Community-Based Brands: Building Stronger Connections with Your Audience
There are many types of brand communities — ranging from communities built by software products companies for customer support and customer success to those that bring consumers closer to their favorite community based brands.
Yet all these communities have one thing in common: they strengthen the relationship between the brand and its customers.
This has many benefits, including increasing customer lifetime value, building brand loyalty, lowering churn, and encouraging repeat purchases.
In this article, we'll look at 11 different brand community examples.
We've selected a variety of community types. We'll explain what each one does and how it benefits both the brand and its members.
We hope this will provide all the inspiration needed to create your own thriving community.
What is a Brand Community 👇
A brand community is a group of people who are passionate about a brand. The group may form organically, or the brand may create it. Typically it will use dedicated online community platforms, but they can also form offline or on social media.
Successful brand communities provide tangible benefits to both members and the companies they are built around. Both parties need to value the relationship for the community to work.
11 great community based brands
To help you create your own brand community, we have compiled this list of 11 online brand community examples. We will show you how major brands that will show you how they keep their users engaged. Each company has a very strong brand community with members who are not only loyal customers but, in some cases, diehard fans of their favorite brand.
Runna
Runna is an app that offers personalized training plans to help people meet their running goals. Its plans cover everything from starting running to marathon training.
The Runna Community
Runners use the Runna Community to discuss their training, share updates, and access extra help from coaches and experienced athletes.
How members benefit
Community members benefit from fast access to expert help from coaches and more experienced runners.
Joining the community also provides a sense of accountability. This helps members stay motivated and increases the likelihood of meeting their fitness goals.
Members also get access to exclusive events, races, and discounts from apparel and nutrition brands.
How Runna benefits
The brand benefits because the sense of community encourages users to stick around. As Runna is a subscription service, this can have a huge impact on the lifetime value of customers.
Additionally, each answered question adds to a huge library of searchable fitness knowledge. This creates a massive advantage over time that makes it harder for new businesses to compete.
Runna community is powered by Bettermode and the Runna team has deeply integrated the community into the mobile app using Bettermode's embed tools. This helps Runna offer a delightful social experience to the users directly inside the mobile app. Learn more about Runna's community story here
Salesforce
Salesforce is an enterprise software powerhouse that has solutions for everything from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to e-commerce.
Salesforce Trailblazer Community
The Salesforce Trailblazer Community is an online brand community for Salesforce customers.
The community is split into various groups depending on the topic (e.g. B2B commerce, Financial Services) or region.
How members benefit
Salesforce customers get access to product support through the community. This comes from other members and user generated content, the library of answered questions, and Salesforce-created resources.
Members can also access events and conferences which provide educational and networking opportunities.
How Salesforce benefits
Salesforce benefits because users learn how to use the product without support team input. This reduces customer support costs and makes scaling help easier.
Meanwhile, community events and conferences build the Salesforce brand. And members may promote the product to other people in their network.
Condo Control
Condo Control is software that helps property managers stay organized. It offers a suite of tools including communication, record keeping, and security. It also has resident-facing tools such as amenity booking, online payments, and virtual meetings.
The Condo Control Community
The Condo Control community is a space where Condo Control users access expert help from staff. They can also discuss condo management with other managers or owners.
How members benefit
Condo managers benefit from easy access to software help resources such as webinars and product guides. This helps them get more value from the software.
Community members can network with other property managers and discuss common issues.
How Condo Control benefits
Condo Control gets a robust channel to provide community-led support. And solving queries in a public community means everyone can benefit from the answer, not just the person who asked the question.
The team also shares support resources. By making these easy to access, the team makes it more likely that customers will solve issues independently.
The community also gives Condo Control deep insight into the challenges facing its customers. It can use this to influence product updates.
This successful brand community is powered by Bettermode and the team has structured it to centralize resources and offer support so it can be scaled to a large number of customers. Learn more about Condo Control's community story here.
Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce software that simplifies online store creation. It does everything from building a storefront to managing payments, shipping, and inventory.
The Shopify Community
The Shopify Community provides support to customers. It's split into multiple groups based on discussion topics and store types.
How members benefit
Shopify users can access technical product help. This makes it easier for them to set up their ecommerce store.
