7 Community Branding Strategies For SaaS Businesses

Creating and building a brand community around your SaaS product offers A LOT of possible benefits.

A strong community of loyal users can help to drive more word-of-mouth marketing, increase customer satisfaction, and provide valuable feedback.

What’s more, it could even help boost your SaaS company valuation and make it easier to attract potential investors.

However, it’s not as simple as just setting up an online community page on your website or on a social media platform. To get the most out of community building, you need to have an effective community branding strategy in place.

In this article, we will cover the different steps you need to take in order to create a successful community branding strategy for your SaaS product

But first, let’s take a closer look at what community branding really means.

What Is Community Branding?

Let’s take “community” and “branding” separately.

As most people are already aware, a community is a group of people with common interests, goals, and values.

On the other hand, branding is the process of creating a unique identity for your product or company. It involves using different techniques, such as logos, taglines and visuals, in order to make your product stand out from the competition.

Therefore, community branding is when you combine these two concepts together: You create a community around your brand by having an engaging community page or social media presence that allows users to communicate with one another about the product and share their experiences.

Now that we have a better understanding of community branding, let’s move on to the steps you need to take in order to build a strong community around your SaaS product.

1) Find Your Niche

The first step in community branding is to find your niche. You want to create a community that is tailored to the type of users you are targeting.

Think about who your ideal customer is and design a community around their needs. This could include specific topics, interests or hobbies.

It’s important to have a clear focus when building your community, as this will make it easier for potential members to identify with it and be part of it.

Remember that what brings a community together is at least one shared interest or value.

Your content and discussion topics should be focused around those common interests.

I know I’m stating the obvious here, but brand community marketing is about building community, not just brand awareness.

It can be easy to veer away from the community aspect and focus solely on the marketing side of things. But to really get the most out of community branding, you need to remember that it is community first and brand second.

2) Build Your Topical Authority & Thought Leadership

Another key element of a strong brand community marketing strategy is to establish yourself as an authority in your niche. The thing is that it’s easier said than done.

Building your credibility takes a lot of skill and consistency. It’s not something that you can do overnight.

Here are some tips you can do to slowly but surely build your authority in your industry:

Consistently Provide High-Quality Content

The best way to establish yourself as an authority is by consistently producing high-quality content. This could be blogs, videos, podcasts or any other form of content marketing media that is relevant to your group.

You need to make sure that the content you create is educational and helpful to your community members, as this will help build trust in your brand.

Engage With Your Community & Listen To Their Feedback

Another important aspect of community branding is engagement.

You need to actively participate in conversations with community members and listen to their feedback about what they would like from your SaaS product.

By listening and responding to their needs it helps them feel heard and valued, and can even lead to them becoming more loyal customers in the long run.

What’s more, you can even outright ask them what kind of content they want to see from you in the future.

Not only will this give you an idea of what kind of topics your community is interested in. It will also show them that you’re prioritizing their needs, which can go a long way to earning their trust and having them see you as an authority in your niche.

Provide Sound & Actionable Advice

It’s not enough to just provide content. You also need to make sure that you provide sound and actionable advice both through your content and community engagement.

Your community members are looking for guidance, so make sure that the information you provide is accurate and helpful. This will help build your reputation as a trusted source of information in your industry.

3) Create A Safe Space For Sharing Experiences & Asking For Advice

At the end of the day, community branding is about relationships.

People can feel it when you are genuine and authentic. So make sure you create a safe space for community members to share their experiences and ask for advice.

Here are some practical tips to do that:

Set Community Regulations Oriented Around Support

Your community should have specific regulations around respect and support. This will ensure that community members feel safe to share their experiences and ask for advice without fear of judgment or unwarranted criticism.

And don’t be afraid to enforce those regulations. Sure, as much as possible, you don’t want to kick out any of your members. I seriously hope you won’t have to.

But if someone is consistently violating community regulations and disrespecting other members, you need to take action. This will help maintain a safe and welcoming community atmosphere.

The ones who appreciate you doing so are usually the ones who actually have something valuable to contribute anyway.

Encourage Open Discussions & Dialogue

When a community member asks for advice, let others in the community answer as well. This encourages dialogue among community members and creates an even more supportive environment.

By doing this, you are fostering a sense of camaraderie between community members and creating meaningful relationships.

Celebrate Achievements & Wins With The Community

When community members achieve something positive, celebrate it with them. It could be anything from finding a new job to launching their own product or service.

