A community can serve as a beacon for many entrepreneurs. It helps them identify the route they should embark on to achieve the greatest milestones that they have dreamed of. Still, a few of them still hesitate to understand the value that it could drive. This may be due to the fact that building a community often requires patience and persistence, but when it really starts to bloom it can reap a bunch of fruits for the entrepreneurs and their startups.
In order to understand the true value of a community, we reached out to our experts to get their advice for entrepreneurs who are hesitant to build a community around their startup.
Let’s hear what they have to say:
Experts on Building a Community Around Startups
Vasilii Gamov
CMO at Rich Ads
My Advice
Creating a strong community around your firm isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a critical business driver. A robust community generates an organic ecosystem that may be used in various ways, including better market research, more organic word-of-mouth, and higher consumer loyalty.
After all, while many entrepreneurs can produce a similar product, few can match how they make their consumers feel – and that’s where the value of a vibrant community lies. So, learn to bring your vision into harmony with your community.
It’s critical to have your house in order before actively engaging with your community, and engagement activity should be a clear value proposition at the heart of any community.
It should effectively strike a balance between capturing what is unique about your business and what it seeks to achieve while ensuring those attributes are communicated in a way that resonates with your customers. Consider how your company’s principles, mission, and values match with the desires of your community. Make sure your value proposition is something your brand advocates and workers can believe in.
Entrepreneurs frequently support the businesses of others who share their values. They also invest in community projects and help local charities financially. This allows them to expand their development beyond their own businesses. Some well-known business people have donated money to good causes ranging from education to public health. Thereby, producing the ingredients needed to prepare the basis for economic development.
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John-Paul Cody
Founder at Trends & Tactics
Although building a community can feel intimidating, growing your audience can be the difference between success and failure for a startup. A community gives you direct access to people passionate about the problem your startup is solving, which can lead to valuable market insights, beta testers, and initial customers.
Luckily, a community with just a couple hundred people can become a powerful engagement tool and growth driver for your business. If you continue to feel hesitation, consider appointing someone you trust to lead the community initially.
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John Tian
Founder & CMO at Mobitrix
“Glory starts at home”
Startups looking to grow should know that the best way to expand is by pleasing your local community. If the business is on good terms with the local community, fewer resources are spent on manufacturing and marketing strategies.
The essence business reason to build the community around you is to get a readily available market. But having that rapport with the locals sells the business to the general public. People from around the company will gladly share the news outside the locality, and it will cost nothing for indirect marketing.
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Kathleen Ahmmed
Co-Founder at US Car Junker
If your startup can go from simply delivering a product to building a community, then you will be able to unlock extraordinary competitive advantages because consumers these days now expect different relationships with brands.
They want deeper interaction with the company in question, as well as with their fellow customers, and the benefit of providing this environment is that enthusiastic members can also help you to acquire new members, which results in lower customer acquisition costs, higher retention rates, and therefore improved lifetime value.
However, while any company can build a tribe, it’s not enough to just set up a platform. You also need to create an environment that encourages the behavior you wish to see, shows the value generated, and also rewards great participation.
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Jordon Scrinko
Founder & Marketing Director at Precondo
When you first start your business, you may be hesitant to invest in anything other than your product or expand your business. But I believe that creating a community is critical as a business in this day and age. I’d even go so far as to call it* free advertising.
There are numerous advantages to having an active and loyal community surrounding your brand, including increased customer loyalty, easier market research, and word-of-mouth marketing.
They could be the first people to buy your service or product, as well as the ideal investors in your crowdfunding campaign. They could also be excellent employees for your company as it expands. As such, creating a community is a win-win situation that every company should pursue.
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Mohamed Natheem
Digital Marketer at Rentall Script
Community-led startups are gonna thrive!
We humans are all influenced by communities, even if we don’t realize it.
No one likes being alone, not even introverts!
A community does even what the best marketing can’t do.
Creating a community helps your startup stay close to your customers, listen to their problems, and offer solutions.
You can use your community to get product feedback, test new features, give better customer support, etc.
Your engaged community = Brand loyalty, retention, and word of mouth.
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Steven Walker
CEO at Spylix
Digital marketing is a must known skill now to expand your business. Every startup requires a community that can be expanded through digital marketing. The best advice to new entrepreneurs is to have confidence.
They should be confident about their startup. If they are not confident, then it’s become difficult to make other people believe in your products. So, the first and foremost thing is to have a startup. Then make every possible way to know people about your product or business.
Nowadays, most of the youth are online on social media. So, reels can be made of your product. You can also make ads for your business and add them on social media. Make it look tempting so that the first view only catches a viewer’s eye. So, make it tempting to watch so that others are forced to know about your business. You can also add your work through other social media platforms.
Good communication skills add to your business value. So be good at your communication skills.
These are the ways you can be a pro at digital marketing.
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Olga Voronkova
Co-Founder at KeyUA
Building a community around a startup is an important part of a business. It can help a business start, grow and sustain. Having a community, you can leverage both peer groups and mentors into helping you out in the initial stages of the business, be it through advice or mentorship.