Joining groups with people at a similar stage of business growth provides members with access to a valuable network. Members can share ideas and strategies for business growth.
Users can also access on and offline events, meetups, and courses. This improves opportunities for learning and networking.
How Shopify benefits
The community lets Shopify provide support at scale without having to increase the number of agents it hires.
Better access to help also means customers are more likely to build successful stores. This improves retention and ensures customers stay with the brand for longer.
Sephora
Sephora is a make-up and beauty brand with both online and offline stores. It sells products from a huge range of different brands.
The Sephora Beauty Insider Community
The Sephora community connects individuals with an interest in beauty products.
The online forums are the community focus. When members sign up they create a profile and sign up for relevant groups. The community has spaces on pretty much any beauty topic imaginable including beauty talk and shopping.
There is also an ambassador program that provides brand advocates with further benefits such as product collaborations.
How members benefit
Members can learn makeup and beauty techniques from experts and experienced community members. There are also opportunities to build social connections with people who share their interests.
Community members also get access to talks, pop-up stores, and classes on topics related to makeup and beauty. And they can take advantage of promotions from Sephora brands.
How Sephora benefits
Sephora gets access to a huge pool of loyal customers to whom it can promote its brand values and products.
Figma
Figma is a design tool that helps teams collaborate on designs for websites and apps. It has tools for the whole design process: from brainstorming to creating prototypes. Because it's a tool primarily used by creators, Figma does a great job stimulating their community members to share their work on their community platforms and social media groups.
The Figma Community
The Figma Community allows users to create and share files. These are usually design or graphics packs, but they can also be plugins, workflow templates, or even presentations.
How members benefit
Members benefit from access to the extra functionality these files provide. Using user generated content and graphics packs made by others makes it easier to create high-quality designs.
Meanwhile, top Figma creators can generate likes and share links to their social profiles. This helps them build authority in the design space.
How Figma benefits
Figma benefits from being able to offer all this extra functionality without having to create anything.
The community experience adds significant value to its offering and makes it much harder for other companies to enter the space.
GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a WordPress theme that makes it easy for anyone to create a website. There's a free version that anyone can use, as well as a paid one that offers advanced functionality.
The GeneratePress community
The GeneratePress forum is a support community. Paid members can ask questions and someone from the team will respond in real-time. Free members can browse the support library.
The community is indexed on Google. The library of answers is so large that it shows up for almost any GeneratePress-related Google query. You can see an example of this in the image above.
How Members Benefit
The community is an easy way for paid customers to access support. When they ask a question, they get a fast answer from the support team.
And because all queries are answered in public, anyone can access the information once the problem has been solved.
This means all users can easily find answers to pretty much any question by searching on Google.
How GeneratePress Benefits
Having a huge support library means people are more likely to build successful websites. If they build successful websites, they will keep paying for the product.
Gaining the ability to ask support questions is also a powerful motivator to convince people to switch from the free to the paid plan.
Generating traffic from Google may also build brand awareness and result in more people using the tool.
Lego
Lego is a popular block-based building toy brand. The company sells sets that people can buy to create different models.
The Lego Ideas Community
The Lego Ideas community is an online niche community for people who love the brand. The community has two main parts: ideas and activities.
The ideas section is where the lego fan base can submit ideas for Lego packs.
If a new product idea gets 10,000 supporters, the Lego design team will review it and maybe turn it into a product people can buy.
The activities section is where the Lego team posts build ideas. Members can then submit designs that are based on the ideas.
For example, the Lego team recently made a post to celebrate the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 soccer tournament. Many people uploaded images of soccer-related designs.
How members benefit
Members get building inspiration and the ability to share their designs. If they submit an idea that is chosen by Lego, the company will create and sell a Lego pack based on their design.
How Lego benefits
The community helps Lego connect with its customers. This can improve customer loyalty. It may result in outcomes like more word-of-mouth referrals.
The community also receives significant insight into the types of designs that people are likely to buy.
Bettermode Platform
Bettermode is a customizable community platform that helps brands build customer communities and engage customers under a unified social space.
Key features include discussions, customization options, embed tools, Spaces, activity feed, member profiles, and a rich app store to add new functionalities to the community. It's everything you need to create a successful community.
