How important is your family to you? For most of us, family is everything. that’s what a community is like to a brand. Not only does it help and support a brand in good times, but a total community is always there for a brand even when it’s not at its best. But how do you go about building such a brand? This week on the chat, we invited the founder of Amplified Marketing and #TwitterSmarter veteran, Anh Nguyen, to tell us about the value of building a community. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Anh Nguyen
Topic: Building a community around your brand
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
Community is important on social media because they’re the people who want to have a relationship with your brand. They’re your clients, potential clients, and well-wishers. Instead of thinking of them as followers, consider them as your community. You need them as much as they need you.
A1a: I always advise brands to think in terms of COMMUNITY, not ‘followers’. Your community includes clients, prospective clients, ambassadors…anyone interested or invested in your brand. They want to have a relationship with your brand on social media. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
When you have a strong community that you’re consistently engaging with, it brings along newer people interested in your brand. It signals to people that you care about building and maintaining relationships with your audience.
A1b: Having a strong community draws people to your brand, so that they’ll feel connected and engage with your brand. Remember, people want to feel valued and your brand is nurturing relationships, whether on social media or elsewhere. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
The more you focus on your community, the stronger your brand gets. These people will become your most vocal advocates and fans.
A1c: Your brand community will be your best advocates, ambassadors, and raving fans. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
High-quality and genuine conversations are crucial to building and sustaining your community long-term. Show them that you’re there for them and that you care about the same things they do.
A2a: CONVERSATION. We know that Twitter is a raging river of content/tweets….how does your brand stand out? By simply engaging and conversing. Easy, right?? Yet, so many still don’t talk TO their community and talk AT them. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
Don’t be self-promotional all the time. Instead, identify questions, topics, and concerns that your audience cares about and then cater to those requirements.
A2b: Focus on content, info, details that matter to your community. Here’s your chance to show that your brand is the good friend who’s here to help. Constant promotional tweets will have your community running. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
If you’re not sure how to do that, just follow Madalyn, as our guest suggested. You’ll learn a lot about engaging with your community by observing how Madalyn engages her community and the people who engage with her in return.
A2c: Follow @MadalynSklar 's lead! She has built a strong and successful Twitter community. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
The Communities feature didn’t take off as well as Twitter probably hoped. One possible reason is that Communities is useful only if most of your audience is on Twitter. It’s a bit like Facebook groups, according to our guest.
A3a: It can be helpful if the majority of your community may be found on Twitter or are Twitter users. To me, it’s similar to ‘Groups’ on Facebook. You don’t want it to become an empty space where no one engages or there’s no activity. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
One way to make the most of the feature is to use it as an exclusive group for your customers. Like an airline lounge. Use it to offer an experience they can’t get elsewhere.
A3b: An example of how to use the Twitter Communities feature: make it a place for only your customers/clients. Make it an experience where they feel valued by your brand, whether through content they can’t get anywhere else or VIP offers + rewards. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
Be wary of making your Twitter Communities a dumping site for promotional content. Use it as a space where your biggest ambassadors and fans can come together and connect with each other.
A3c: Twitter Communities can be that club everyone wants to get in but it’s exclusive! Don’t make it a repository for only promotional content. These are people who can be brand ambassadors and raving fans….give them plenty of reason to be. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
Listen to what they’re saying, anticipate their needs, and then cater to those needs. The more you engage with your community, the more ways you’ll find to engage with them further. Ultimately, everything you do is for your community—not for yourself. When you operate from that mindset, it’ll become easier to keep your audience engaged and involved.
A4a: I know I sound like a broken record here…have a conversation with your community. Anticipate needs. Listen. Be consistent with your engagement. Remember it’s about your community NOT you – this will guide the content + the convo. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
It’s also worth re-emphasizing that your community members should come first. This means less self-promotion and more community-oriented conversations. No one wants to be around someone who’s always talking about themselves.
