Brand Community and Why It Should Be A Priority for Travel Brands
What is Brand Community?
A brand community is a collective group of individuals that are emotionally invested in your brand. More than a target audience, a brand’s community is an active participant in the brand narrative. These individuals are ADVOCATES that will praise your brand to friends, families and coworkers. Brand Strategist Anthony Miyazaki explains that when people believe in what your brand represents, they tend to transfer those representations to much of what you do with respect to products and services.
Why are Brand Communities important for travel brands?
Building a community is important for all types of brands. However, in an industry where competition is fierce, the benefits of band community are especially significant. Many travel brands have social media accounts across various platforms where they connect with both current and potential customers. Some benefits of connecting via brand community include customer loyalty in the form of repat bookings, customer commitment making it harder to switch to a competitor, and increased brand awareness as the community grows and expands its’ reach.
People reward brands who build creator communities.
No really, they do! A post pandemic study by Stackla shows us that 43% of consumers are more likely to continue engaging with a brand if it shares their photo or video. Additionally, 62% of consumers are likely to join a brand community to actively help create content for the brand. Social media marketing provides a great opportunity for community building. Essentially a community building tool, social media gives you the ability to facilitate conversation with your brand community and listen and learn from them. Let’s look at an example of how this can and does work in real life.
#LoyaltoRoyal
Through continuous adaptation and innovation, Royal Caribbean Group has established themselves as a leading cruise line. In an ever-changing travel industry, being relevant and top of mind for your consumers is key for success and growth. Royal Caribbean has evolved their marketing strategy to incorporate the use of social media platforms and influencer partnerships. This focus has allowed the brand to leverage both reach and influence of well-known social media personalities and create authentic content that both inspires and educates target audiences.
Chances are that you’ve seen Royal’s digital marketing on social media. More than just showcasing luxurious accommodations and bold adventures through visually compelling content, Royal engages with their brand communities. By leveraging interactive features on social media, such as a poll to name their next ship, they not only involve but get consumers INVESTED in their brand before ever setting sail.
