How Do You Engage the Community? Organize Online Challenges!

How Do You Engage the Community? Organize Online Challenges!

utworzone przez | | BUSINESS, COMMUNICATION

Building a community around the brand is one of the most important tasks a company has to face today. Customers are becoming more demanding, less involved, and thus very often, „temporary”.

You don’t have to convince anyone that it’s better to keep a current client than to look for a new one. Creating a community around the brand, however, is neither a simple nor a quick solution. I have already written about how to build it here and here.

The worst time related to the pandemic is behind us, but the vast majority of us still work online. The days when almost all of us worked in offices are gone. According to the research company Gallup, in 2022 as many as 53% of employees will perform hybrid work. This will certainly translate into consumer behavior, whose commitment to brands will be visible primarily on the Internet. The vision of a committed group of people who follow our activity, comment on it, and willingly participate in our projects is tempting, and certainly, many of us dream about it. Below, I present some factors that determine the establishment of such communities and give you some tips that will help you create their foundations. I believe that they will prove helpful despite general fatigue and jadedness with online work.

Let’s start with the most important question: what do you do to start building a community around your brand?

Where to Start Building a Community

 

1. Define a common goal and values that you want to follow, and that will attract other people.

Are you a fan of healthy food? Perfect!

Show your community that this is an important topic for you. By sharing your knowledge, show what your healthy approach to nutrition is—describe what you eat every day and what tricks and techniques you have to improve things. Show your actions behind the curtain.

Is your company engaged in creating online stores, and do you want to go to a higher level of service and standards in e-commerce? Show examples of your work regularly, ask about the experiences of others, and share your thoughts.

A few years ago, we organized events under the name of Wenusjanki (Venusians). Cyclical meetings were held in Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Tri-City, Kielce, and Poznan. Their main goal was to present interesting people who worked in three areas: business, fashion, health, and beauty. Meetings were organized exclusively for women, and each time attracted crowds of women who wanted to learn about interesting issues related to these areas. Over 2,500 women attended our events every year!

 

2. Find a place for your community.

It can be, for example, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube. This should be the space you like, feel comfortable in, and where you can meet many people who represent your views and values. Your task will be to gather interested people and provide them with appropriate content regularly.

However, I advise against persuading others to switch their platform. Even when you know that a person prefers Instagram to Twitter, don’t focus on it. You will needlessly devote time and energy to this, and the effect cannot be assured. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it’s better to paint it in patterns that you like.

 

3. Take on common challenges.

Every community has its challenges! If you are interested in sports, you may often have a decrease in motivation, or, on the contrary, you are looking for people with whom you will also be able to train. Or maybe you want to ask about diet or health issues because when you do specific exercises, you feel pressure in the body and want to know if others have similar ailments. Or do you just want to be sure that you are doing the exercise correctly?

Talking openly about passions or the pros and cons of advertising methods, using selected platforms, and showing how to deal with them are plenty of reasons to create a community.

And here we come to a very, very important aspect of building it. No community is created just to celebrate something together. People have been gathering for generations to grow and support themselves. When planning the development of your community, ask yourself what kind of problems arise from a given job, technology, or service. Looking at what people you care about are struggling with shows how you handle similar challenges. And so, we move on to the next point about community building.

 

4. Create an opportunity to get to know each other and identify each other.

The more we allow others to get to know each other, to talk about common values and experiences, the greater and more integrated our community will become. We do not know when events will return on the same scale we know from before the pandemic. Relations between the participants of such meetings were replaced indefinitely by contacts on social networks. The space under the posts, or during the open webinars, became a place as important as the pre-pandemic conference room.

In addition, it is ideal when people can name themselves and define themselves as members of a group. That is why this last point is equally important here.

 

5. Use names to identify yourself as a member of the community.

After some time, the participants of the Wenusjanki meetings began to call themselves that. We’re Venusians, they said! It was assumed that a Venusian is an active woman, eager to learn new things and meet new people. We are currently creating the Strong Women in IT community, i.e., women who create Polish and global technologies.

