Community Based Marketing: What It Is, Why It Matters & How To Do It

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.”
– Coretta Scott King

We all want to be understood. 

We all want to belong. 

We all want a tribe. 

I know this might sound like the beginning of a self-help book, but it’s the truth. You don’t have to look too far to see our constant desire for connection. And after the disruption of the past two years, people are increasingly turning to online communities for both personal and professional connections. 

You see it on Instagram with the countless number of selfies people share. You can see it on Reddit and X (formerly known as Twitter) with the plethora of subcultures and communities gathering. You can see it in Facebook groups where people come together to discuss topics they care about with people who have similar interests & values. 

It’s going to sound very harsh (and somewhat ridiculous), but this need for community is also an opportunity. And it’s an opportunity that many marketers and brands have already started to take advantage of to build passionate followings & customer base. 

Let’s start with the first and most important question:

What is community-based marketing?

Community-based marketing is the strategy of creating a space where people feel like they belong and can identify with the overarching idea behind the space. 

The space can be both physical or digital in nature and is rooted in collective contributions from members. The group strives to help one another through discussion, feedback, answering questions, communal coaching, support, and celebrating one another. Brands benefit from being associated with these communities when there is audience alignment, and the community is made up of their key stakeholders.

Right now there are dozens of people (or thousands, if you’re lucky) who you would identify as your target market, spending time discussing their interests and passions on Discord, Reddit, Facebook, or good old-fashioned web forums.

This is where you have an opportunity. 

One of my favorite places for uncovering and finding opportunities are Facebook Groups and Slack Communities. These are two channels that can drive significant ROI in both B2B and B2C industries.

Facebook Groups for Community Building: 

Slack Groups for Community Building:

Sounds great, right? But most marketers don’t realize the crucial reality behind successful community-based marketing: 

It’s a difficult process. 

Creating a community is not something that develops overnight, and it’s not something that can be forced to happen — it’s organic.  I’d argue that community-based marketing is one of the most difficult forms of marketing that a brand can undertake if they truly want to use it as a strategy for growth & retention. 

Can it happen?

No doubt. You can see the Salesforce ecosystem as a great example of community building in the wild. Salesforce has done a great job creating a community of like-minded people committed to a similar goal and creating a space for these individuals to collaborate and share. 

The community is strengthened beyond the digital footprint through things like Dreamforce and other physical events the company holds around the globe. Community members are so passionate about the industry that they hold their own smaller events on a local scale with the support of the Salesforce brand. 

There are a few ways your brand can approach community-based marketing: 

1. Join and become part of an existing community 
2. Create and foster your own community, branded or otherwise 
3. Sponsor existing communities that are relevant to your brand 

All three of these options are viable, and all three come with their own benefits and downsides. 

But remember: like most organic marketing strategies, it’s a long-term investment. 

Okay, now let’s talk a bit about each of these community based-marketing approaches and how they can play a role in your strategy as you strive to grow and strengthen your brand. 

1. Joining Industry Communities

Making connections to a new group of people can be uncomfortable, conjuring up major high-school vibes. But unlike those cliques, industry communities are generally full of people interested in expertise on a specific topic. They want to learn, vent frustrations, and build a network of pros. 

Go into communities where your audience is spending time and engage in a genuine, organic way. 

This means no salesy BS or obvious promotion. In addition to being ineffective or harmful to the brand, it’ll probably get you kicked to the curb. 

What is the best way to build your presence in a public slack community? Add a ton of value:

The best community strategy:

Add more value than expected.

Did someone ask a question on a topic in that Slack group or subreddit that you’re an expert in?

Go above and beyond with your reply. Include links. Share a loom. Be tactical. Give away a template.

Win.

— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) October 4, 2022

Find a balance between consistent posting and providing value to the community members. This can look like: 

• Answering questions in community chats, threads, feeds, and forums
• DMing members who fit the specific need of your product or service
• Applying feedback from these communities to your specific product 

Say your target audience is DevOps professionals. Well, you’re in luck; there are plenty of public Slack groups you can join to gain insights into the needs and wants of thousands of developers, including #devchat, DevOps Chat, Slash Rocket, and CodeNewbie. 

2. Building Your Community

Building your own community is one of the most daunting methods of leveraging community-based marketing. 

Luckily, there are plenty of examples of successful brand-built communities to study (and experienced marketers who help you break it down). 

For example, CockroachDB has created a successful Slack community with over 4,000 members across multiple channels, generating over 50,000 posts. What do they talk about in this slack channel? 

Notion is another example of a company that’s developed a thriving community. In this case, through Reddit.  

Notion is an interesting case for community-building because their subreddit is actually community-led — created, monitored, and visited by passionate users of the product. In this group, enthusiasts share everything from troubleshooting advice to appreciation posts to product templates. 

They even share content about features they hope Notion develops in the future: 

According to subredditstats.com, this group receives 48 posts and 111 comments every single day. And this group isn’t slowing down anytime soon:

Over the past two years, this community has grown from under 50K subscribers to 230K today — that’s nearly a 500% increase! 

CockroachDB and Notion are great examples of how companies with great products, strong branding, and an enthusiastic user base benefit from community-led marketing in different ways. 

3. Sponsor Existing Communities

Brands can also get involved in community-based marketing through sponsorships. 

Paying for content placement within popular, relevant communities lets you bypass the difficulty of creating and fostering your own group or getting drowned out in crowded public communities. 

• Collaborate with the owner of a community to create joint content like webinars or podcasts
• Pay for weekly placement of sponsored posts, like blogs, videos, and banners, within the actual community
• Co-sponsor an entire channel within an online slack community

Any members of the popular slack channel #agency-life will have a good idea of what effective community sponsorship looks like. (If you haven’t already, I highly recommend joining.)

This community is full of talented marketers working agency side across B2B and B2C, sharing tips, tricks, and tools they use to succeed. The channel features many sponsors, including email SaaS brand Campaign Monitor: 

Platforms like Twitch are another great avenue for getting your product in front of the right demographic through sponsorship. This is particularly true for the gaming community. 

As live streaming and esports continue to grow into a global phenomenon, more and more large brands are turning to tournament, event, and influencer sponsorships to connect with younger audiences. 

As they say, money talks. So, really, you have the opportunity to sponsor any community as long as you know the members are in need of your solutions and have strong branding to back up the sponsorship. 

Kickstart Your Community-Based Marketing

I know community-based marketing seems like a monumental task. And with all the other things you likely have going on, who has the time (or budget) to start browsing through Slack, Facebook, and Reddit groups?

But remember, it’s an investment. 

An investment in understanding the unfiltered wants, needs, and fears of your ICP.

An investment in positioning yourself (and your brand) as an authority and problem-solver. 

An investment in getting your branding and content featured in exclusive professional groups.

Now you know that community-based marketing is a long game. Whether you join, create, or sponsor a group, depends on your particular industry and customer base. As an Insider, you’ve got access to all the knowledge — now it’s time to make a strategy. 

Go get ‘em.