Relationships between retailers and their customers have almost always been transactional. Customers expect to be able to buy the products they want for a reasonable price and to receive kind and helpful service during the process.

While nothing about this relationship is likely to go away, brands are also discovering that many of the loyalty programs they've championed in the past don't always result in true customer loyalty at all. Membership and rewards programs based on points, discounts, and other transactional elements can help from an immediate economic and financial perspective, but they don't necessarily breed true loyalty.

As Harvard Business Review puts it, "Loyalty programs—that effectively bribe people into buying more of your products—are lazy. In the modern aspiration economy, people develop true brand affinity only when it gives them a sense of community."

Here are a few ways to create a sense of community with your brand and drive long-term engagement.

Provide Customers with Ways to Connect—Even in a Virtual World

The challenge of creating a community around your brand is delivering something organic and meaningful without focusing exclusively on what direct benefits it will provide the organization. Most customers recognize when a brand is pandering to them to earn their business. They may be open to membership in a transactional program if it means they can earn discounts, but they'll likely be put off by superficial attempts at swaying them based on assumptions about them.

Inevitably, building a community is about building connections between people. For brands, this usually means facilitating a space where customers can build connections with other customers. Events, virtual meeting rooms where customers can interact, and open spaces where customers can show their creativity are all viable ways to build a community around the brand.

According to Harvard Business Review, "Groups that do a good job of connecting members with one another—virtually or in-person—are sticky and grow stronger over time."

Instead of focusing first on how to generate value from the community, focus on how the community can generate value for itself with the brand serving as facilitator. Identify the platforms your customers want to engage on and find the tools you need to facilitate that engagement. It could be that your customers only want to engage virtually, or it could be that they want to engage through a mixture of virtual and in-person channels.

Let your customers be your guide.

Use Content to Create a Customer Community

Content is also a powerful and important tool in building a brand community. But you shouldn't rely exclusively on your brand content to drive community engagement.

Instead, use a combination of brand content, user-generated content (UGC), and influencer content to encourage organic engagement within your digital and in-person meeting spaces. Many brands have successfully utilized creativity sweepstakes, events, and influencer campaigns to engage their communities with content.

Social media platforms like Instagram also provide plenty of opportunities to keep your community engaged with content. Instagram Stories, for example, generate a sense of urgency, encouraging community members to engage with content before it disappears. Facebook groups can serve as meeting spaces where customers post pictures and share stories about their experiences with your brand.

Just remember that any content you produce must enhance the lives of your customers and community members. Content should be freely given with no expectations, and it should provide the community with joy, humor, or something interesting to think about.

Trust Your Community to Build Brand Loyalty and Test New Ideas

You can also use your community to try out new projects or launch products and programs for specific subsets of your customers. Many brands team up with designers, musicians, and artists to provide their customers with exclusive offers and content.

Your community is also in the best position to provide you with honest feedback about new ideas. Before engaging in an industry-wide launch for a new project or service, use the community as a focus group and see how they respond to the idea. If their response is positive, you can work to scale up the project over time.

Don't Miss the eTail Virtual Summit & Expo

Building a community around your brand can be a challenge. Every brand is unique, so there isn't always a clear roadmap to follow.

If you want to be successful, you need a full understanding of your customers' wants, needs, and interests, and you'll need to provide them with a space that empowers them to turn the community into what they want, not necessarily what your organization needs. Often, a small success can spark the beginning of a far-reaching community that lasts.

To learn more about how to build a community around your brand, don't miss the eTail Virtual Summit & Expo for eCommerce & Omnichannel Innovators happening online from September 21^st to September 22^nd. The virtual summit will contain a panel devoted specifically to this topic.

Register for free today.