“Community over Fanbase: Why Belonging Builds Stronger Brands”

Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé are just some of the artists who leaned into community building, not just gaining a fanbase, to grow their brand as artists. One way they did this was by giving their fans nicknames, like Beliebers or the BeyHive, making them feel like part of their artistry and their lives, not just passive followers. With community comes loyalty, and that’s a powerful marketing tool.

Building community has also become one of the top strategies in social media marketing. As Anthony Miyazaki says, “When people believe in your brand and in what your brand represents, they tend to transfer those representations to much of what you do with respect to products and services.” Having a loyal community, not just followers, is what takes you from being an influencer to being a profitable brand.

Take Krissy Cela as an example. She started posting workout videos in 2015 and quickly became one of the biggest social media fitness influencers. She built her community by consistently engaging with followers, answering their questions, and even visiting schools to teach young girls about fitness. Since then, she’s launched EvolveYou, a subscription-based workout app, and Oner Active, her workout apparel brand. She highlights the importance of customer feedback at every step, asking her community everything from design preferences to details, like whether they preferred heat-transferred or sewn logos. By involving her audience directly in the process, she’s turned followers into loyal customers who not only subscribe monthly to her app, but also rush to grab every new Oner Active drop.

So, the question is: how are you using community building to scale your brand and create a loyal audience?