CUSTOMER MARKETERS: IT'S TIME TO GET REAL ABOUT ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Online communities work best as long-term customer marketing infrastructure that fuels advocacy, referrals, support, and product feedback instead of acting as another campaign or loyalty program. Build peer-to-peer spaces around a shared purpose and integrate them into the customer journey because customers will gather somewhere whether a brand hosts the conversation or not. Giffgaff's community building made members 248% more likely to refer a friend and drove significant new customer referrals. Strong communities also reduce marketing and support costs because members create content, answer questions, and identify advocates who can support case studies, events, and customer references.