Rise of community-led growth since the inception of coronavirus & what it means for startups
How should a product-led startup plan its go-to-market strategy? Facebook advertisements are increasingly getting expensive. Content marketing takes a lot of time before it starts paying off. Over the last couple of years, there has been a huge shift among startups seeing early growth by building communities.
Community-led growth is a go-to-market strategy in which companies build a community of enthusiastic current and potential customers. When done the right way, the community adds immense value in terms of customer feedback, retention and referral. Modern startups like Notion and Figma have done exactly this to see exponential growth.
Nothing beats a scenario where a start-up can drive growth by leveraging the love and support of its community members. If you have a product that promises to deliver the right value, then a community is going to cement its humane aspects even more through constant engagement and communication with the members – making them feel belonged and as a part of your growth story. GenZ is extremely social and if you can give them the right experiences in the community, they will adore you.
“Community-led growth acts as a multiplier on top of product-led growth. It creates a flywheel of active members strengthening the (brand) community.” says, Corinne Marie Riley, an investor at venture capital firm Greylock.
Community Management, today, is where Product Management was, a decade back. From being a little-known domain until recently, it is evolving as a thriving industry, riding on the back of burgeoning start-up scenes.
Pandemic-proofing: A walk down the number lane
As per the State of Indian Community Management Report 2021, 64% of Indian communities were born in the last 3 years – a clear indication of the newness and the potential of the community space. 42% of Indian brand community builders shared that their organisation’s investments in community programs have increased during the Pandemic.
59% of Indian community builders mentioned that their communities grew more rapidly or at the same rate despite the pandemic.
Why are communities becoming the backbone of startups?
- User Feedback: They help to sharpen a product gradually, making it more market-ready before an actual launch. More than anything, building a community helps a start-up to understand it’s niche better by enabling it to understand the user interest better.
- Word-of-mouth referrals: Even with plenty of information available on online platforms, a word-of-mouth referral is still widely trusted and holds a lot of weight. A good community provides a sense of belonging to the members. These members in-turn bring other members to experience your community.
- Brand Building: Honest and value-based relationships transform members into brand advocates, easing your branding efforts and solidifying your credibility at an early stage. Running a community can build authority and leadership within your industry.
- Co-creation: Loyal members happily co-create the product and the content with you. They can help in hiring, raising funds, generating resources and even managing the community.
- Customer Support and Success: Communities contribute to brand loyalty and overall customer success. Members would answer each other’s questions, share best practices and make each other successful on your product.
The Future: From Entrepreneurship to ‘Community-preneurship’
The rapidly evolving gig market has massive opportunities for creators, influencers and entrepreneurs to reap rewards. However, very few creators are able to generate enough revenue to do this professionally. This is mainly because of budget constraints for marketing, customer acquisition, and the inability to identify a proper niche. All the above problems can be solved through communities.
It is evident that entrepreneurship must pay its due to ‘Community-Preneurship.’ This decade belongs to communities!
Read Also : The 4Cs of Integrated Marketing
About the author:
Nipun Goyal, Founder and CEO, LikeMinds