The best marketing most brands will ever get is people talking to each other about them in a space the brand doesn't control. Word of mouth. Comments sections. Group chats. The dark social that drives actual purchase decisions. And the more brands try to engineer this, the more they kill it.
I've sat in so many meetings about 'community strategy' where the entire plan is: create a branded space, seed it with content, incentivize participation, measure engagement. This is not community building. This is content marketing in a community costume.
I've sat in so many meetings about 'community strategy' where the entire plan is: create a branded space, seed it with content, incentivize participation, measure engagement.
Real community forms around shared identity and shared problems, not around brands. People don't wake up wanting to 'engage with' a mattress company. They wake up wanting to solve the problem of sleeping badly, and if other people who sleep badly are gathered somewhere useful, community happens organically.
The best community strategy I've ever seen was from a brand that simply... made an excellent product, showed up consistently, and then got out of the way when customers started talking to each other. No gamification, no UGC campaigns, no loyalty points. Just presence and trust.
Barnaby is meowing at me because his community strategy is simply being loudly present until I serve dinner. This is also a valid brand strategy.