The Importance of Prioritizing Community Building Over Sales
OVER SALES, YOU MUST BE CRAZY?!
The thing is, community building is your fast pass to long-term success. In a world where social media has become one of the primary channels for companies to market and drive sales, the average consumer can sniff out bullsh*t before they even have time to digest your content. Trust and community are everything when building your brand on social media, not just for getting the sale but building a long-term dedicated customer base (community) that will help your business succeed long-term. Here’s why:
1) The Connection
If you look around in most industries, especially applying to those newer to the industry, those most successful are those who have built undeniably unique connections with their audiences, resorting into tight-knit niche communities. On a larger scale example, there is Taylor Swift. There is no denying she is one of the most talented artists of our time but there is a reason why no artist has ever done what she has done in regards to the rights to her music. The undeniably unique and genuine connection she has built with her audience. Other brands that have executed this impeccably are Lonely Ghost by Indie Blue, Djerf Avenue by Matilda Djerf, as well as the Ford FANatic by Ford Canada (socials managed by me).
2) It Sets You Apart
Most ideas stripped down to their core are not brand new, they have been done before and there are a million variations out there. So what makes your product/service the one that they should go with? Focusing on building relationships and a niche community among your audience allows your audience to see past the surface-level (the product) and see what makes your product/service unique.
3) They Will Listen
When you're strolling through the mall and spot a salesperson at a kiosk, most people tend to veer to the opposite side if time permits. If not, they might casually pretend to be engrossed in a phone call, glance at something in the distance, or even explore a store they hadn't planned on visiting, just to avoid the sales pitch. This mirrors how a potential customer feels when bombarded incessantly with talk and posts solely about a product or service.
Prioritizing community building allows you to captivate the customer's interest and foster a genuine relationship. This way, when you do promote your product or service, you have already introduced yourself and what you have to offer, leaving no doubt in their mind that you’re their go to.
4) Long-Term Customers
The best part of community building on social media is that if you do it right and nourish those relationships, you will have dedicated non-wavering group of customers. By building this community you have now done more than just sold a product but built an audience of people who want to come back and check in on your page every day to see if there is new content and are counting down the days for new product launches.
5) Engagement
We all know engagement is the golden metric. Well community building on social media really allows you to build not just a high engagement rate but a consistently high engagement rate. This in turn leads to faster audience growth, wider reach, and of course more sales.
Well there you have it, stay tuned for more information on how to build a community on social media or inquire here for a consultation on how we can do it for you!