But it is enough to look at other people to notice that this mechanism really works well; Michał Szafrański has Financial Ninja, Ewa Chodakowska has members of Chodagang, and Pani Swojego Czasu has women interested in managing their time more efficiently.

The same thing is true in many other aspects of our lives: I am a runner, a karate fighter, a singer, a politician, an entrepreneur. Naming yourself is an important aspect of your sense of identity. I encourage you to take advantage of this need also at home.


Online Challenges as a Way to Engage the Community!

 

Now that we have summarized what is needed to build a community around your brand, let’s focus on one issue that has recently been particularly visible on the Internet: challenges.

I honestly admit that I am delighted with how some people have gotten to the master level of this kind of community activation.

An example is #fighterchallenge by Anna Lewandowska. The challenge encouraged active training. During the challenge, meetings with experts were held, and nutritional and healthy lifestyle advice was presented. For me, it is a win because…

  • it promotes the Sportswoman app,
  • it shows the people who work with her, so it is not only a challenge, but it also shows appreciation to others,
  • it promotes the catering service she offers.

There are certainly even more business benefits. What is particularly worth paying attention to is the name—anyone who faces their weaknesses wants to see a fighter, a person who does not give up easily and fights to the end. When we face a challenge that means changing our habits and lifestyle, and putting in the physical effort; the name can strengthen our perseverance to the end.

This should be accompanied by showing the efforts of others and their transformation. It’s very motivating to see the woman who joined the challenge lose three or four kilos in the process. “If she could, then so can I.” (This is an interesting way to present Point 4 of the principles of community building—we show other ordinary people who are with us in this challenge; we are not alone.)

A similar mechanism is also used by Ewa Chodakowska in her #body&mind.

animacje filmowe

What Speaks in Favor of Creating Such Challenges? Why Is It Worth It?

 

1. They make us better.

It can be a monthly course in writing SEO-friendly texts, setting up Facebook ads, or creating communication in webinars. You can select any challenge and translate it into an interesting one for your target group activity. There is only one condition: they should help us acquire a new skill or improve our current skills.

 

2. It develops a sense of identification with the brand.

If someone teaches us something, we start to trust them more and believe in the effectiveness of the services they offer.

 

3. Challenges are defined in time.

That is why you will be able to verify their impact on your business relatively quickly. Has the number of orders, inquiries, or recommendations increased?


If you want to develop the community around your brand, write to me. We can plan activities tailored to your needs.

 

Fot. Unsplash oraz archiwum prywatne agencji Come Creations Group 

6 Things to Keep in Mind When Creating a Community

6 Things to Keep in Mind When Creating a Community

utworzone przez | | COMMUNICATION

I would compare community building to mountain climbing. In the beginning, often our dream peak seems distant and difficult to reach. But with each step, we see that we are getting closer and closer, and the trees at the bottom are getting smaller. And so, step by step, we reach the dream mountain. There’s no shortcut here. This process must be done according to what the environment is telling us.

What is there to remember when you start your adventure with community building? Whether it’s building a community around a person or a topic, the following tips should work for each of you.

1. Designate a permanent place of communication

In the beginning, we should choose a space where our group can be kept up to date with what is happening.

It can be a channel on social media (or even a few), mail, or even a permanent event space. You choose a place based on where you find people who are interested in you, what resources you have available, and what your goals are. The most important thing in all of this is consistency.

Chaos, which is a situation in which you once post on your Facebook profile, then suddenly send a letter by mail, and then do an Instagram story, may turn out to be too expensive. At first, it’s better to choose fewer channels and manage them well, rather than try to be on every platform.

2. Be systematic

Communication with your community should be directed towards building a habit. And this is created through regular activities. By sharing content every day, you’re getting used to the content you create. Regularity is essential here. I even noticed the need for regularity in my surroundings, for example by observing activities on Instagram. If people who publish regularly suddenly stop, I feel very surprised. I wonder what happened. I see the need to find out what’s going on with them right now. And that is their strength!

