Community is at the core of successful DTC ecommerce brands like Blume, Pura Vida Bracelets, Allbirds, Cuts Clothing, (and many more brands). All these recognizable brands started small and have grown into viable businesses thanks to an online community. If you’re wondering why you should consider building an online community, we have some news for you—a brand community is essential to your sustainable growth. Whether you’re a new ecommerce brand or have hit a plateau on growth.
Here are the top five benefits of building an online brand community.
1. Removes dependency on ads and promotions for traffic
There has been a deep reliance on ads to aquire customers to make that first purchase or simply create brand awareness. But what happens if you turned off your ads? Or suddently there was an outage where Meta prevented you from running those ads? Would your business continue to be top of mind for new and repeat customers?
We shop from our favorite brands because we have a relationship and history with them. We connect with a product, can’t live without it, or simply are engaged with the community by believing in its values. We shop with the brands we love because of how they make us feel, not because they continually give us a discount or wave an ad in our faces.
When you have a strong online community, it pulls people to your brand by tapping into what really motivates them — their emotions. This is done by connecting your brand to social causes, creating a mission statement for your brand, and even through a rewards program.
screenshot of pura vida bracelets instagram
Pura Vida Bracelets sells its customers on a feeling
Pura Vida Bracelets has been a staple jewelry and bracelet brand for instagram database Millennials and now Gen Z. Not only are they perfect with every look, but they have donated over $4 million to over 200 charity partners over the years. Their community is emotionally invested in how the brand makes them feel. Shoppers are motivated to shop, without a direct ad or promotion in sight.
Pura Vida Bracelets have special charity collections where they feature one organization and over the year have created limited edition bracelets where 100% of the proceeds go directly to various causes in response to an emergency. Customers will invest in your brand because your community represents the values your brand is all about, allowing you to sever your dependence on promotions and advertising.