This will give community members a sense of belonging and make them feel connected to your brand. It’s also a great way to recognize their hard work and dedication.

4) Hold Live Events

Live events are a great way to bring community members together and share valuable information.

But what kind of live events can you organize? Here are a few ideas:

Live Webinars

Live webinars are a great way to share valuable information and get community members involved in the conversation.

You can use webinars to share tips, strategies, and best practices with community members. Or you can even invite industry experts and community members to discuss topics that could be of interest to the group.

What’s more, you might even want to have community members moderate a live Q&A session after the main presentation so they can ask further questions and engage with you directly.

Conference Calls & Workshops

Invite community members for conference calls or virtual workshops where you provide an in-depth look into how to use your SaaS product more effectively.

You can even host challenges or competitions for community members to participate in, which will help foster even more meaningful relationships among community members.

Networking Sessions

You can also host an online networking session where community members can mingle and get to know each other. This will help community members form meaningful relationships with each other, which could even lead to them learning from one another.

5) Involve Your Community Members In Brand Decisions

Your community members are the people who know your brand best. So why not involve them in making important decisions?

Here are some practical steps you can take to do this:

Launch Surveys & Polls

Surveys and polls are a great way to get your online community members’ input on whatever development is brewing within your SaaS business.

For example, if you’re redesigning your website or launching a new product, ask community members for feedback. This will help ensure that the changes you make are actually useful to community members and meet their needs.

You can also set up polls and surveys for community members so they can suggest new features, improvements, or enhancements for your SaaS product.

These requests will help you stay ahead of the competition and ensure you have a solid product-market fit in an ever-evolving market.

Hold Exclusive Focus Groups

Focus groups are a great way to get community members’ feedback on any changes you’re planning to make. You can invite select community members to join the focus group and provide their input on whatever it is you need help with.

This will ensure that community members’ opinions are heard and taken into consideration when making decisions about your brand or product.

Run User Test Groups

Invite community members to join user test groups so they can provide feedback on any beta products or features you’re planning to release.

The insights community members provide can help you make sure the changes you’re making are actually useful and relevant to community members.

By getting community members involved in decisions, it will also foster a sense of belonging and brand loyalty among them. This will help ensure that your community is engaged and passionate about your product for years to come.

6) Have A Social Responsibility Program

This is optional in building a brand community marketing strategy, but it can have an immense impact on community members.

Having a social responsibility program is one way to show community members that you’re not only in it for the money, but you’re trying to make a good difference in the world.

For example, you can donate money to charity or look into ways of giving back to your community such as providing free education or mentoring opportunities.

Another option is to advocate for sustainable practices, such as investing in renewable energy or supporting community initiatives. You may also want to show that your SaaS business itself is relying on renewable energy for its operations.

These are just a few examples of how you can give back to the community and show community members that you genuinely care about them.

Incorporating a social cause to your community branding strategy will help community members feel more connected to your brand and foster a sense of loyalty towards it. It will also make them more likely to support you in the long run.

7) Give Your Community Members A Name

This is another optional step when creating a community brand strategy. But it can go a long way towards making your community members identify with the community and your brand.

Giving community members a name can help establish a sense of community, unity, and shared identity amongst them.

It will also make them feel more connected to your brand as they are part of something bigger than themselves.

For example, if you’re creating a community for developers, you could call them “CodeMeisters” or “Code Ninjas.” Or if it’s focused on graphic designers, you can name community members “Design Pioneers” or “The Art-vengers.”

Make sure that it’s catchy and easy to remember. It should also accurately reflect the community members’ skills and interests. But most importantly, it should give your community members a sense of inclusivity and identity within the group.

By giving community members a name, it will make them feel more connected to your community and brand, as well as foster a sense of pride and loyalty towards it.

It also helps create a community identity and culture which will help build better relationships among community members. This can inspire collaboration and create opportunities for community members to support each other.

Final Thoughts About Your Community Branding Strategy

Creating a community brand strategy is essential if you want to build a community of loyal members who are passionate about your SaaS product and brand.

The steps outlined in this article should help you create an effective community branding strategy so that you can start engaging and connecting with community members on a deeper level.

By giving community members a voice, empowering them, recognizing their contributions and creating an identity among them, you will be able to establish a strong community of loyal and engaged users who are more likely to support your product in the future.

Looking for more guides to help you boost the growth of your SaaS business? Check out our complete guide to SaaS community marketing or visit our blog here.