Building Community | The Future of Business and Branding

In the era of rapid development of the Internet, community building is gradually emerging as a new business model. This new way of doing business brings together customers, followers, and other like-minded people to form an interactive and supportive group, transforming business from connectivity to monetization. 

Community-based business is about valuing the needs and experiences of users. Building relationships based on trust is a way to drive sales of products and services, realizing the shift from relationship to revenue.

Building a community-centric business can help companies better understand customers while dramatically increasing user stickiness and conversion rates by transcending beyond one-sided communication, through more in-depth operations and dynamic management tools.

If you're still using traditional digital marketing and content advertising to keep your business afloat, or you’re planning to launch a new product or location in 2025, now is the time to rethink your strategy and seize the opportunity to build a strong competitive position for future wins.

First, what exactly is meant by “building community” in business?

Content + Community + Commerce : New Profit Models

Business has experienced three levels of marketing, with the bottom level centered on products and services, followed by various social platforms and public facing channels, and the top level is centered around community.

Companies want to lead potential customers to brick and mortar operations or online shops, so they typically spread the word by posting content on various platforms to attract attention. Such marketing can be used as an entry point for traffic, with minimal specialization used to tailor content to the specific channel you’re creating content for. But, it can be difficult to bring repeat business and create deeper customer relationships from this surface level broadcast and like mechanism.

Community is all about the connections we build and the affiliation we feel. It's what helps retain and welcome back customers who initially were drawn to the brand through advertising or marketing efforts. Ideally, people come together around great products, ideas, or content and then find their place within the community. Media focuses on content, relationships focus on people.

Through active involvement in shared spaces like group chats, events, and giveaways, customers’ shared values and interests form a sustainable community associated with the company, enabling a business to maintain authentic connections, get first-hand customer feedback, and build a real sense of belonging for customers that community builder, David Spinks, describes as true business competitiveness. He reiterates that “community can’t be copied.”

The Age Of Building Community Has Arrived

The future of business is about keeping connections and building real relationships with your customers rather than relying solely on traditional marketing to sell them experiences or products. Establishing and operating a community should revolve around creating an environment where strong bonds can form among members and there is a common goal or interest that unites members and motivates participation. Community should enhance and scale the efforts you're already putting in as a business.

If you expect long term business growth, you can't solely rely on media and platforms to attract new customers, you also need to keep existing customers coming back. This requires methods to collect sincere feedback and apply it to new products if you want to win continued support and patronage.

The first and most important step in building a community is to invite people (admirers, influencers, followers, potential guests, and customers) who like your product to find a natural and convenient way to engage with others who feel the same way. Choosing efficient community engagement tools, and reaching out to customers who truly embrace the community through various forms of interactions and activities can generate repeat purchases and word-of-mouth testimonials.

Is Community Building Right For All Businesses?

The very first CMX Summit, a now annual conference for the community industry, predicted that communities were the future of business, and that has been proven correct. 

A study by First Round Capital found that 80% of startups are already investing in community, and CMX has studied those that do, with 88% saying that community is critical to the company's mission, and it's hard to find a company today that doesn't think about community.

From Ellen Petry Leanse's early success initiating Apple’s User Group Connection to bring the brand’s customers together in an online community forum from all corners of the world, to today's major corporations opening Slack workspaces and crowdsourcing support from loyal and confident users - it's all a sign of things to come: the “Age of Community” has arrived.

How about small businesses? The state of small business marketing in 2024 also shows consumers are most likely to support small businesses in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, more than any other industry at 81.3%, good news for local restaurants, coffee shops, and specialty food stores.

Likaa's unique community building tools help restaurants reduce manpower, easily customize and distribute e-coupons, and run all kinds of tactical campaigns to meet the strong community connections and daily needs of these venues, making them the first choice for local support.

Put People At The Center

People are the key to the community. Activating people activates the original pulse of the whole community where everyone benefits from interacting with each other. Each person’s original motivation to join the community is different, but fundamentally everyone wants to get useful information from the community, or look for a sense of belonging and social interaction, which require business owners and community leaders to build this into the core of their roots.

In today's world, cell phones have transformed far beyond mere communication tools. People now turn to social media not just to connect, but to fulfill their deeper desire for inclusion. While these platforms offer a glimpse into social interaction, they often leave a significant gap in genuine connection. Users may share their dreams and moments, yet many still feel disconnected, longing for a true sense of group identity that transcends the superficiality of posts and likes.

