The importance of building social media communities in 2024
Discover a key marketing trend for 2024 as social media communities become more prominent. Uncover strategies to nurture your community, measure success, and adapt to the ever-evolving digital landscape. Unlock the power of social media communities in 2024.
Table of Contents
Anticipated marketing trends for 2024 are now emerging, with social media communities taking the forefront. While this trend has been on the rise for a few years, it’s set to become even more influential in digital marketing strategies in 2024. A notable example is Instagram’s recent introduction of Broadcasts, a feature that’s reshaping the landscape.
Building a Community on Social Media: The Stats
In an era where businesses are vying for attention on social media, it’s crucial to distinguish yourself and encourage customer engagement. Consider this: the average user averages only 12 likes, 5 comments, and 1 share on Facebook each month, so it’s key to make sure your content is worth their engagement.
Influencers are pivotal, influencing nearly half of consumers’ buying decisions, and remarkably, approximately 80% of consumers have made purchases based on influencer recommendations. And, to throw a spanner in the works, an ‘influencer’ doesn’t need to be someone with a large following. Influencers can simply be people who influence purchase decisions which could, quite simply, be your existing customers which is where social media communities matter.
Why Do Social Media Communities Matter?
From a business perspective, cultivating communities through social media platforms can fortify customer relationships, elevate overall engagement, and, subsequently, result in increased conversions and return on investment.
Ultimately, building a community via social media empowers customers to feel part of something greater than themselves. Leading brands such as Nike, Starbucks, and Sephora have exemplified this by establishing highly successful social communities.
The Impact on Content Strategy
When incorporating social communities into your marketing strategy, it’s essential to craft the methods for achieving this goal. Leveraging techniques like user-generated content (UGC) and involving your customers in important decisions or polls is a key aspect. Yet, for many, the prospect of UGC can be intimidating, particularly when there isn’t already an engaged audience.
So, here’s some tips on how you can build more UGC to really bring your social community to life:
- Your existing data is your friend. Send an e-mail out to customers who have recently purchased from you encouraging them to share their products via social media.
- Adopt a branded hashtag. This can be used at campaign level or a broad brand hashtag. You can also use this on your existing collateral to encourage use.
- Feature UGC on your website. Feed your branded hashtag into your website to expose this further.
- Collaborate with influencers and micro-influencers.
- Engage in interactive storytelling. Create interactive stories on platforms like Instagram and Facebook that invite users to participate.
Stay Ahead of Algorithm Changes
Building a social community offers other benefits beyond immediate advantages, such as staying ahead of the curve when algorithm changes occur. These communities provide brands and individuals with a dedicated and engaged audience. As algorithms shift to prioritise content that achieves active user engagement and interactions, having a loyal community already in place can significantly amplify the reach and impact of your posts.
Communities also serve as spaces for real-time feedback and discussion, enabling content creators to swiftly adapt their strategies in response to algorithmic changes. By fostering discussions, UGC, and ongoing participation, these communities act as a safeguard against the uncertainty of evolving algorithms, ensuring that a brand’s message continues to resonate with its core audience.
Other channels outside of social media have already started to build their algorithm around the audiences’ needs. Google’s E-E-A-T update focuses on building content that engages and resonates with audiences. It’s clear that this marketing shift is already starting to happen, so we expect this to become more prominent on social media too.
How Are Social Media Platforms Already Helping Build Social Communities?
As mentioned in the introduction, Instagram’s latest feature, Broadcasts, offers a way for creators to create a strong connection with their followers. But how can this also be beneficial for businesses? If you’re already using influencers in your strategy, you will find that influencers can share branded content via their Broadcast communities, therefore, helping to build your brand strategy too. See the connection?
Community Building Strategies
To build a successful social media community, you will need to analyse those that exist within by fully understanding your audience. Otherwise, you don’t want to be building a community of people who may enjoy your content, but would never convert.
Understanding your audience is paramount; getting to know their interests, preferences, and pain points enables you to create content that genuinely resonates. As mentioned previously, encouraging user-generated content (UGC) is a powerful tactic to foster engagement and build trust.
Remember that active engagement is key – respond to comments, ask questions, and participate in discussions to show your genuine interest in your community’s thoughts and experiences. They have taken the time to engage with you, it’s time to nurture those engagements!
But, How Do I Know If My Social Media Community is Successful?
Measuring success is important when building your social media community as it can help to drive future decisions based on existing data and performance. Keeping an eye on engagement rates, which include likes, comments, shares, and other interactions on your content, provides insights into your community’s level of activity.
Follower growth is an important indicator of your community’s expansion over time. The click-through rate (CTR) reveals the percentage of people who take action by clicking on links in your posts. Conversion rates measure the number of community members who complete desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
Analysing audience sentiment through comments and discussions can help gauge the overall mood within your community. Again, user-generated content (UGC) volume and quality are key factors to assess.
Social Media Communities FAQs
Social media communities are groups or networks of individuals who come together on various social media platforms. These communities focus on discussing shared interests, exchanging information, and participating in conversations related to specific topics or themes that can be relevant to a company’s products, services, or industry.
Social media communities are evolving as a significant marketing trend, offering deeper engagement and higher conversion rates. In 2024, they are set to become even more crucial in digital marketing strategies. As platforms evolve and customers demand more from brands, it’s as important as ever to harness relationships with your customers through social media and beyond.
Social media communities can be a valuable tool for businesses and brands to engage with their target audience, gather feedback, build loyalty, and promote products or services. They offer a platform for direct communication and relationship-building.
Influencers, whether with a large following or not, have a substantial impact on business performance. Social media influencers can significantly influence consumer purchasing decisions and are integral to the success of social communities. Influencers can also go beyond creators or people with a large following, they can also include anyone who may influence purchase decisions – therefore building your community further.
Businesses can strengthen customer relationships, boost engagement, and increase conversions and return on investment (ROI) by building social media communities. These communities make customers feel part of something larger, fostering loyalty and trust.
Successful social media communities begin with understanding your audience. Tailor your content to resonate with their interests and preferences. Encourage UGC, actively engage with your community, and nurture interactions to ensure its success.
Key metrics like engagement rates, follower growth, click-through rates, conversion rates, and audience sentiment in comments and discussions help gauge the success of your social media community. The volume and quality of UGC are also essential indicators.
Final Thoughts
Throughout 2024 and beyond, social media communities will continue to be a leading marketing trend, altering the way brands and individuals connect with their audiences. By incorporating user-generated content and community involvement in decision-making, brands enrich their content and foster a sense of shared ownership.
As the marketing world leans further into content that genuinely resonates with audiences, social media communities will continue to play a pivotal role, poised for prominence even as algorithms evolve. To thrive in this space, understanding the audience is key, with active engagement and trust-building through UGC and real-time interactions.
Ultimately, measuring success through metrics like engagement rates, follower growth, CTR, conversion rates, and audience sentiment drives data-driven decisions for the future, ensuring these communities remain vibrant hubs of value and connection in the digital realm.
