Community Marketing: The Next Generation of Lead Generation

There’s a seismic shift coming to the way brands generate hype and leads around their products and services and it’s being largely driven by the youngest customer cohort – GenZ.

While GenX was the initial driving force behind the internet and ecommerce, and Millennials propagated it along with creating the sharing economy, GenZ is defined by its lack of interest in legacy social media brands such as Facebook and Twitter, and their tendency to form smaller groups of people, distrust brands, and prioritizing unique experiences over having lots of things.

While GenZ may not be leading the market in terms of buying power just yet, their influence in this area is growing, they are reaching the age where they are considering and embarking on travel experiences, and it will not be long before these young people are the ones brands in the space need to attract to succeed.

Community Marketing

The desires of GenZ travelers are necessitating a shift from traditional digital marketing techniques to a more focused and community-based method which meets younger customers where they are and seeks to develop tighter and more authentic relationships with them.

"In the golden age of advertising, brands gained presence through mass media, where the "megaphone” allowed broad reach,” states McKinsey. "Then, technology and data helped unlock personalization, the ability to target based on customer demographics and needs. Personalization shifted spending below the line to great short-term effect but created privacy and cost-effectiveness challenges. Today, we have entered a new era in which further shifts in technology and consumer behaviors are making it possible for marketers to connect with consumers in their communities and generate much more emotional resonance.”

The Community Flywheel

To meet this challenge, the business experts over at McKinsey promoting what they describe as a "Community Flywheel,” a framework made up of five elements which is designed to assist brands in fostering communities and engaging with them in ways which go beyond selling and seeks to develop relationships with an increasingly fickle and cynical customer base.

The five elements of the flywheel are:

• Identify target demographics and learn which communities your desired audience belongs to cut through the digital noise by selecting just a few hero products which encapsulate the value of your brand
• Use brand and customer stories to support and breathe life into those products
• Feed the community with content and inspire brand advocates/influencers to generate organic hype.
• Finally, ensure your ecommerce platform makes it easy for customers to make the leap from engaging with the community to making a purchase.

"Brands that have activated the community flywheel have put building community at the core of their strategies,” continues McKinsey. "They go beyond merely building a social presence, which might have a large follower base but a limited level of engagement, to building an actively engaged community that mentions the brand in social media posts, shares posts about the brand, tags the brand in posts, and tags friends in the brand’s feed. Indeed, these brands enjoy superior engagement levels with their customer base, which usually translates into higher conversion rates.”

(Image source: McKinsey)

Remember, when embarking on community marketing, the goal is to focus on the entire body, not on individuals. Because GenZ customers tend to form smaller communities, they tend to be laser focused on specific wants and needs which actually makes this task a lot easier for brands when compared to larger groups. The real key lies in step two of the wheel when it comes to selecting hero products to place front and center. Travel brands will need to drill down into the data and discover the travel experiences these demographics are most likely to respond to and use communications channels to really create strong buzz around them in steps three and four.

The final step is a generally clever idea for any company selling products online. Going through your ecommerce platform with a fine-toothed comb and removing and moments of friction or confusion which could lead customers to abandon the process and try one of your competitors – remember, GenZ do not really give a fig about brand loyalty – should be a top priority.

Final Thoughts

Community marketing requires a shift in thinking from the mindset which has been established over the last couple of decades of digital marketing. Lead generation among younger travelers will mean engaging with them on their level, in the spaces they are occupying and playing into their penchant for smaller and more focused communities.

Community marketing and GenZ are sure to be part of the conversation at Digital Travel Connect 2023, being held in April at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, CA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.