Even though social media exists, it's really not a true community in the sense that we're speaking about it. It's mostly one party pushing content; simply broadcasting announcements, updates or news, making it more like traditional marketing. This dynamic leaves many of us feeling like passive consumers rather than active participants. To build a supportive network, we need spaces where we can engage meaningfully, where our voices matter beyond just likes and comments. It’s about creating environments that invite collaboration and connection, allowing us to feel truly at the center of our social interactions.

As the social media landscape continues to fragment and people look for validating connections based on shared interests, in the U.S., 48% of Gen Z trust what they see on community sites - almost as much as traditional news sources (51%), and notably more than social media sites (36%).

What kind of a community makes people feel like they’re the core?

1. Give your customers a sense of fulfillment

Why do people want to engage with others in your community? First off, it’s all about feeling valued and knowing they play an important role. When they have a sense of purpose and understand their potential to make an impact on the people around them, it creates a deeper connection. This feeling of fulfillment is what keeps them coming back for more, making the community feel like a true home. 

Initiatives that encourage both giving and receiving can enhance satisfaction. Creating systems for mutual support, such as resource sharing and advice, can deepen engagement.

2. Creating exclusive rituals

Develop specific practices or traditions that are unique to the community. This could include annual events, initiation ceremonies, or special recognition days that members can look forward to. Effective ritual objects often embody the community’s values or ideals, serving as constant reminders of what the community stands for and as aspirations for members.

When Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company, ventured into the highly competitive smartphone market in 2010, it did so without a physical phone, instead it provided a free Android-based operating system. Within seven years, the company emerged as one of the largest smartphone manufacturers globally, generating $15 billion in revenue. By 2020, Xiaomi accelerated its growth, becoming the world's largest consumer Internet of Things (IoT) company, with revenue exceeding $37 billion and over 210 million IoT devices (excluding smartphones and laptops) sold in more than 90 countries.

Instead of going head-to-head with a powerful competitor, Xiaomi appealed to tech-savvy smartphone users by offering them free software and building a sophisticated Xiaomi online community that interacted with the brand’s internal teams to find out which features fans craved and which they disliked.

One of Xiaomi’s finest community building examples is the Xiaomi Fan Festival (XFF), first held in 2012. The festival aimed to strengthen the bond between Xiaomi and its users, allowing fans to participate in various activities, unlock access to limited edition products, and express their loyalty to the brand - a category of event rarely executed by similar brands at the time. Now recurring annually, this sense of ritual makes customers feel special, nurturing a natural instinct to bond with and rely on fellow community members while making it difficult to switch brands and leave behind the friendships they’ve formed with other Xiaomi Fans.

3. Community is a relationship, not a medium

Currently, most communities are loosely structured, and are more about posting information through channels like WhatsApp groups, and less focused on running the community and engaging with members.

Traditional social media doesn't fulfill the “user-centered” aspect community requires. When users interact with the first generation of social media platforms, like Facebook or Instagram, they are limited to one-on-one exchanges, finding it difficult to form communities and groups that meet their specific needs. They often encounter problems such as offensive language and low-quality content as a result of outsiders conducting themselves in ways they didn’t sign up to tolerate.

The community resembles a family, emphasizing relationships. Members not only access information but also actively participate in building the brand, promoting it, and even taking on specific roles. This involvement helps them feel like integral parts of the community.

Customers need warmth, not cold media notifications.

Go Beyond Old School Marketing With Community Engagement Tools

As a business who wants to welcome the next generation of consumers, it’s imperative to realize that brand expansion, credibility, and longevity are more about people than products, and center on community rather than sales and marketing. The essence of community business can be seen as a balance between user-led and data-driven.

Building community happens when customers feel valued and heard. Customers are more likely to move to the inner circles of engagement and become advocates for your brand, sharing their positive experiences and attracting new members to the community, if there are dedicated spaces set up for organic group conversations to take shape.

Each industry, and each business within that industry must find its own niche to logistically serve as its community platform and work towards articulating a mission that its members feel comfortable with and excited about championing.

You will be amazed at what can happen once the infrastructure is in place. You may find your own time freed-up by letting go of stale brand narratives that don’t need to be pushed with a heavy hand, and appreciative of the discoveries you make by observing what members have to say. Your new found collaborators are full of potential for the next era of business and branding.

About Likaa:

Likaa makes it easy for restaurants and F&B insiders to host chat rooms, share discounts, and get honest feedback from the guests they value and want to welcome back.