During the partnership with Venture Café in Warsaw, I conducted authorial interviews called “Women”! I talked to absolutely exceptional women about their beginnings in business, the biggest lessons, and their goals. From the very beginning, the organizers have focused on building communities around this project. All interested parties knew when and where the meetings were taking place.

If someone asks about the recommendation of interesting events in the field of innovation in Warsaw, it is known that I can always offer something.

Therefore, be systematic, systematic, and, once again, systematic 🙂

3. Create a symbol that identifies the community

There are plenty of these symbols in our daily lives. The well-known Apple’s bitten apple image or the Nike “swoosh.” In my opinion, Martyna Wojciechowska’s partnership with the W. Kruk brand was great. I liked the Freedom collection the most—wings, compass, hawk. Symbols that, on the one hand, have their meaning, and on the other hand, leave room for each of us to give our own meaning. At the same time, they are beautifully related to the ambassador’s personality, her daily work, and her motivations. By owning such jewelry, a person can find what is missing in their life or demonstrate what is important to them.

6 rzeczy, o których warto pamiętać przy tworzeniu społeczności

 
4. Communicate your values clearly

The beginnings of community building seem easy. We know what’s important to us, what drives us. However, over time, a crisis may come. On the one hand, it may seem to us that we talk about something so often that it makes no sense to repeat it. People in our circle need to know these things. However, here we forget that new people may still be appearing, and it is because of them that it is worth repeating some things.

6 rzeczy, o których warto pamiętać przy tworzeniu społeczności

 

On the other hand, the values that are important to us could become blurred. Something that was important to us at the beginning becomes commonplace and is no longer something special. It also happens that our values change, which is not a bad thing in business. It is then that the accusations appear, such as „sellout,” or „he/she is no longer the same as he/she used to be.”

I encourage you to observe your communication during this time. Continually emphasize what is important to you, and what motivates you. And when the change comes, speak boldly of it. This is always fairer and creates an opportunity to start an interesting discussion, to start a dialogue.

5. Express yourself and listen to feedback

The community is not made of one-sided communication. It is a dialogue, and it is worth being aware of it from the beginning. The community requires its creators to be open to feedback. Not everyone will always be comfortable with what we are doing, and will have their own different expectations, often emphasizing it and informing us about it. But that’s the kind of living community that’s the best test group there is. The ideal situation assumes that you will be able to send information to specific people, that they are the first ones who can check if everything works or does not work as it should, even before wider distribution. This can be a great distinction for them, and for you, it will be valuable feedback and information on what needs to be improved.

You can count on the brutal honesty of the group members. However, when you listen to their suggestions and implement them, you will gain dedicated users. You’ll give them a sense of agency. Co-creation is a wonderfully engaging element.

6 rzeczy, o których warto pamiętać przy tworzeniu społeczności

 
 6. Organize meetings

Nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting. Despite the huge number of communication platforms, most of us are happy to meet with others in real life. I observe this daily, and I see that even though people talk to each other through instant messengers, a live meeting allows them to raise issues that go beyond the current topic of conversation.

People are social beings, and often a sense of belonging to a given community can be seen during the conference. Events can integrate strongly, open your eyes to other opportunities for cooperation, and encourage you to talk more openly.

For how to organize them, you can read here and here.

When building your community, try to create conditions for your community to meet. Whether by opening a new store or launching a new app, or maybe by a hackathon. You have plenty of options here. Test and see which one works best for you. And if you don’t want to do it yourself, contact me 🙂

How Do You Build a Community Around a Brand to Sell More?

How Do You Build a Community Around a Brand to Sell More?

utworzone przez | | COMMUNICATION

I’ve always believed in groups. It’s in groups where important, interesting, and sometimes intriguing topics are discussed. I trusted that there was strength behind them, and looking at how the modern business looks today, I was not wrong.

When we look at the best-performing companies, especially those directing their offer to individual customers, we notice that they all strive to build a community around their products.

Through various activities, they try to attract and keep us as long as possible. Why? To put it bluntly—building a community pays off! In this material, I will tell you why and give you tips on what to remember when you create your own.

