Top tips: Using branded communities to seize control of social media

There’s no doubt that social networks have taken the world by storm during their relatively short existence, emphasised most recently with Facebook announcing its 500 millionth member. And with an ever-burgeoning number of online networks – and active users – many brands are actively seeking to integrate networks like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn into their marketing strategy. Neal Perry, Country Manager UK, Ireland & Middle East, EPiServer, offers a guide to getting the most out of branded communities.


The clever brands are going one step further. They already recognise the value of building online networks of active, interested fans and followers. They are expanding their activity outside of the established networks like Facebook and Twitter where they have little control, to create their own ‘branded online communities’ where they can really embrace the opportunity to engage in discussion and influence opinion with a targeted audience.
Building direct relationships
To be fair, for the brands that are just dipping their toes into social media waters, tapping into existing social networks can make a lot of sense. These networks provide instant access to a vast audience and an established framework in which to reach users.
But the challenge for brands on these networks is identifying a target audience and being able to speak directly to them in the midst of a lot of noise.
In contrast, communities that are managed and run by a brand, offer marketers the opportunity to focus a community very clearly around a certain issue or theme and where audiences can talk and engage freely.
Control over branding
And established social networks don’t only make it difficult to find a targeted, niche audience, they can also be restrictive for a brand in other ways. Page layouts and formatting are usually governed by the network itself, giving companies little opportunity to imprint their own personality and resulting in a generic look that often resembles that of other companies and competitors.
In contrast, a brand run community enables marketers to have more freedom over design and personality throughout and really project its values to the target audience. Such an approach can only help to create a direct bond between the company and the community.
One of our customers – Home Journal – is a magazine, read by more than half a million people every week in Sweden, with the majority of its readers being over 50.
It decided to launch a dedicated community within its website for cat lovers, www.kattsajten.se, which took only two days to build using standard functionality from EPiServer Relate+.
Initial functionality was limited to ‘my page’, uploading pictures and voting on others’ pictures, but this has now expanded to include features like celebrity cats, cat heaven, cat expert and cat talk.
Today it boasts over two thousand unique visitors a week and more than 25,000 uploaded images. Home Journal now charges higher advertising rates on this part of the site as it is a segmented interest group with particular interests. Its reach has also extended to younger age groups than for the main magazine, which has expanded Home Journal’s own readership and advertising reach.
And, as Home Journal demonstrates, a brand run community doesn’t have to be all about the company either. Many companies are building communities on a separate domain that they know will be of interest to their key audience. The branding is very subtle, but it allows the company to build an audience around that theme or niche and then use this community to drive traffic to the brand’s own website.
Community insights
The ability to draw insights from any social media campaign is a vital step in measuring success. The established social networks are increasing the amount of analytics that are built in to help brands – for example, Facebook provides a useful ‘insights’ panel and you can count the ‘likes’ on your YouTube videos – but the features are still relatively limited.
Administering your own branded community enables you to define your own key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure them accurately, without being governed by the restrictions of other networks. In doing so, you can achieve rich information to inform your community strategy, ensure you invest in the right marketing efforts and develop your approach with the target audience.
Integrating social media
There is no reason for branded communities to work in isolation, however. As with any marketing strategy, the trick with social media is to put together an integrated approach that will meet clear objectives and focus on the right online environment where your brand can achieve those goals.
Established social media networks have their place in any marketing strategy, but if your objectives include gathering insights into customer behaviour, developing brand affinity, extending reach and improving sales, then branded communities most certainly deserve attention and consideration.
By Neal Perry
Country Manager UK
Ireland & Middle East
EPiServer
www.episerver.com/
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