Brand communities are are an interesting way to foster customer loyalty. UM study, a division of IPG Mediabrands shows that 4 in 10 consumers belong to a community of online brand.

This practice occurs most frequently in the case of women (47.2%) and among the younger audience. 54.6% of young people between 16 and 24 years is a member of one of these communities, versus 33.4% of those over 45. This interest has gradually experienced growth and that seems to be setting a trend companies that do not yet have a brand community should consider.

Reasons that lead users to engage with brands

The main reason why users decide to join an online community is to benefit from any discounts, coupons or product samples (32.8%).

Besides the economic incentive, another third (31.3%) of participants in the UM study acknowledged his interest in learning more details about the product and keep informed about their news.

Being able to get free content also is a compelling reason for users to decide to link up with the mark (29.9%).

Other reasons are that respondents argue the fact support a cause or initiative you like it (29.3%), or appear particularly interesting to them, or is fashionable (26.5%), and even for fun (25, 1%), participate in a contest (25.1%) or maintain contact with that mark and to actively (23.5%) participate, while 19.9% used this approach in order to convey a problem or complaint to the brand.

These data qualify the conclusions provided in June by Syncapse, where he gathered that the main reason that led users to follow brands was to show support and loyalty (49%). In any case, should not underestimate the degree of loyalty and commitment to the brand by customers. The study published by Incyte and Get Satisfaction last year shows that 82.6% of members of these communities brand would be willing to act as brand advocate and recommend in its environment.

Another major problem of these communities is that private labels do not take their full potential. About half of clients (46%) aged between 18 and 25 years especially appreciate the incentives, loyalty programs and special offers, being customers. In contrast, only 36% admitted receiving some of these proposals really interesting and tailored to your needs. Another drawback is its lack of consistency with these initiatives. 85% of customers stated that, having become a member of a club of a brand, has not been given further information. On the other hand, 81% do not consider attractive advantages offered by this type of action.

Based on these findings we can see that brand communities are a way to connect and build customer loyalty, though still unexploited. According to the study by ComBlu, in 2012 only 19% of brands had a loyalty program of this type, a similar percentage collected the previous year.