To Build a Community Means to Spend Time on It

A lot of time, actually. It won’t happen overnight, just like you won’t make a friend overnight. And often, building such friendly relationships within the community is aimed in this direction.

Looking at various brands, we will see that they are largely addressed to women. For what reason? There are a lot of factors behind this, but the key here seems to be the need to build bonds, to belong. Women, more often than men, admit that they like and want to be part of a group. Of course, that doesn’t mean men do not also.

When we look at groups on Facebook, we will immediately notice how many women’s organizations are there. They allow you to talk, exchange opinions, and share your thoughts. This is how women establish real relationships: by talking. The more intimate and difficult the topics are, the stronger the bond between the women is formed.

The need for bonding is one of the four needs that make the economy work in this way and not in another. It is worth taking it into account when creating your communication campaigns.

How to Build a Community Around the Brand

Observing various communities, I noticed that two models of their design can be distinguished.

The first is based on the personal branding of the leader.

The second gathers others around common topics.

Jak budować społeczność wokół marki by sprzedawać więcej

How is the First Model Created?

Here, the first place is taken by the leader. A person who, with charisma, passion, and commitment, convinces others of what they believe, and what is important to them.

Such a person strongly emphasizes their values, and over time begins to gather around themselves people who are similar. Such a person can inspire and educate them.

This model is also associated with our search for a “role model,” someone you can refer to or whose example you can follow. Sometimes such a person is a point of reference – „Yes, I want to be like them!”

You can read about how to work on your personal branding to build a community here and here.

The more reliable, coherent, and interesting a role model seems, the more they will attract others. The disadvantage of such a model of community building is the so-called „human factor.” For one thing, knowing that others look at what a person does and the risk of a setback does not always help. For another thing, you need to sense the moment when it no longer matters who is a leading model in a given project. Suddenly, the project can begin to live its own life and have a chance to survive even without the person behind them.

The next step is to recognize the needs of the emerging community, understanding their motivation and concerns. Then, we are only one small step away from creating a product, i.e., trying to monetize and scale our values.

You can make money from speeches, meetings, and consultations—however, only the scale gives real development opportunities. Look at the influencers. They are not limited to creating materials in their social media channels, but they market products that they first present to the communities they create, and they are usually the first tester and buyer of new products and then become their ambassador. Clothes, books, restaurants, cosmetics, jewelry. There’s a lot of it. The longer I look at it, the more I wonder what makes the product successful.

For me, a brilliant example of such a strategy is Anna Lewandowska, who leads her community like a pro. In the National Court Register, I found information about six companies she is involved in. But she has a lot more products. What is very striking is the consistency and complementarity of what she introduces to the market; here we have snacks, a cafe, a sports center, trips, sports camps, a training app, clothes and accessories for children, and cosmetics. No wonder that in 2021, Wprost magazine valued her assets at 231 million PLN.

It’s safe to assume that her marriage helped her. It certainly gave a completely different start. But there are a lot of well-known soccer players’ wives who have not achieved such business success. In my opinion, they do not build communities around themselves as effectively as Anna does. Her financial results speak for themselves.

Jak budować społeczność wokół marki by sprzedawać więcej

The Second Model

The second model of community building does not focus directly on a man who, like the sun, attracts others to orbit him. It’s the topic and issues relevant to the selected group that are important here.

This approach will work very well in B2B. The key is to define the problems of the group people are interested in and prepare a product that will respond to them.

It can be an event you organize, a book, an ebook, or anything you think is best for the situation.

We created one of these communities for Hubraum; you can find the details here.

The topic of how to build, develop, and create products around the community is particularly close to my heart, which is why I will certainly talk about it more here. If you think it would be useful for your company, contact me. I will try to help you.

 

How to Communicate Hardware Products to the World?

How to Communicate Hardware Products to the World?

utworzone przez | | COMMUNICATION

Hardware products are associated with things that are very complicated, technical, and inaccessible to most. Of course, advertising is always tailored to a particular target group, but how do you reach other potential customers? How can you communicate seemingly difficult things? I will answer these questions in this post.

