7 Highly Effective Ways to Build an Online Community for Your Business

What is an online community?

An online community is a group of internet users who form a network around a shared interest. Conversations that would traditionally happen in person instead take place via social media or other internet channels among people worldwide. These days, online communities are most likely to form on a social media platform, such as a Facebook group, but they can also thrive in the comments section of a website or blog post.

How do online communities work?

Anyone with an internet connection can build an online community and invite members to join. Some communities have an approval process or specific membership criteria, while others are open to anyone. Once the online community is established, members contribute advice, ideas and commentary while connecting with other users and discussing shared interests.

Types of online communities

There are four primary types of online communities. Your brand and goals will determine which kind is right for your business. 

• Social communities: These communities are built on social media platforms. Businesses leverage them for marketing, building online brand awareness, and expanding their audience.
• Support communities: In support communities, customers provide help and guidance to other customers. This type of community is an effective way to lower customer support costs.
• Advocate communities: In brand advocacy communities, brands incentivize their most loyal customers to promote the brand online.
• Insight communities: In insight communities, businesses get feedback from longtime customers on how their products or services can improve.

How to build an online community

Take the following steps to start building an effective online community. 

1. Determine the purpose of your online community.

According to Luca O’Neill, head of growth marketing at Access Partnership in the United Kingdom, the first step in building an online community is to determine its purpose. “Establishing a clear and compelling purpose that fits the audience’s demands and the brand’s values is the most critical first step in creating a thriving online community,” O’Neill said. “Potential members should be motivated to join and remain involved in this goal, which should feel genuine and related to them.”

Kirill Bigai, co-founder and CEO of Preply, an online language learning platform, agreed that the key to success is to define your motivation. “[You must] establish a clear purpose that resonates with both the community members and the platform itself,” Bigai noted.

To define your community’s purpose, ask yourself these questions:

• What value will this community bring to its members?
• How does this community align with my brand’s mission and values?
• Is the primary goal to share knowledge, provide support, gather insights or promote advocacy?
• What specific problems or needs will this community address for its members?

For example, a fitness brand might create a community to share workout tips, recipes and success stories. A tech company might set up an online community where users can ask questions, troubleshoot problems and recommend solutions. 

2. Identify your online community’s target audience.

After you determine your objectives, the next step is to pinpoint your brand’s target audience. Who will join your online community? What demographic information defines your ideal members? For example, an established fitness brand may target the following community members: 

• New and potential customers who are looking for motivation, tips and advice
• Longtime customers who can share success stories, motivate newer customers and participate in challenges 
• Fitness enthusiasts who would make excellent brand ambassadors
• Niche groups, such as people who are interested in strength training, yoga or weight loss

3. Appoint team members to maintain and moderate the community.

Your online community needs a savvy team to maintain, monitor and support it. “Developing a thriving community requires an ongoing commitment from a team with a range of skills, each contributing to growth and well-being,” Bigai said.

You’ll need executive leadership to guide the community’s goals and marketing and communications professionals to establish and maintain conversational flow. “By encouraging the active involvement of staff members and influential people, businesses can show that they genuinely care about the community,” O’Neill explained.

Choose support team members who can carefully balance moderation duties with strategies to help members feel welcome and valued. “Members feel more included when acknowledged through positions, shout-outs, or showcasing member-generated content,” O’Neill said. “This method makes members feel appreciated, which promotes stronger bonds and creates an engaging, genuine community.”

4. Set your community’s rules and guidelines.

Firm guidelines are necessary to uphold the community’s purpose while ensuring honest-yet-respectful communication. O’Neill emphasized the importance of civil and productive conversations to maximize community engagement. 

“It is crucial to encourage [conversations] while preserving a good atmosphere,” O’Neill said. “Establish a set of fundamental principles consistent with the community’s mission, such as inclusivity, respect and constructive criticism. These principles should guide interactions and help set the tone for peer-to-peer discussions.”

