels like a scrapbook of the users’ GoPro footage from their adventures.
GoPro reshares videos that users take of their real world adventures, from skydiving to water sports to travels across different countries. Besides resharing videos posted by their users, GoPro also has a series called 'Photo of the Day' where they share an image taken on a GoPro by a user.
They also leverage its branded hashtag so that anyone can browse through new content shared by users, all in one place.
Sephora
Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products with nearly 340 brands. Sephora's success comes from its priority to deliver exceptional customer service and community experience.
Being an aggregator and one of the first of its kind allowed Sephora to build its authority with a community called Beauty Insider. The community looks like a forum page, making it easy to access. Members can ask questions about beauty tips, earn badges based on their engagement, join dedicated groups like skincare, hauls, fragrances, etc, and post pictures.
Sephora's beauty insider community has more than 28K members, and it clearly shows that the brand knows how to effectively engage its shoppers and build brand awareness.
Adidas
Adidas is the second-largest sportswear brand in the world.
Adidas engages its customer base across the world through running. They have an app where users can track and log their runs, participate in community challenges, follow other runners, and even attend virtual events.
Most major cities have an Adidas crew that hosts in-person run clubs. The crew consists of community members who keep the city-based community alive. In return, they get access to exclusive offers and early access to products for their dedication to keeping the run club active.
The brand also hosts global community events like ‘Runners Week’ during which the brand hosts informative workshops, panel discussions, and collaborative sessions.
Create a brand community that customers value and are eager to spend time in
Brand communities don’t have to look a certain way but they do have one thing in common— creating connection among its members. It can be an in-person community, an online brand community, an event, or just a forum.
There’s no doubt that communities are an effective marketing strategy to engage with your audience and create value for them in a way that increases customer loyalty.
With the countless options that online shopping provides, brands need to find ways to increase loyalty among their customers so that they can stay relevant and sustain growth. Besides community building, another way to do this is with loyalty programs.
With a Shopify app like Rivo, you can create a loyalty program that rewards your shoppers for buying from you and engaging with your brand. Many brands have successfully set up loyalty programs that help them increase repurchases and build a better emotional connection with their shoppers.
Install Rivo to set up a loyalty program that improves your relationship with your customers.
