Welcome to a new episode of Digital Growth Tactics with WeTakTik.
Our topic today is one of the most widely discussed subjects in the marketing world right now, especially among companies and teams: community-driven marketing.
Today, we will talk about why brands are moving from followers to communities, how a community can practically contribute to growth, the difference between a community and social media, and how we can build a real community around a brand, even if that brand is still small or just at the beginning of its journey.
Ammar, let’s begin by clarifying the idea we are discussing today.
Let’s imagine two companies.
The first company has 100,000 followers on Instagram. Every post they publish gets a few likes, a few comments, and that’s it. No one really feels like they are part of something.
The second company has only 200 or 300 followers, but it also has a private group on Instagram, Telegram, or elsewhere. Inside that group, there is daily interaction. People ask questions, share ideas, contribute suggestions, and even sales happen inside the group without ads.
In the first case, we only have followers.
In the second case, we have a real community around the brand.
Today, especially among the new generation, the most important question is no longer: “How many followers do you have?“
The question has become: Which users feel that they are part of the brand?
Not just watching it, but participating in it and contributing to it. Not just spectators.
If we start with the world of followers, the relationship is usually one-way.
A brand publishes content. The follower sees it, likes it, or skips it. The follower is mainly consuming what the brand puts out.
But in a community, the dynamic changes.
When someone becomes a member of a community, they feel the space belongs to them personally. They ask questions, answer other members, suggest ideas, share experiences, and may even create content themselves.
So the relationship is no longer:
The brand publishes, and the user receives.
Instead, it becomes participatory.
Members interact with the brand, members interact with each other, and ideas come from everyone.
In the first case, the world of followers, people mostly applaud the brand and respond to what it offers.
In communities, people become part of the story. They participate, interact, ask each other questions, create content, and become part of the brand’s identity itself.
This is why we now hear new terms such as community-led growth and brand community. Suddenly, many people started paying attention to these ideas. But why now?
There is more than one reason, and several important things have happened at the same time.
Every day, there seems to be a new algorithm. Some content reaches people, and some does not, depending on the platform’s mood.
Companies and brands are tired of this, too.
Users today are no longer convinced by a single ad. They do not simply see an ad and decide to buy.
They want to hear from people like them. They want to hear from other customers. They want recommendations from a closer circle, a circle they trust.
If we talk about Gen Z and younger audiences, they want to build. They want to participate. They want to feel like they belong to something bigger.
It is no longer enough to tell them: “Look at our ads.”
They want to feel that they are inside the story, not outside it.
That is why brands are no longer only chasing followers. They are trying to build real communities around themselves.
From here, let’s talk about the forms of community we see around brands today, because they don’t all look the same.
One common form is the private community.
These communities often exist on platforms such as:
To enter, a person has to join. There may be acceptance or rejection. It is not just a passive follower.
The content inside these communities is private and often includes:
There is another type we could call brand fandoms.
These are communities made up of people who are passionate about the brand itself, such as:
These people do not just use the brand. They begin to defend it, explain it to others, and create their own content around it.
There are also consumer communities, where people who use a product gather to discuss it, support one another, and exchange experiences.
This type of community is important for several reasons.
First, it helps with retention because people remain connected to the product through discussions with one another.
Second, it helps with expansion: through these discussions, one person may discover a feature another person already uses and be encouraged to try it too.
Third, it helps spread the product naturally, because each member can become an ambassador for the brand and may bring in new subscribers or customers.
There is also a very smart type of community built around a topic, not directly around the brand.
For example, some brands may realize that people do not necessarily love the company itself, but they do care deeply about the topic the company works in.
Examples might include:
In this case, the company builds a community around the topic itself. The brand is part of the story, but it is not the center of attention.
This brings us to an important question: what is the difference between community and social media?
Social media often feels like rented land. The algorithms control visibility, reach, and who sees your content.
The relationship there is often based on broadcasting. The brand publishes, and people see it and react to it.
The main metrics are usually:
But when we talk about a community around a brand, the situation is different.
A community often exists on a platform where the brand has more control, such as:
The relationship there is multidirectional. Everyone interacts with everyone else.
The key metrics are different, too. We look at:
Of course, this does not mean we should abandon social media. On the contrary, social media is like the gateway, while the community is like the home.
Now let’s move to the practical side: how can a community contribute to growth and not just be a nice side project?
There are three main circles we can look at.
A community can help attract more customers.
Within the community, people talk about, ask about, and recommend the product. These discussions can increase customer numbers and expand the audience.
There is also user-generated content created by members, which may then spread on social media.
And when the community provides real value, not just sales offers, it builds a strong reputation that attracts even more people.
When people belong to a community, they begin to defend the brand, encourage one another, learn together, and share experiences.
This makes them feel they are part of something bigger than just a product.
As a result:
Communities also contribute to product development.
Through discussions, new ideas appear. Features are discussed. Pain points become visible. Sometimes, an entirely new product or direction can emerge from what the community is saying.
This is especially attractive to younger audiences, who enjoy contributing to the brands they care about rather than just consuming them.
After understanding the forms of community and their role in growth, the harder question becomes: how can a startup or brand begin with community-driven marketing without just creating a group and then disappearing?
Continuity is essential.
The first step is to define exactly who the community is for.
It should not be a community that anyone can join without a clear purpose.
Is it for people interested in gaming?
For content creators?
For people interested in teaching children languages?
The more specifically you define who the community is for, the easier it becomes to build meaningful connections between members.
The second step is to ask: what value will people get from joining?
Will they gain:
If the honest answer is only, “We will send offers there,” then it is not a real community. It is just another list being called a community.
There is no single ideal platform for every community.
For example:
The point is to build the community in a place that makes it easy for members to interact with each other, not just for the brand to publish content.
Communities usually live through small recurring rituals.
This might include:
These rituals create a sense of belonging.
This point is very important.
A brand should not treat the community as a place to drop discount codes every day.
The content inside a community should include:
When trust is built inside the community, sales happen naturally.
After everything we discussed, should a brand keep chasing followers, or should it build a community?
From the perspective of followers, social media is still important. Presence matters, and being visible is necessary.
But if the brand’s only goal is increasing its follower count as the main measure of success, then that way of thinking is outdated.
When we build a real community, that community can contribute to growth. It becomes a place where we get:
People begin to feel they are part of the brand’s identity rather than passive recipients of ads.
So today, every brand should ask itself:
Do I have people who feel they are part of my brand?
Do they feel they are growing with me?
If we think deeply about it, community-driven marketing is really a return to one of the simplest and most original ideas in marketing:
Real people, real relationships, and real value.
That is why, if you are a brand owner or a marketer, after reading this article, ask yourself:
Do I have a community where people truly feel they are part of my brand?
Am I giving them the space to participate?
Or am I only trying to collect bigger numbers?
And remember: start small.
You do not need to begin with a huge community.
Ten highly engaged people are more valuable than one thousand people who joined by accident.
Start small, start real, and aim for growth supported by the community, not just ads.
That was our topic for today. Tell us in the comments if you have any questions. See you in the next episode.
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