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Terence A.
Owner & Lifestyle Blogger at Terence’s Corner
If you’re doing any kind of marketing then I’m sure you’ve heard one of the best ways to build a community is to use social media.
It’s a great way to connect with potential customers, promote your brand, reach a wider audience, and engage with other users regularly.
But the biggest lesson you need to learn about social media is you need to give before you can receive – in fact learn how to give WAY more than you expect to receive.
The best way to do this is to create valuable content. This could be blog posts, videos, or even just helpful tweets or status updates. Whatever it is, make sure it’s high quality and something your potential customers would actually want to see.
You also need to take advantage of all the online forums, Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, and so on, dedicated to startups and entrepreneurship.
Get active in these groups and start networking with like-minded individuals. Not only will you make some valuable connections, but you’ll also be able to learn from others who have been through the process before.
Remember the more you give, the more you’ll receive.
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Liam Wilson
Founder at Lottery ‘n Go
Building an online community for your business might seem like lots of work, but there are tangible benefits.
Firstly, it allows your business to receive organic traffic as opposed to having advertising campaigns. Community members share their ideas about topics and others become interested because of the active discussion and engagement. It fosters a more informal environment for indirect marketing.
Next, it allows you to retain customers. If they have bought your product and enjoy using it, they can join the community and receive opinions from other customers. It generates interest in a product and the business. Customers are more likely to return if they feel a sense of belonging.
Finally, achieving this requires a few broad ideas in your marketing plan. Create social media events where members can play games, listen to guest speakers, or participate in quizzes. Most importantly, you need to determine who your target audience is. For me, it was gambling enthusiasts. I hosted a variety of events where members could win discounts on lottery tickets and I advertised my community on gambling forums.
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Ely Khakshouri
CEO at Retrospec
Community is everything, especially to startups. Startup founders should not hesitate to put people first in building out their brand. When you create a solid community, you naturally have people who will help share your brand and promote your products organically.
You want customers who are invested and loyal to your brand; they are the ones who will provide direct feedback and help you improve the brand in the long run. Engaging them should be one of your top priorities as a business owner. It’s about building authentic relationships.
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Max Benz
Founder & CEO at Remote Job
There are a few reasons why entrepreneurs may be hesitant to build their community around their startups. First, many entrepreneurs are concerned that if they openly share too much information about their business or product, it will give their competitors an advantage.
Additionally, many entrepreneurs feel as though they don’t have the time or resources to invest in building a community around their startup. Lastly, some entrepreneurs may not be sure how to go about building a community around their business.
If you’re an entrepreneur who is hesitant to build your community around your startup, my best tip is to make sure that you are open and transparent with your members. Share your progress, challenges, and goals with them.
This will help build trust and loyalty. Also, make sure that you provide value to your members. Offer exclusive content, discounts, or other benefits. And be responsive to their needs and feedback. Thank them for their support, and let them know how they are helping you achieve your goals.
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Laura Berg
CCO at Kong Club
You must listen to and validate the needs and concerns of your community or target demographic to succeed in business. By plugging into that natural drive for empathy, you will build trust with your customers while driving business goals.
By focusing on the needs of your community instead of on a business agenda, you emulate the dynamics of an organic relationship that friends or family might have. This feels familiar to your consumers and builds genuine connections out of business interactions.
Keeping honest and transparent communication with these communities brings mutual benefits to both businesses and consumers. If you don’t know who you should be targeting your advertising capacity to address, you won’t stand above the competition who does.
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Tristan Harris
Demand Generation Marketing Manager at Thrive Agency
When you launch a start-up, you might not be keen on extending your business by investing in anything else. However, building a community is vital as a business in this day and age.
Business owners tend to view this as free advertising. However, you are bound to enjoy many benefits simply because you have an engaged and loyal audience.
You can grow business exponentially by forming a community of people bound together by shared trust and values. A support network usually includes employees, friends, family, customers, and your more comprehensive network.
In addition to greater customer loyalty, you can conduct more accessible market research, conduct word-of-mouth marketing, attract the first buyers of your service or product, engage ideal investors in your crowdfunding campaign, and they can be great employees for your company as it expands. Building a community is indeed a worthwhile activity that every business should take part in.
If you wish to have a community around your business, the first thing you must do is clean your house. Your mission, values, and beliefs must match those of your community.
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Tim Clarke
Director Sales at SEO Blog
Communities are the hottest thing in startup land. In response, we see more community builders, managers, and architects being hired at an earlier stage of a startup’s growth.
Before growth hacking and social media marketing, companies realize that they need people. But, of course, I am talking about people who manage your mission and consider your team while you’re still in startup diapers.
As a result of speaking with these people, you should clearly understand who they are and what their problems are. Then, even before your product solves those problems, your community should step in. Bringing value to a community’s members is its primary objective in order to reward their efforts and devotees.
After you have started your community, it’s essential to keep it going by bringing in more people steadily to keep the energy high. So keep bringing in people slowly. Be patient. Before you learn it, you’ll have a large booming community that will perform as the foundation of your company, product, and customer base for years to come.