A4b: Did we mention keep the promotional stuff to a minimum?? 🤨 What happens when you have a 'friend' who constantly talks about themselves? (I run the other way!) #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
It sure can. Just look at Mars. If your brand has multiple products or sub-divisions, then each of those can have a separate fanbase and community.
A5a: Great question! Yes, if the brand has multiple lines of business or ‘sub-brands’ and it makes sense for multiple communities. A great example of this is @MarsGlobal which owns many brands we love and use everyday. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
That said, not every product under a brand needs a community. In Mars’ case, it’s got thriving communities for universal favorites like Skittles, M&Ms, and Snickers, but not for all its products.
A5b: Mars has built successful communities around their top brands: @Skittles @mmschocolate @snickers. Notice that they didn’t build a community around EVERY brand in their stable. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
If you have multiple brands, it’s important to recognize which ones need dedicated communities, so you can channel your efforts in the right direction. Our guest told us about Ben’s Original and Twix—two other communities that didn’t perform as well because they just couldn’t communicate as consistently.
A5c: I did find a couple they built that languished specifically @Twix @BensOriginal. So what does that tell us? Consistency and conversations matter. #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
Certainly. That’s what it means to humanize your brand. Join other brands’ conversations and be an active part of their communities. As long as it’s relevant to your brand and your brand’s personality, being a part of another community can only do you good.
A6: Absolutely, why not?! We talk of ‘humanizing’ brands…it's not just a buzzword! Being human means having conversations w/others. If it makes sense for your brand, hop on in and show off your sparkling personality. But don’t spam with your promotional stuff! #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
That said, though, as Madalyn pointed out, join a community only if you want to engage genuinely. It’s not right to join a brand’s community only to try and poach their audience.
A6: There’s nothing wrong with being part of another brand’s community. However, you do want to make sure you’re doing this in a genuine way, rather than trying to poach their audience by making constant sales pitches. #TwitterSmarter
— Madalyn Sklar Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) March 2, 2023
Ask, listen, and observe. The more you engage with your community, the more you’ll know about their likes, challenges, and needs. Use that information to inform your marketing activities and show your audience that you value them.
A7a: Your brand’s community is a gold mine of data to inform your marketing strategy. What better way to learn about their likes, dislikes, needs, challenges, etc?? What better way to make your community feel VALUED by listening to what they have to say? #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
Use polls, surveys, and open-ended questions to hear directly from your community members. When they share ideas and feedback, make marketing decisions accordingly.
A7b: Polls, surveys, feedback are all ways to learn what your community wants, needs, and values, which will in turn inform your marketing decisions! I'd love to hear what else has worked for you in learning more about your community! #TwitterSmarter
— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
As our friends from Advance Digital Marketing suggested, try asking your community members about a new product or feature you intend to launch. Their feedback will help you form your messaging, identify ideal promotional channels, and even inform your entire go-to-market strategy.
A7: Ask them about a feature or product you're launching.
You can be subtle about it if you don't want to give away a big plan, but usually if you ask, people will give their opinion!#TwitterSmarter
— Advance Digital Marketing (@Advance_Digitl) March 2, 2023
Apologize and be honest about what went wrong. That’s the first step to rebuilding trust. Seek feedback on how you can improve and regain their trust, and do everything in your power not to repeat your mistakes. People will forgive you the first time, but they likely won’t a second time.
A8: It’s not going to be easy but it can be done:
💔 Apologize. Sincerely. People can tell when you’re just paying lip service.
👂🏾👀 LISTEN + learn what you can do to regain trust.
💡 Stick to your promises to make things right. Actions speak louder than words. #TwitterSmarter— Anh Nguyen (@AnhTNguyen) March 2, 2023
Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading through and for more great insights from our chat with Anh, have a look at this Twitter thread. If you like this summary, you’ll love the real-time chat. Join us next Thursday at 1 pm ET for #TwitterSmarter. We also have an after-chat on Twitter Spaces at 5 pm ET. See you there!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—marketing stuff to pay the bills; haiku and short stories so I feel wholesome. A social media enthusiast, I hang out with the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and am always happy to take on writing gigs.
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