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4 Reasons Why Focusing On Community Is Your Best Marketing Strategy

  

 

4 Reasons Why Focusing On Community Is Your Best

Marketing Strategy

Binance co-founder and CMO Yi He breaks down the

driving force behind building out a world-renowned

digital-assets exchange.

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4 Reasons Why Focusing On Community Is Your Best

Marketing StrategyImage credit: Binance

Jared Polites

Jared Polites

ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP NETWORK

CONTRIBUTOR

Partner at LaunchTeam

  home

September 28, 2020 5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their

own.

Digital communities are quickly becoming the lifeblood of

organizations as more companies turn digital and remote.

A recent article by the Wall Street Journal found that

adults in the U.S. are now spending up to 16 hours a day

on digital media. With so many options, the one

commonality that many people are looking for is genuine

connections with people and brands that share their

interests and values.

 

The concept of a community is not always tangible.

Communities can come in the shape of forums, social

media pages, private groups or, in some cases, a mix of

each. For brands that really get community right, this

phenomenon could be fragmented and simply come down

to offering a service that people genuinely love to

associate with. The best communities are built organically

over time and can act as a powerful and genuine marketing

channel.

 

For Binance co-founder and CMO Yi He, community has

always been an important part of her career journey, as

well as the driving force behind building out one of the

most popular digital-assets exchanges in the world. In just

three years, Binance’s business model, which includes

executives interacting daily with the community, has

helped it scale to more than 15 million users.

 

Related: The Digital Dollar's Global Potential For

Entrepreneurship

 

Yi was kind enough to provide insight into her journey,

along with practical advice that entrepreneurs can use to

start growing a community for their personal brand or

business.

 

1. Community marketing is cost-effective and impactful

Community management and marketing is a mentality

more than a strategy. It’s about focusing on users and

developing activities and actions around it. Community

marketing includes livestreams (AMA sessions), webinars

and social listening and engagement. It is important to

note that community building is not an overnight task; it

takes testing and patience.

 

Yi explains, “Building a community takes time and it’s

worth it. Personal connections with a community is vital to

ensuring continued growth. That includes responding to

issues and taking feedback into action which require

strong collaboration with customer support and product

teams.”

 

This cross-functional effort might seem challenging, but it

can be organized and is typically very profitable when

done right. Yi adds, “It is significantly more cost effective

to organize an AMA session with the CEO or executive,

which allows customers to connect with the company and

address issues or new products, than broadcasting noisy

ads.”

 

2. Community engagement gives companies authenticity

and loyalty

The best way to create a meaningful community is to

remain authentic. Transparency builds trust, both between

a company and users and within a user base, compounding

to strengthen the community over time.

 

Even more impactful is when a key executive is part of this

plan. At Binance, CEO CZ (Changpeng Zhao) is famous

for being extremely active on Twitter, where he interacts

and responds with thousands of people. Yi says this

interaction is vital and “allows customers to have a

personal connection with a company that translates to

higher engagement and loyalty.”

 

For companies without a public-facing executive, focusing

on micro-interactions helps humanize a company and its

mission. According to Yi, “Community marketing requires

knowing what your customers need and care about, and

what they don’t care about too. Ultimately, focus on

customers to deliver products and services they want, need

and will like.”

 

3. Strong community marketing brings brand-activation

and innovation

Strong community marketing activates a brand by

bringing more awareness and more meaningful exposure

and customer experiences. According to Nielsen, 92

percent of customers believe suggestions from friends and

family more than advertising. This word-of-mouth

marketing is the most powerful marketing tool a company

can have as it comes from a user, not an advertisement or

the company directly.

 

In the world of digital-asset exchanges, competition is

fierce, and users have no shortage of options. This is where

brand activation can be the critical differentiator. Yi says,

“When a brand is activated, customers are more engaged

and become more long-term customers. Strong community

marketing also brings more personable and emotional

connections to its customers which helps activate brands.”

 

Related: 8 Smart Ways to Analyze Crypto Token Before

Investing in It

 

4.Timely community management makes great customer

service

In 2019, Binance experienced a $40 million hack that set

off panic amongst the entire industry. Rather than cower

away, the company took proactive actions to quickly admit

there was a security incident. Even more important,

Binance had a contingency plan (#SAFU fund) in place

that allowed them to cover the incident in full so no user

funds were affected.

 

Outside of extreme events like this example, communities

are where customers often turn to for quick customer

service. Entrepreneurs can use their community as a way

of product iteration and improvement by monitoring

common requests. As CMO, Yi is responsible for making

sure the community management teams are actively

engaged with product teams.

 

“When this approach is optimized, it ensures the delivery

of community-driven products and services that cater a

company’s core, its users/customers," she sums up. "Great

products and services are built by communities, not a

one-directional approach.”