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Christian Velitchkov
Co-Founder at Twiz
Contribute to a social cause that stretches customer impact
Socially conscious brands that have a social purpose are particularly successful. Your brand can develop a sense of community and help the wider community by donating to a cause after each sale.
Basically, if you want to build a community around your brand, take your time. Be patient and consistent, and you will succeed. You can support a cause in a number of ways:
– Take part in conversations and use your social power to educate and spread awareness for a cause.
– Using your resources, donate and contribute in real-time to the cause.
– Join groups that support the same cause and inform your customers about it.
– For the benefit of all your stakeholders, conduct your business sustainably.
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Hilda Wong
Founder at Content Dog
Make sure every member feels heard by creating a conversation platform
A group of people can only be considered a community if they build relationships with each other. Relationships are built through conversation.
Facebook Groups are great for creating new communities. Since everyone is already there, they’re familiar with the interface, and it’s very easy to set up. In addition, you can host events to build relationships between members. You don’t have to go all fancy – just organize a dinner or a happy hour and then go from there.
There is a great need for members to know someone is listening, even if it’s just you. Always respond to every message. When you see messages where
another member might have a good response, ping them and encourage them to respond.
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Su Roberts
Company Director at Beliebis
Pay attention to your online presence
Your potential clients are more inclined to spend their free time online these days. Creating an online place for them will make it easier to communicate with them and learn about their hobbies, wants, and requirements. It may be a discussion forum on your website, a Facebook group, an Instagram account, or a Twitter page. It will show your customers that you care about what they share.
Create loyal customers
Customers who engage with your business on a regular basis can be rewarded, which is a good way to indicate how much you value their loyalty. You may provide discount vouchers to people who frequently post on your community forum or who share videos or photographs of themselves using your product online. This will assist you to boost the likelihood of word-of-mouth referrals while also allowing you to keep your current consumers.
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Michael Jan Baldicana
Web Content Specialist at Dream Chasers
What would be your advice for young business owners/entrepreneurs who are hesitant to build their community around their startups? Young entrepreneurs should have the courage to ask for advice from people who have been in the same position as them. They should also be willing to give advice back in order to help other young entrepreneurs start their own businesses.
They could start with the people in their network. They could also start by reaching out to influencers on social media and other platforms. Lastly, they could also reach out to local meetups that might have similar interests and needs as theirs.
Young entrepreneurs should not be afraid of building their communities around their startups, even if they are hesitant at first.
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Julian Goldie
CEO at Goldie Agency
Customer testimonials and feedback should be shared
If you receive positive feedback about your business from a satisfied consumer, post it on your social media profiles. This will not only encourage other consumers to provide comments, but it will also help them see how they are similar to one another, increasing their faith in your company.
Organize events
If you are unable to arrange one-on-one events due to unforeseen circumstances, you can use Zoom to connect with your community. The event could be a Q&A session or a documentary on the development of your product. Virtual meetups are also beneficial because they allow you to get to know your consumers and each other. This will increase trust and promote loyalty.
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Becky Brown
CEO at Shopping Kim
Building a strong community is one of the best ways to grow your startup, and although it requires hard work, it’s certainly worth it once your
community gets going. As far as building a community goes, there’s no need to look at it as work. Instead, you should see it as a pleasurable opportunity to talk to your audience, share ideas, receive feedback, and grow your business indirectly. Take it slow and easy, and build up from there.
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Palkita Gautam
Marketing Associate at Data To Biz
I would advise them to establish an impactful online presence that also demonstrates their vision. Do not limit yourself to traditional channels; instead, explore unconventional ones while relying on data to make decisions. Furthermore, start doing personal branding; it will benefit you in the long run.
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Jeffrey Gabriel
Co-Founder at Saw
One thing that holds entrepreneurs back from community-building is the idea that you have to do it a certain way. We see advice about personal branding on LinkedIn and holding webinars and such, and it all feels so routine, yet difficult.
Do it your own way. Community-building doesn’t have to be loud, nor does it have to happen on social media. You can focus on in-person community building or use networking apps like Bumble Biz—approach it however you want, and find the joy in trying different things.
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James Diel
Founder & CEO at Textel
My advice is to leverage your existing network. If you’re having trouble getting started building your community, you’re in luck—you already have one.
Friends, family, former colleagues—all of these people can be part of your community. Better yet, they act as a social launchpad to find other community members who’ll join up for the long term. Don’t overlook all the work you’ve done so far. Chances are you’re farther along toward building a community than you may think.
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Drew Sherman
Director of Marketing & Communications at RPM
Follow like-minded businesses on social media so that they may follow your business back. When businesses follow your business, follow them back to show gratitude and support.
This can be a good way to start out with building community around your business, in terms of allowing other businesses’ audiences to notice yours. Once you see more followers coming in due to this tactic, you may become more used to growing a community around your business and confident enough to keep this going.
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We would like to thank all of our contributors for sharing their expert advice with us! 🙂