The Bettermode Community
The Bettermode Campfire is a space for community builders and people who want to learn more about community building as well as get the best out of the Bettermode Platform. Members can discuss the Bettermode platform, access help from the team and more experienced community builders, and get insights on community building.
How members benefit
Members get access to direct support from the Bettermode team. They can also access a huge library of questions and answers which provide solutions for almost any problem customers are likely to face.
Members can also learn general tips and strategies for building and growing communities. This comes from both user-generated content and resources built by the Bettermode team.
How Bettermode benefits
Better support and customer education mean customers are more likely to build successful communities.
The community is also a great place to promote online events. This helps increase brand awareness and builds authority in the community space.
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson is a motorbike brand with a dedicated community of riders. The Harley-Davidson fanbase is an excellent illustration of how brand communities thrive on engaging members and contributors who don't even have to own a Harley-Davidson. It is a great example of how a strong brand presence and healthy community building can make a real impact.
The Harley Owners Group
The Harley Owners Group (HOG) is a successful example of an omnichannel community (presence on both real-life and online media). Harley-Davidson owners get access to group rides and events, roadside assistance coverage, magazines, and newsletters.
How members benefit
Community members get access to a group of like-minded people who share their hobby. The community also helps riders get the most from their bike.
How Harley-Davidson benefits
The community builds a bond between customers and the brand. In the long term, these people may spend more with the brand and introduce others to the product.
There's also a membership level for people who are interested in the brand but don't own their own bike. Nurturing this target audience by creating strong online brand communities will make them Harley-Davidson fans even if they never buy a bike – the company can still grow its brand by offering brand merchandise to community members.
Notion
Notion is a popular productivity tool with incredible versatility that can be used for anything from simple note-taking all the way to running entire teams, all thanks to its flexible features and numerous integrations.
Notion Community
Because of app's flexibility, Notion Community is well-known for its templates that fit various use cases. The company encourages its vibrant brand community to create and share templates and designs and host events, both online and in person.
How members benefit
Notion community members benefit from participating primarily through interaction with other users, sharing templates, and attending events. This way, community members improve their productivity and can network and meet other Notion enthusiasts, whether online or offline.
How Notion benefits
The incredibly active Notion community does an incredible job promoting the platform, indirectly by sharing templates and interacting with other users or directly by becoming Notion ambassadors. That way, Notion grows organically as community members suggest new features, find new ways and use cases, further expanding its reach.
Community based brands comparison table
Name
Community info
How members benefit
How the company benefits
Runna
Runners can interact with each other and discuss training.
Members get help from coaches and other runners, and access to events and discounts.
The loyal brand community strengthens the brand, and builds the FAQ base, improving satisfaction
Salesforce
Salesforce Trailblazer Community is an incredible tool and knowledge base for a massive user base.
Members have an extensive knowledge base at their disposal, as well as other users and Salesforce staff, all in one place.
Due to the user generated content and interactions, Salesforce support teams have fewer tickets, and are also able to learn from direct feedback.
Condo Control
Condo Control community offers users an easy way to get help and interact with other users.
The Condo Control community is a great resource for users to find everything they need to use the tool effectively.
Condo Control has fewer open support tickets, and community feedback can provide valuable insights to further improve the product.
Shopify
Shopify community is primarily intended for support with its massive knowledge base.
The incredible amount of Shopify users and a lively community means users are able to get help in no time.
The community significantly reduces the load on Shopify support teams, and improves user satisfaction.
Sephora
Sephora online forums allow brand fans to connect and promote products.
Users share tips and beauty techniques but can also join the ambassador program.
Sephora directly engages with the customers who are actively promoting the brand, spurring organic brand growth.
Figma
The Figma Community allows users to share creations and interact.
Users can get new creative ideas and share their work with others.
The community adds value to the brand and helps it grow, without straining the Figma marketing team.
GeneratePress
GeneratePress support community allows users to quickly solve issues with their websites and get quick support.
GeneratePress forum helps users with issues, and also gives premium members an easy way to contact support.
GeneratePress community is indexed on Google, which cuts support strain, and serves as an easy-to-access knowledge base.