When you’re creating your online community guidelines, consider the following goals: 

• Foster inclusivity. Ensure that all members feel welcome and valued, regardless of their background, perspective or experience.
• Encourage respectful communication. Promote civil and productive conversations by setting expectations for respectful interactions.
• Allow constructive criticism. Create a space for honest feedback while ensuring it remains constructive and aligned with the community’s mission.
• Define acceptable behavior. Clearly outline what types of content or behavior are prohibited, such as hate speech, harassment or spamming.
• Empower moderators. Encourage moderators to maintain a positive environment by guiding discussions as needed, without being overly restrictive. Moderators are essential to keeping a positive environment by “gently guiding discussions when necessary, without over-policing,” O’Neill noted.
• Support peer-to-peer discussions. Encourage members to engage with and help one another in line with the community’s mission and principles.
• Stay focused on the mission. Ensure that all guidelines are consistent with the community’s purpose, and uphold its tone and values.

5. Establish your online community’s success metrics.

What does success look like for your online community? Set the key performance indicators and benchmarks that will show how you’re faring. Here are some examples of online community success metrics: 

• Member growth: Track how quickly your community is attracting new members.
• Engagement levels: Monitor how often members interact with posts, share content or start discussions.
• Community activity: Measure the frequency of conversations, contributions and participation within the community.

According to O’Neill, success goes beyond numbers. “Qualitative input brand effect analysis and engagement measurements are needed to measure community success,” he said. 

O’Neill also emphasized the importance of evaluating how well the community aligns with brand goals, like improved thought leadership, lead generation or brand loyalty. “Furthermore, monitoring how thought leader participation increases authority and trust can yield important insights into the community’s efficacy and be used to assess the return on investment of personal brand-driven interactions,” O’Neill said.

6. Choose a platform for your online community. 

Where will your online community reside? These are some popular options: 

• Facebook groups
• LinkedIn groups
• Other social media platforms
• Forums or discussion boards hosted on your website
• Platforms like Discord or Slack for more interactive communities
• Dedicated community platforms, such as Mighty Networks or Circle
• Custom-built platforms for fully branded and tailored experiences
• YouTube communities

The platform you select should cater to and support your business objectives. “The platform’s scalability, customization possibilities, and compatibility with current tools or systems are all critical business considerations,” O’Neill said. “Evaluating the platform’s user experience ensures users can easily interact, share and traverse it. Other essential factors to consider include privacy and data security, particularly if sensitive information is shared with the community.”

7. Launch and promote your online community. 

When your community is ready to go live, create a buzz around its launch. Here are some tips for a successful online community launch: 

• Announce the community’s launch. Use your existing marketing channels — including email newsletters, social media posts and your website — to announce the community and invite people to join. 
• Share the community’s benefits. Highlight the unique benefits of community participation, such as exclusive content, networking opportunities or access to special events.
• Provide an early-bird incentive. Consider offering an incentive for early members, such as a discount, a free resource or special recognition within the group. 
• Create a referral program. Encourage new members to invite others and actively participate to build momentum and engagement from the start. Reward referrers with additional perks. 

Best practices for building and maintaining an online community 

Consider the following tips and best practices to ensure your online community’s success. 

1. Embrace different commitment levels from members. 

Some members will actively participate in numerous conversations and share advice, while others may remain quieter. O’Neill advised embracing all contributions, fostering conversations, and encouraging members to engage in ways that feel natural to them.

“To create a community that seems more like a network of actual people than a corporate channel, a brand could encourage staff members to provide authentic insights and a range of viewpoints,” O’Neill suggested.

Take a cue from how translation app company Duolingo built a community to help its target audience learn languages. The platform invited users to contribute course content, with moderators ensuring the submissions met quality standards. Contributors were rewarded with recognition and tailored recommendations from Duolingo to support their personal goals, such as pursuing a job or college degree.

