Growth Trends 2023: Finding credibility in online communities

By Callum O’Brien, Content Lead

Our online identity is becoming a key part of our personality, whether our presence is shrouded in anonymity or uses our full name. These personas are shaped by our values and interests, but our behaviour and state of being can change depending on the spaces in which we operate.

Spurred by a sense of identity and belonging, online communities have never been stronger. We’ve seen major events such as amateur traders on Reddit affecting global markets and labour movement ‘Enough is Enough’ mobilising their online community with the ambition of making real societal change.

Online community has never been stronger, but where do brands add value? To answer this, we need to understand the communities themselves – what shapes them and whether your brand is the right fit. These communities can be broken out into three distinct groups:

Value based

Each individual has shaped their own value system based on their environment, family unit or media consumption. These values dictate their views on morality, religion and whereabouts on the political spectrum they sit when it comes to societal issues.

Experience based

This could be factors like gender, sexuality or ethnicity, where groups will form to help each other navigate the world around them. Alternatively, groups come together based on wider experiences such as buying a property, moving areas or even physiological shared experience with disease or pregnancy.

Interest based

Community groups based around our interests can be the most powerful as it’s an area selected by the individual in which they are able to choose their own identity. Whether it’s a favourite sports team, hobby or travel – these are selected building blocks of a life where people can find escapism, excitement, or conversation.

• The isolating effect of the pandemic reminds us of the deep human need for connection, and millions used that time to turn to communities. According to global Facebook data from 2021, there are over 600 million people who are members of a Facebook group that they consider to be meaningful in their life. When the ability to be social in real life was lost, people started to reflect on what really mattered to them. These passions, hobbies and interests may have been born or improved with online communities, but they now form a significant part of their identity.
• Reddit has built a business solely on bringing people together through these interests and identities, and it is experiencing huge growth. According to research by YPulse, in the UK alone, over 31 million users now visit the site to engage with their communities each month. 90% of Reddit users trust the platform to learn about new products and brands, which is even higher than the 89% of Google users who say they trust their own searches.
• Research by Twitch found that 60% of Twitch viewers engage with the community through the chat function every day. Twitch users want to feel part of something larger and see streamers and their wider community as their friends. Brands that support and engage with their favourite streamer can see real dividends – according to a social media behaviour study by Twitch, 53% claim to have bought a product solely because they have seen it on Twitch.

When it comes to the forefront of science and technology, Formula 1 racing pushes the boundaries in a mainstream way. Toyota recognised this and targeted fans of the ‘r/Formula1’ subreddit with an action-packed story of two Toyota Supras racing. In doing this, they leveraged the clear interest in racing shown by the community rather than using generic creative.

But the fit doesn’t always have to be so obvious. American online bank, Ally, wanted to reach a young tech-savvy audience, so promoted a tailored creative during PS5 launch week for ‘r/Playstation’ asking: “If you wouldn’t settle for a 1-star rated controller, why would you settle for a 1-star rated bank?” While the community may not identify with a finance brand, they certainly understand the value of a highly rated gaming accessory.

While content is key, just showing support is important. Olio is an app that was created to tackle food wastage as a major contributor to climate change. The idea was simple – create a network among neighbours so they can share their surplus food with each other, saving money and the planet. Starting online and moving into real life, local communities were galvanised with over 6.1 million registering within the app to make a real difference. Brands noticed, and Iceland and Tesco are now major partners with the app. Together they have distributed meals that would have gone to waste to the app users, saving on food wastage and increasing positive perception within the community.

90% of Reddit users trust the platform to learn about new products and brands.

The growth opportunity:

Corporate social responsibility initiatives and affinity groups within businesses are core building blocks for talking to value-based and experience-based groups respectively, whereas passion-based communities are open for brands to add value and connect with a self-selected hobby in a fitting style.

Taking mental real estate is important but improving the warmth that surrounds your brand can be what separates you from your competitors. In the age of data overload, we have no excuse to avoid personalising communications. The growth of online communities allows us to do just that.

In a world where values, passions and interests are more important than ever, these communities are growing. Subtly venturing into your consumers’ favourite spaces is welcome, if you respect the community, add value and understand its boundaries.

The potential for how you embed is scalable—from tweaking copy or creating bespoke content through to powering communities and pulling them into your own ecosystem. Your brand tone of voice could be consistent, or you could create a sub-brand that specifically focuses on that community’s engagement.

KFC Gaming now has over 260k followers on twitter, without a product—the community just enjoy what they bring to the party. Supporting an online community doesn’t always mean creating your own organic content. Brands can collaborate with specialist titles, where communities already exist, to create content. Interesting articles that wouldn’t be produced without brand funding is a low-touch way to add value.

3 things to do today…

Relook at your audience through the lens of community.

How are they spending their time? You have the opportunity to leverage something incredibly special to your consumer—something that feels unique to them. Think about how your brand could exist in this space and what value you could add.

Think about what you are already doing.

There are many initiatives naturally happening internally or through CSR that add value to a community – the more people that know about these the better. People can relate to the support needed. Set this out as the first building block for a wider engagement strategy.

Test.

Start with small copy tweaks, amended creative and more focused targeting. Request insights and data from media partners. Find out what is on trend, what’s interesting and what people are searching for. Then provide them with engaging content that they can relate to.

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