Today, Community Management is an integral part of our vocabulary. But have you ever heard of its successor... Community Building? What is this new concept in full expansion, which gives birth to new professions of the future?
Why should Community Building become a priority for all B2B and B2C companies? In this new article, MeltingSpot takes you on a journey to discover Community Building and its importance. Let's discover it 👇
What's Community building?
Before anything else, let's see the definition of Community Building.
💡 Community Building translates to "community building" or "community construction". Its objective is the following: to create, improve and federate a community around a brand or a company.
This community can be BtoB or BtoC and gather different members: customers, employees, partners, future recruits, investors... Once all these members are gathered in a community, the Community Building strategy aims to engage and (really) animate the community.
The idea is also to identify the most active members, reinforce their sense of belonging and transform them into Ambassadors. From this point of view, the work of Community Building goes far beyond Community Management.
Ready to discover why (and how?)
Here is a clip of Mary O'Carroll at the CLG Summit 2023, telling us her 4 main principles when building a Community.
If you missed her session, don't worry! The full replay is available on The Community Lab.
From Community Manager to Community Builder: zoom on these jobs of the future
For the last ten years, the recruitment of Community Managers has exploded in companies. The main reason? The rise of social networks, as well as the importance of creating and managing communities (on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)
Until now, the role of the Community Manager was essentially centered around the acquisition of leads, and the deployment of the communication strategy. But today, "gaining subscribers" and participating in the infobesity effect on social networks is no longer the priority.
To develop a community strategy based on loyalty and engagement, it is here that Community Building becomes essential. Community Builders complete the work of Community Managers. In companies, these new recruitments become the cornerstone of a new strategy based on the relationship and loyalty of active communities, which sometimes go beyond the framework of social networks.
Indeed, if social networks are suitable places to gather and exchange, the interaction is often top-down. The Community Manager's mission is to communicate with a target audience through content and respond to various questions or comments... The Community Builder's mission will not necessarily be "one-to-many":
✅ His objective is not to feed an audience, by broadcasting different content.
✅ The Community Builder will work more to create transversal interactions, also called "many-to-many".
✅ He will then be able to create unity and a feeling of belonging so strong, that each member of the community will feel free to interact and become a content creator himself.
Thus, the core business of the Community Builder integrates notions of moderation, animation, but also communication and sociology in human and community behavior. To carry out all these missions and offer a successful experience within the BtoB or BtoC community, the ideal solution is to equip yourself with Community Centric tools, which offer concrete benefits to companies, Community Builders, and community members.
This is what MeltingSpot offers, thanks to a SaaS platform that allows you to create, animate and engage all types of communities (customers, prospects, partners, suppliers, etc.) over the long term:
3 tips from MeltingSpot for a successful community building strategy
You now know the definition and importance of Community Building, to facilitate the creation and animation of a community over time. Before you get down to business, by deploying your own Community Centric strategy, here are some tips from MeltingSpot's teams 👇
Do not confuse Community Building and Community Management
Remember: Community Building is not a strategy to replace Community Management... Just as the new Community Builder jobs are not intended to cannibalize the role of Community Managers!
🤝 They are two complementary approaches, that coexist within a BtoB or BtoC company. For example, the Community Builder can take on the definition of the Community Centric strategy (definition of objectives and content strategy, action plan to be implemented, organization of digital events, choice of digital tools to federate the community, etc.).
The Community Manager, on the other hand, can deploy all the operational actions, keeping privileged contact with the members of the community, thanks to the diffusion of relevant content, the answers to private messages or comments, the animation of certain social networks, etc.
Turn active community members into Ambassadors
A successful Community Centric strategy relies (in part) on the activity of the members who make up the community: are they all in action and interacting? Who are the Ambassadors, who contribute to sharing and creating value?
At the dawn of a new era where the community is in power and makes its Voice heard, it is essential for companies to identify the main spokespersons. Within a community, Contributors represent 3 to 10%, while "Creators" represent 0 to 3%, according to Gartner.
Next to the "silent majority", the Community Builder will then have to identify the most active members, and turn them into Ambassadors: these members are real allies of the company, ready to commit to its success 🚀
Choose the right platform for your community building strategy
From now on, multiplying subscribers on a social network is not enough. The goal is no longer to create a passive audience but to gather and engage an active community. And to achieve this, the most effective solution is to rely on a Customer Centric platform. So, to help companies create, animate, and engage a community over time, MeltingSpot offers an all-in-one tool.
💡 Our belief? To accompany companies in the deployment of their "Community based marketing" (CMB) strategy. This marketing strategy allows to gather a group of individuals around a common topic, to create strong community relationships and interactions.
💡 Our solution? We have launched the first event-community platform. With our solution, companies can create, animate and engage BtoB and BtoC communities, relying in particular on the organization of virtual and hybrid events. In one place, companies can carry out their community building strategy, avoiding the need to multiply secondary tools.
Ready to deploy your community building strategy?
Do you want to create, animate and engage a community in the long term? Don't wait any longer to lay the foundations of your community building strategy.
To support you, call on the new future profession of Community Builder while equipping yourself with an all-in-one platform like MeltingSpot.
