How Online Community Inspires Brand Marketing

Showing your brand to individual users in an online community and community is akin to meeting your fiancee/fiancee's best friend for the first time. If you do not leave a good impression on one person, your relationship with other people is not expected to be too good. For this reason, successful online community marketing must have three elements: value-based content, authenticity, and respect for users.

So, if you can find a digital marketing method that can integrate the above three elements, then how good it is. Marketers are deeply attracted by the kind of community that has a loyal user base, because there is an opportunity to make these users loyal to their brands. This kind of community has the same appeal for marketing activities that are dedicated to meeting the needs of customers. The introduction of such a strong point of view, such as dedication and respect, can create a lasting relationship with the other party, both for the consumers who love the brand and for the brand itself.

As a social media platform that invites consumers to participate in digital content creation, Tongal offers its brand partners an opportunity to show consumers their willingness to receive feedback. So what did they get back? These marketing materials are so unique that in the end they all achieved the effect of viral marketing. The site’s recent activity for the powerful tape brand Duck Tape successfully confirmed this statement.

Two weeks ago, original consumer videos created by Tongal ranked second in the AdAge viral marketing ranking. The video has seen more than 2 million web views in just a few days of its public release. However, without the participation of these consumers, this brand video with Tron as its theme will no longer exist.

James DeJulio, Tongal's president and co-founder, said: "The brand is developing its own network, or working with existing communities through social networks, and there is information about consumers everywhere. Give consumers an opportunity to participate and speak You can use your consumer's wisdom to drive your marketing.” In other words, Tongal’s “micro-community” allows brands to accurately understand consumer demand for brands, rather than systematically expounding them in a closed space. One's own point of view, then ask the consumer to accept it passively.

Through Tongal, the brand can not only introduce its products to new users - those who have participated in the Tongal project in the past, but also have access to their most loyal fans. Most brands will promote projects through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites and other sites that already have corporate homepages. Although on average, 65% of participants in a project have participated in Tongal activities, those popular brands and brands with consumer rights can attract only half of new users on the basis of loyal users.

In community marketing, this model is very interesting because it involves the collective mentality of participants. Tongal's participants are all working towards a common goal: to create the best end product. Most projects involve several rounds of entries. In the concept phase, a winner is selected, and other consumers must use this idea as the keynote of their video. They demanded that they work together and conduct their next creation on the basis of others rather than one-on-one competition. "They are willing to work together to create better advertising ideas," DeJulio said. "Through this model, a lot of sparks will collide."

Moreover, in theory, this good intention directly reflects the brand will be responsible for convening consumers. In addition to offering cash rewards to participants, Tongal’s marketing model also increases their personal exposure, improves their ability to think calmly, and even further expands (or opens) their careers. Throughout the event, consumers spend a lot of time interacting with the brand. Users spend an average of 2.5 to 3.5 minutes on the brand's Tongal page.

For brands like Duck Tape, an online community with a large number of creative consumers who are willing to help branding products is a valuable resource. Similarly, we are sure that this is also the trend, and more and more services like Tongal and its rival Current TV will continue to emphasize its importance through high-profile publicity campaigns. Not only did they create marketing materials, they also spurred consumers to take actions and interact with them, arousing their excitement. This advertisement, as well as its associated brands, has become a topic of discussion among consumers. In addition to the project competition, it also triggered other internal things, and this is what the brand would like to see. Without these active consumers, the effectiveness of such viral marketing cannot exist.

As a result, online communities continue to attract marketers.