Modern customer expectations have dramatically changed over the past few years. Although the pandemic certainly influenced customer behaviour in many ways, customers were already trending towards transparency and social responsibility from the companies they patronized. Creating content that shares your values and mission can bring your audience together to support your brand. Here are some ways to create connections to your audience through content marketing.
What Is Community Focused Content?
Community can be defined as “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” Copywriting that makes an effort to connect with your audience is community focused content. You may already be doing that on some level because content is supposed to be relevant to the reader. Community focused content tends to be consciously more inclusive and personal. It’s not just focused on selling products and services, but on showcasing your brand’s values and mission. Delivering this type of content requires greater skill, but the rewards are certainly worth hiring the best copywriters for the job.
Creating Community Focused Content
Your content writers may need to rethink their techniques and copy structure to create community focused content. But doing so will help set up your brand to grow with your community. In the 1930s, John Deere refused to repossess farm equipment from farmers in dire financial straits. Although the company lost money, it gained brand loyalty by extending financing and delaying payments. John Deere knew about community focused content long before it was a ‘thing’.
Create a Platform Around Your Community
Lego Ideas does this very successfully for their audience. You can use any of your social media platforms to create a group that brings your customers together and offers an avenue for your organization to learn more from them. Will it take time to grow the community? Yes, it will, and you’ll probably need someone dedicated to nurturing the group to get it to take off. The benefits will pay off by way of greater relevance and enhanced brand loyalty, as well as a better customer experience.
Write for Specific Personas
If you haven’t created buyer personas, this might be the time to take on that project. Instead of creating content for everyone, you create content for a specific type of person or group. By creating content that creates value for a particular group, you get more customer engagement. You may want to be a one-stop shop, but your customer doesn’t approach content that generically.
Give Your Community the Spotlight
People love to talk about themselves. Invite your community to contribute to your content. Interview members of your community about how your brand fits into their life. Lego gives their community a chance to become a Lego designer. They offer contests and ways to share creativity. Invite your audience to come into your world.
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Resources:
- https://www.brightspot.com/learn/articles/the-importance-of-community-focused-content
- https://uplandsoftware.com/kapost/resources/blog/community-driven-content/
- https://www.duel.tech/blog/community-based-marketing-guide-including-tactics-and-examples
- https://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2021/44584/the-case-for-community-based-marketing-in-2021