What is a brand community?
A brand community brings together people who find a shared reason to participate, exchange and return. The connection may involve a practice, an interest or a challenge. The brand helps sustain this space and needs to understand which role makes sense for it.
In Naviews 134, the discussion touches on physical activity platforms and shared experiences. The editorial focus we bring to this article is the relationship between participation, continuity and belonging, without treating a campaign’s figures as a rule for every business.
Design reasons to participate.
A shared goal needs to be understandable. People should know what they can do, how to follow progress and how their contribution connects to the group. A ritual can be as simple as a recurring meeting or an exchange of lessons learned.
Experience design also considers newcomers. Rules, language and next steps need to be accessible. Participation should not depend on mastering a tool or knowing codes that only longstanding members understand.
Estúdio Navas’ experience with Mude 1 Hábito.
For Unimed’s Mude 1 Hábito project, Estúdio Navas developed a website, app and dashboard for a wellbeing experience among employees. Goals, progress tracking and interaction are part of the context presented in the original edition.
This type of project connects an organisation’s intention with people’s everyday actions. The design direction needs to consider how to join, understand the proposition, follow an activity and recognise one’s own participation. Every interface decision affects that relationship.
Community takes continuity and listening.
Before creating new features, define who will look after the space, how questions will be welcomed and which conditions will allow the proposition to continue over time. A launch can start the encounter, but the experience needs to remain understandable afterwards.
Ongoing review can consider recurring participation, feedback and difficulties along the journey. These signals help improve the experience. Design’s role is to connect purpose, rules and interaction in a proposition people can use and recognise.
What is the difference between a brand community and an audience?
An audience follows a brand’s content. A community adds reasons for people to participate and build relationships around a shared interest. Follower count alone does not describe that connection. To understand the proposition, look at what people can do together and why they would choose to return.
Where should you start a brand community?
Define who the space is for, which interest brings the group together and what level of participation can be sustained. Then design the entry for new members, a first ritual and a way to follow up on questions and feedback. A tool should serve that proposition. The choice between an app, website or another channel depends on the experience required.
The work connects brand strategy and experience design. Reviewing the journey, as discussed in our article about attention and presence, helps identify barriers to participation.
About this article.
An editorial adaptation of the theme of Naviews 134, with practical guidance from Estúdio Navas. The edition’s selected news stories appear in “On our radar”, with their sources.