I have been working in the field of new technologies for over 10 years. During this time, I have encountered many communication situations. This is how we came up with the idea of creating a series of articles about how to start communicating selected solutions and how to use what is the most fascinating in them. I also hope that you will get the most out of my tips and that using them will help you in your daily work.

I open this series with hardware-based solutions, which relate to a situation in which the company sells tangible products. These can be watches, sensors, robots, or drones. The organization may also have software that they use to transfer, analyze, and collect specific data. It does not matter whether they wrote it themselves or whether they use available open-source solutions.

Step one: Decide what you’re really selling

I noticed that the biggest problem in the communication of hardware-based solutions is that it is prepared by people who often created these solutions who speak advanced, technical language. It’s hardly understandable to the common person.

It is very easy to recognize such materials. In the product descriptions on the website, we can see the product parameters and information on what elements it was prepared from. However, insufficient attention is paid to how it works.

If we use such content in B2B messages, the other party will not see the business benefits of a partnership. There’s no answer to the most important question: Why should someone buy it? Is it because you’re selling technology, or rather because you’re selling an improvement in the speed of work given by the technology?

Jak komunikować światu produkty hardware

 

Step two: Be sure who is the recipient of your product – who buys it?

Is your client a person who moves perfectly in the meanders of technological solutions, or an average newcomer who knows that he has a problem and is hoping you can solve it?

Modern entrepreneurs have plenty of areas to learn. They constantly need to improve their competencies. If you create clear, simple information in the message that will explain how this solution will help them streamline or speed up processes in the company, it will certainly increase your competitiveness in the market.

Step three: Select the tools to best explain product functionality.

Often, the solutions offered by our customers are a total revolution. They change the way we live and do things. A similar situation occurs when the product guarantees solutions in an industry that has so far had little to do with innovation.

In each of these examples, the communication tool that I strongly recommend is video. A video in the promotion has a lot of advantages. For one thing, it reduces the time it takes to explain how technology works. Well-recorded material also helps to present possible applications, educates about functionalities, and answers frequently asked questions. And it saves time, which I don’t think any of us have in excess today. An interesting video form to consider is animation. We have also used this type of message: 

Step four: Take a creative approach to communication in the media.

Hardware has the advantage over software in that you can touch it and see how it works. In the case of software, we often have to imagine how it can help us. In hardware communication, tangibility is the greatest force for me.

You can organize a press conference at which you show in a creative way how your robot works. Perhaps it is worth creating a virtual map on which journalists will move, following the signals sent by the sensors.

Ideas could be multiplied. The point is to look at your own product in such a way as to see something more than obvious uses. Sometimes, to arouse interest, it is worth looking for a less predictable and more surprising solution.

Jak komunikować światu produkty hardware

Step five: Don’t be afraid of trade fairs – have an idea.

A fair is an event that hardware developers can treat as their real holiday. I wrote here about how to prepare for participation in an event fair.

With a tangible product, you can do a lot. The only thing that limits you is your imagination. Maybe your robot will hand out pens and notebooks? And another one could give out business cards or invitations for coffee.

It all depends on the time you have to prepare for such an event and idea. The rest is mainly a matter of smooth execution.

Jak komunikować światu produkty hardware

Step six: Act!

Communication is often like a business model. Different approaches, tools, and methods need to be tested here.

Unfortunately, there are no ready-made solutions that always work the same way everywhere. Each time we have a different amount of time at our disposal, we have a different target group and a different situation on the market. The most important thing is to act and draw conclusions.

Pay attention to which form of product storytelling arouses the most interest. You’ll see which is the best place to invest extra funds. You will also see who most often asks about possible implementations, who is interested in such communication, and what do customers pay the most attention to? That is what needs to be emphasized.

Analyze the data and conclude. Act! Good luck.

And if you are looking for someone who can help you or take over your communication duties, contact me! 🙂