This one is very Lion, because there is a trap hiding inside the community cr*ze: A WhatsApp group, Instagram broadcast channel or membership programme does not automatically make a community.
The Lion story is why brands suddenly want belonging and whether they actually understand what people are supposed to belong to. Current research supports the shift: community, content and conversion are increasingly being treated together in social strategy, while Nigerian research and recent Nigerian brand examples show the same movement locally.
A WhatsApp group is not a community. Neither is 50,000 followers. So what exactly are brands trying to build?
There was a time when brands wanted customers.
Then they wanted followers.
Then engagement.
Then influencers.
Now everybody wants a community.
Open a marketing conference, scroll through LinkedIn, sit in a brand strategy meeting and sooner or later you will hear it:
“We need to build a community.”
It sounds modern.
Strategic.
Human.
Almost inevitable.
But there is a question marketers don’t ask often enough:
Why should anyone want to belong to your brand community?
Because a WhatsApp group is not a community.
An Instagram page is not a community.
A Facebook group is not a community.
And 100,000 followers who never speak to one another are not necessarily a community either.
Community is not a channel.
It is a relationship.
BRANDS HAVE DISCOVERED SOMETHING ADVERTISING CANNOT BUY
Advertising can buy attention.
It can buy reach.
It can introduce a product.
It can put a message in front of millions of people.
But there is something advertising struggles to manufacture at scale:
belonging.
People do not simply buy products.
They join identities.
They gather around interests.
They exchange recommendations.
They teach one another.
They complain together.
They celebrate together.
They develop inside jokes.
They share experiences.
They influence one another.
And sometimes they become more loyal to the people in the group than to the brand that brought them together.
That is why community has become so attractive to marketers.
Recent research from WPP Media describes communities and fandoms as increasingly participatory spaces where members do not simply consume content but help create it, influence one another and shape culture.
That is a very different proposition from:
“Please like our post.”
THE INTERNET HAS MADE THE CUSTOMER LOUDER
The old marketing model was largely one-way.
Brand speaks.
Customer listens.
Brand advertises.
Customer decides.
Social media changed the relationship.
Now customers talk to one another in public.
They review products.
Compare prices.
Share screenshots.
Post complaints.
Recommend alternatives.
Create memes.
Expose bad experiences.
Defend brands they love.
And sometimes create more effective marketing for a product than the company itself.
The brand no longer fully controls the conversation.
So perhaps the community strategy is partly an attempt to participate in the conversation rather than simply broadcast into it.
Deloitte Digital’s 2025 State of Social research found that social-first B2C brands were continuing to focus on three connected areas: community, content and conversion.
That combination is important.
Community without value becomes a chat group.
Content without community can become noise.
Conversion without either can become advertising people learn to ignore.
BUT HERE IS THE PROBLEM
EVERYBODY WANTS A COMMUNITY. VERY FEW BRANDS HAVE SOMETHING PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO GATHER AROUND.
This is where the community conversation gets interesting.
Imagine a brand manager saying:
“We need 10,000 members.”
Fine.
But why would the tenth member invite the eleventh?
What does the member get from being there?
Information?
Access?
Learning?
Entertainment?
Support?
Status?
Exclusive experiences?
Networking?
Influence?
Friendship?
A shared cause?
A sense of identity?
If the answer is simply:
“They will get updates about our products,”
you probably don’t have a community.
You have a mailing list with better lighting.
COMMUNITY STARTS WITH A SHARED THING
People rarely gather simply because a company wants them to.
They gather around something.
A passion.
A problem.
An ambition.
A lifestyle.
An identity.
A cause.
A profession.
A hobby.
A cultural experience.
A shared frustration.
A shared aspiration.
The brand can facilitate that gathering.
It can provide the platform.
The resources.
The experiences.
The conversation.
The tools.
The access.
But the brand should not assume:
“Because we sell it, people will gather around it.”
People do not necessarily want to gather around your product.
They may want to gather around what your product means in their lives.
That distinction is enormous.
LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN NIGERIA
This is not just a Silicon Valley marketing idea being imported into Nigeria.
The language of community is increasingly appearing in Nigerian brand strategy too.