Lego
The famous brand sparks ideas and user interactions with their Lego Ideas community.
Fans can interact and share their own ideas and creations.
Lego interacts with customers, which improves loyalty and strengthens the brand, while they also collect valuable feedback.
Bettermode
Bettermode Campfire is a community for community builders and enthusiasts.
Members of Bettermode Campfire have access to a massive FAQ library, and also insights into building their own communities.
Due to the extensive knowledge base, members are able to find new ways to use the platform, increasing the overall satisfaction.
Harley-Davidson
The famous motorcycle brand has its trademarked H.O.G. community, where members get to interact and discuss their favorite bikes.
Members can interact with each other, learn more about their bikes, and even attend events and get help.
Harley-Davidson strengthens its brand even among people who (still) don’t own one of their motorbikes.
Notion
Notion community helps users find new ideas, templates and interact.
Notion is famous for its templates and use cases, which members share while interacting.
The Notion community helps the company grow organically, as new templates and use cases attract even more potential premium members.
How can Bettermode help build your community based brand?
Bettermode helps brands empower their presence and create one-of-a-kind online brand communities that will increase brand loyalty.
Because of its superb flexibility and ease of use, Bettermode allows you to fully customize how your community will look and how members will interact with your company and each other.
With three types of community structure (spaces, collections, and tags), Bettermode gives members several interaction options, which will keep them interacting and create an engaged brand community.
While there are plenty of templates to start you with, you can customize everything to your liking—custom blocks, spaces, colors, and typography will streamline everything and make the entire community appear coherent with your brand identity.
Additionally, Bettermode has many additional features, embedded tools, and third-party integrations with popular apps. All of that will guarantee that you will be able to create a unique community that will represent your brand in the best light possible and help you strengthen its presence and raise awareness.
Conclusion
As you can see from the 11 online brand community examples we shared, your company can take many approaches in order to become one of the leading community based brands. With the right tools, your online presence will quickly build a loyal fanbase filled with active community members.
Bettermode helps companies just like yours build brand communities and establish a strong online brand. With our unique set of tools, features, and templates, building brand communities has never been easier. If you want a vibrant online community to become the backbone of your marketing strategy, sign up for Bettermode, and start growing an active fanbase today.
This article was originally published on July 12th, 2022, and was updated on November 24th, 2024.
FAQ
What is a community-based brand?
A community-based brand has a cohesive group of loyal fans who go far beyond ordinary customers. They interact with the brand regularly and share the same values and interests. The community is based on customers' emotional connection and engagement with the brand, which often becomes a part of their identity.
Which brand has the best community?
It's hard to highlight a single brand as the best, so our article has 11 great examples of brand communities. But, take Harley-Davidson as an example—Harley owners aren't any random bikers. They pride themselves on owning a Harley-Davidson motorbike and share the same values with other Harley-Davidson owners, as well as the brand itself. Not only do they interact with each other online, but they regularly attend events across the globe, getting to know other bikers and further strengthening their connection with their favorite motorcycle maker.
What are the 3 elements of a brand community?
Depending on the industry, a brand community can consist of various parts. But it can all boil down to these three key elements:
- Strong fanbase: Brands with strong communities have customers who not only enjoy the product/service but are true fans of the brand itself and what it represents. The customers identify with the brand, creating an emotional connection far beyond the commercial transaction.
- Customer engagement: Strong brand communities have members who constantly interact with the brand and other community members.
- Brand community support: The brand itself nourishes the community by organizing events, giving special promotions to members, and continuing to offer the same type of service or products, which initially turned customers into fans.
What makes a strong brand community?
To create a strong brand community, each company should focus on these factors:
- Creating a solid brand identity and voice: Customers must first understand its values to connect with the brand. Then, if they share the same beliefs, customers will be willing to stand behind the brand and let brand identity become a part of their own.
- Customer engagement: Brands should encourage customers to interact regularly with the brand. This can include a solid social media presence, consistently asking for customer feedback, and other forms of online community marketing, all empowering customers to contribute to the community's growth.
- Giving back to the community: While brands make money by selling to customers, giving back to the community is essential. Invest in the community itself, which will show the members that you care, spur the community's growth, expand its reach, and attract even more potential members.