At the same time, course participants were so impressed with the app that they shared it with others, boosting Duolingo’s brand awareness and attracting more users. By empowering members at all levels of engagement, the company created a collaborative and loyal community that reinforced its mission.

2. Welcome and respect diverse perspectives.

If your business addresses sensitive or potentially divisive topics, foster a constructive environment by promoting understanding and bridging gaps between differing viewpoints. Encourage open-mindedness and respectful dialogue to create a space where diverse perspectives can coexist and thrive.

The experience of Deily.org is an example. Deily.org was a faith-based community platform that dealt with conflicting opinions about religion. To minimize heated arguments and misunderstandings, the site emphasized respectful sharing and constructive conversations. This approach allowed users to explore and learn about other religions from a grounded, inclusive perspective, thus fostering mutual understanding and meaningful dialogue.

3. Encourage users to create content.

Showcasing user-generated content is an excellent way to boost engagement while reducing marketing costs. Encourage users to share photos and videos of themselves and their families using your product in fun or creative ways. With users’ permission, feature these contributions on your website and social media channels to highlight authentic customer experiences.

A prime example of the power of crowdsourced content was My Starbucks Idea, a community platform that ran until 2018. The platform allowed users to submit and vote on ideas, leading to innovative solutions such as splash sticks, which prevent coffee from spilling through the lid’s opening. This approach generated creative ideas and fostered a sense of ownership and loyalty among Starbucks customers.

4. Let users educate one another about your products.

Community members can be excellent teaching resources, helping newer customers learn about your products and how to use them. Encourage this tendency by creating spaces where experienced users can share tips, answer questions and guide others.

An example of this approach is WordPress forums, where community volunteers contribute to the platform’s development and help users navigate its features. These forums are moderated by a community manager and other experts who actively answer queries about the platform, themes and plug-ins. By empowering users to educate one another, WordPress fosters a collaborative environment that builds trust, deepens user engagement, and strengthens the community.

5. Allow the community to influence your business.

Take advantage of community members’ valuable feedback, and listen to their needs to improve your products and services.

For example, despite being an unofficial community of Lego fans, Lugnet became a valuable resource even for Lego itself. While Lego markets primarily to children, adult fans on Lugnet shared their creations and collaborated on projects, showcasing innovative ways to use Lego products. Their contributions were so impactful that they helped Lego expand into new markets.

Thanks to its enthusiastic fan base, Lego established a working relationship with Lugnet users. These users continue to offer the company fresh insights and creative uses for its products, thereby influencing Lego’s strategies and product development.

6. Set and enforce community guidelines and boundaries.

Protecting your brand reputation is crucial, so it’s essential to appoint capable moderators and institute firm community guidelines. Moderators approve submissions, ban members when necessary, and help maintain healthy relationships between your brand and community members. By following the “SEE” method below, they will add value to your business.

• Support knowledge exchange. Allow users to disseminate information that aligns with your mission and business goals and provides value to all members.
• Encourage others to be visible online. Find ways to engage different types of users to build a vibrant community.
• Enable access to tools and resources. Offer a space for members to learn from one another, share experiences, and recommend resources that promote growth and success.

Benefits of building an online community for business

Here are some ways a branded online community can benefit your business:

• Easier, quicker connections with customers 
• A bolstered social media presence on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites
• Identification of top-tier customers as brand advocates who can use their social media presence to promote your business
• Access to ideas from loyal customers on how to improve your business, products and services
• Faster routes to potential new customers and a higher likelihood of retaining current customers
• Increased upselling and cross-selling opportunities 

According to O’Neill, fostering a sense of relatability and authenticity within your community is vital to building strong engagement. “Personal brands are highly effective in creating and maintaining online communities by contributing relatability, authenticity and knowledge,” O’Neill said. “A more engaging and affable community is produced when staff members or brand ambassadors actively participate through their brands.”

Andy Cuneo contributed to this article.