Success of Communities
A brand that has formed a community of users is most likely a brand that has built a strong and loyal customer base. In today’s digital landscape, some of the most beloved brands, like Canva and Notion, continues to soar and achieve great success, not just because of their amazing and innovative products, but also because they continue to support and make their communities thrive. If you were to ask me, a brand’s community is arguably one of the best ways to organically grow your following and establish lasting brand loyalty.
Getting inspiration from Canva and Notion’s communities
Canva has cultivated a network of millions of community members globally. From actual designers, to teachers and students, it is really easy for one to learn how to use Canva. It’s gotten a lot easier to learn, thanks to the creative and supportive community Canva has fostered throughout the years. Their community empowers members to connect, share their designs, and even spill their newly discovered hacks to one another. It not only makes Canva more fun and easy to use, but it also helps each member get better in their design-making skills in general. In fact, did you know that creators can submit their Canva-made designs and turn them into templates that others can use? Absolute genius! Through this, they are also empowering their employees to be more efficient and even form bonds with the community as they help them with their work.
Notion is took the same route as Canva pretty early on. At first glance, Notion can be daunting, given that you are provided a blank page for you to create whatever you want. To some, this is exciting as they can do as much customization as they want, while for other, it can be nerve wracking, unsure where to start. For the early users that cracked the code, they are quick to help those new to Notion. Starting organically via platforms like Reddit and Discord, these users shared their templates and their tips to beginners and as soon as people realized Notion’s power, the community started to grow and it snowballed from there.
The importance of integrating community into one’s strategy
Customer engagement and retention: Having an engaged community leads to higher customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. It’s a great avenue to get people excited about any new features launching soon and even get feedback on how to better improve your product/platform. The more you engage, the more hooked they are, the lower churn rates.
Competitive advantage: A strong community breeds authentic brand advocates who are ready to sing praises about your brand/product to others. This boosts organic growth and activates a hard working word-of-mouth initiative to the company, thereby differentiating the brand from crowded markets
Business impact: A company with an active and highly engaged community reaps tremendous benefits. Its impact to the business includes increased revenue, a sustained (and organically growing) loyal consumers, enhanced brand value, and even paving the way for accelerated growth.
The success of brands like Canva and Notion proves the power of communities. It’s not just a trend that companies need to jump on, rather it’s becoming an essential component to stay relevant and foster great relations with its customers. Investing in building and nurturing a community empowers avid users to be their partners in growth and authentic brand advocates, something that’s hard to find nowadays, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence.
