In this free wheeling conversation, we talk about the importance of building a fiercely loyal community, what defines a fiercely loyal community and how can brands go about building this kind of fiercely loyal communities.
Most important learnings from the conversation:
- In a world where consumers and customers can share their experiences with each other, the relevance and importance of advertising and marketing messages is constantly shrinking.
- People today have the ability to form communities with or without the support of a brand.
- Brands with fiercely loyal communities seem to be much more profitable and much more loved than other brands. Harley Davidson, Apple, GoPro being cases in point.
- The biggest challenge for a brand to support a community is the fear of letting go of control over their brand.
- A community is fiercely loyal if
- They are proud of the brand and are willing to flaunt it.
- They trust the brand and the members of the community itself.
- They are a tribe of passionate people.
- Things that brands can do to enable their communities are
- Create connection points
- Create support points
- Bring in predictability
- Building a fiercely loyal community is about doing the basics of business right (good product, good support, good strategy, etc) and allowing your customers to do the rest.
- Fiercely loyal customers will do the best marketing for their brand, the kind that brands can’t buy.
You can reach Sarah on Twitter. You can buy her book Fierce Loyalty.