Brands can reap big by effectively engaging online communities

By Enock Wandera

The digital revolution being witnessed across the world has opened unique business opportunities that brands must not fail to take advantage of. Technology and business models are developed every day to help solve challenges such as climate change, food security, pandemics, and economic recession.

For brands in Africa, the significant growth of online communities over the past few years has provided an enviable platform through which they can cash in on the digital economy.

Online communities are not only thriving on innate human desire to connect with others who share similar interests, passions, and goals but also on technological advancements and innovations. Many African countries have witnessed exponential growth in digital over the last decade.

In Kenya, for example, latest statistics show there were 17.86 million internet users at the start of 2023 when internet penetration stood at 32.7 percent.

According to the Digital 2023 Global Overview Report, a total of 63.94 million cellular connections were active in Kenya in early 2023, equivalent to 117.2 percent of the total population. The increasing access to mobile devices and improved internet connectivity has made it easier for people to participate in online communities. The myriad mobile apps have made it convenient for users to engage with communities on the go, contributing to the growth of online communities.

The popularity of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn have also played a major role in fostering these communities. The Digital 2023 Global Overview Report reveals the country was home to 10.55 million social media users in January 2023, equating to 19.3 percent of the total population. These platforms provide spaces for people with shared interests, hobbies, or affiliations to connect, share content, and engage in discussions.
With the rise of remote work and digital nomadism, brought about largely because of COVID-19 pandemic, people are no longer limited by geographical constraints. This has led to the formation of online communities where remote workers, freelancers, and digital nomads can connect, collaborate, and support each other.

A more interesting trend is that these online communities are becoming more specialized, catering to specific interests or industries. These communities allow like-minded individuals to come together, exchange knowledge, seek support, and share experiences in a focused environment.
What has made these online communities grow significantly is user-generated content. Members can contribute by sharing their thoughts, experiences, expertise, and creations, which adds value to the community as a whole. The ability to create and share content has made online communities more vibrant and engaging.

For a long time, marketing strategies like aggressive advertising campaigns improve brand awareness and help with sales. In today’s world, leveraging online communities offers brands unique opportunities to effectively enhance their reputation, build a strong customer base, and create a positive brand image in the digital space. By motivating customers to join, engage and share a brand, companies can build strong communities that will help them achieve sustainable growth.

A brand community is only as strong as its members. The mark of a true brand community is when members interact with one another without any brand involvement. You need people to be excited about joining your online community for it to appeal to members. The main value of a brand community is the ability to interact with other like-minded customers, so you need to encourage your passionate customers to join so others can see value in it.

By actively engaging with online communities, brands can gain a competitive advantage by staying informed about industry trends, customer expectations, and emerging opportunities. This knowledge allows brands to adapt quickly, make informed business decisions, and stay ahead of their competitors.

When a brand understands the interests and preferences of community members, it can tailor its messaging, share relevant content, and run targeted campaigns that resonate with the community. This focused marketing approach can lead to increased brand awareness and conversions.

Online communities serve as a platform for customers to seek help, share experiences, and find solutions to their problems. By actively participating in these communities, brands can provide timely support, address customer issues, and demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction. This proactive engagement can contribute to positive customer experiences and brand reputation.

Brands seeking to achieve business growth through innovative product developments, new features, and enhanced solutions that better meet customer needs can also take advantage of the online communities to tap into the collective knowledge and creativity of their audience.

To enjoy these benefits a brand must first create a strong and vibrant community. A brand community is only as strong as its members. It must create space for members to interact with one another without any brand involvement.

At Ipsos in Kenya, online communities offer the unique ability to move seamlessly between qualitative and quantitative research and address a range goal in one place, with speed and simplicity - it’s no wonder communities have become an increasingly important insights tool for our clients and one of the fastest growing research methodologies in the industry.

Because the overarching purpose of a community is unique to each client, it is critically important to right-size the community to the client’s learning objectives and customize the strategy to achieve quality engagement regardless of size. Ipsos in Kenya manages communities in a wide range of sizes, from as small as 50 members, to as many as 5,000 or more, because we know that one size does not fit all.

A question we sometimes get is, how is it possible to achieve intimate consumer connections, and ensure value to our clients, even in very large communities? We recently evaluated a sample of existing Ipsos communities to understand the impact community size may have on engagement rates and found that all communities achieved similar rates of participation, regardless of size.

Larger communities are, however, a powerful means of delivering authentic human context at scale. They enable both in-depth qualitative and robust quantitative to drive efficiencies in the research process, without sacrificing depth or intimacy, bringing holistic and actionable consumer insights to life.

At Ipsos in Kenya, we have intentionally designed our recruitment process and reward systems to drive authentic engagement in both small and large communities. And for large communities, we apply analytical models that allow us to go deeper with more people.

To build successful, vibrant, and engaged communities, brands must appreciate that having the right recruitment is critical for a good start. In selecting the best recruitment sources, and in the screening process of the right community members, brands need to identify those people that are primarily intrinsically motivated to be part of the community, and ideally have a broad range of intrinsic motivations at play. They should avoid attracting people that are just there for immediate monetary gratification, while encouraging brands to access their own databases of consumers who already have a brand relationship.

The value that members will gain by joining the group should also be given enough thought and effort. This value proposition, and following through with it for long-term exchanges, will define what type of participants join and, therefore, the success of the community.

In cases where rewards are offered to entice people to join a community, it is critical to keep up and build upon these motivations. In this way, if you have identified why people want to participate and what their expectations are, it is much easier to satisfy their needs with the various levers available in managing a community– from how to craft activities to how to acknowledge contributions.

In conclusion, the benefits of online community engagement are plentiful. They are being used to drive more leads, improve brand loyalty, and increase retention.

It's also much more cost-effective to promote your business with an active and engaged community instead of advertising on Facebook, Google, and other digital platforms.

**The author is the Chief Client Officer, Client Organization at Ipsos in Kenya