A 2025 review published in the Nigeria Journal of Business Administration found that consumer engagement in online brand communities is influenced by factors including brand-related content, identification with the brand, cultural orientation, participation and the social, entertainment and economic benefits people receive from interacting with brand pages.
And recent Nigerian brand activity shows the shift.
Terra, for example, has publicly positioned its consumer strategy around shared experiences, education, joy and everyday relevance rather than simply competing for shelf space. Its activity around food, entertainment and social conversation has been described as an effort to build community beyond market share.
That is the interesting part.
The product is still there.
But the brand is trying to create something around the product.
WHY BRANDS WANT COMMUNITY SO BADLY
There are several reasons.
- CUSTOMERS CAN BECOME DISTRIBUTION
A satisfied customer can buy.
A community member can potentially do more.
They can recommend.
Explain.
Defend.
Review.
Share.
Invite.
Create content.
Answer another customer’s question.
The community can therefore become part of the brand’s distribution system.
Not because the company ordered people to advertise.
Because people are talking to people.
And people often trust people more than advertisements.
- COMMUNITY CAN CREATE RETENTION
A product can be copied.
A discount can be copied.
A feature can be copied.
Even an advertising idea can eventually be copied.
But a healthy network of relationships is much harder to reproduce overnight.
Research into brand communities increasingly links them with retention, advocacy and deeper customer relationships. For example, Acxiom’s 2025 CX research reported that 86% of surveyed consumers said participation in a brand community shaped their experience with an organisation, while its surveyed businesses found substantial retention potential among brands that built active communities.
The important word is active.
Not registered.
Not counted.
Active.
- COMMUNITY GIVES BRANDS SOMETHING MONEY CANNOT EASILY BUY: LISTENING
A good community is also a research environment.
Customers tell you:
What they like.
What annoys them.
What they don’t understand.
What competitors are doing better.
What they wish existed.
What they are willing to pay for.
What they find embarrassing.
What they secretly love.
And sometimes what they are about to stop buying.
That information can be more valuable than another thousand likes on a campaign post.
But only if the brand actually listens.
A community where every customer suggestion disappears into a black hole is not really participatory.
It is decorative.
- COMMUNITY CAN MAKE A BRAND FEEL LESS LIKE A COMPANY
This may be one of its biggest attractions.
People do not naturally have emotional relationships with corporate structures.
They have relationships with people, experiences, identities and stories.
Community allows a brand to occupy a different role.
Not just:
“We sell this.”
But:
“We understand this part of your life.”
That is a powerful shift.
Edelman’s 2025 Brand Trust research similarly described a movement from brands that merely promise towards brands that participate in people’s worlds, with community and relevance forming part of that relationship.
BUT THERE IS A DARK SIDE TO THE COMMUNITY CRAZE
Here is what marketers sometimes don’t want to hear.
Community is expensive.
Not necessarily financially.
Emotionally.
Because once you create a community, people expect something from you.
They expect responses.
Consistency.
Recognition.
Access.
Honesty.
Listening.
Sometimes accountability.
They will notice when you disappear.
They will notice when the brand suddenly becomes promotional.
They will notice when you only show up because there is a campaign.
They will notice when you ask for engagement but never engage back.
And they will absolutely notice when you call them a “community” while treating them like a database.
YOUR COMMUNITY WILL EVENTUALLY ASK: “WHAT DO WE GET?”
Not necessarily a discount.
That is another mistake.
Brands sometimes think community = exclusive offers.
So the community becomes:
Buy this.
Use this code.
Don’t miss this promotion.
New product alert.
Sale ends tonight.
That is not community.
That is a sales channel wearing a community costume.
People need a reason to return when they are not buying anything.
That could be useful information.
Entertainment.
Connection.
Recognition.
Events.
Education.
Early access.
Influence.
Shared experiences.
Or simply the pleasure of being around people who care about the same thing.
THE STRANGEST THING ABOUT COMMUNITY IS THAT THE BRAND IS NOT ALWAYS THE MAIN CHARACTER
This may be the hardest lesson.
The brand may start the community.
But eventually, the members should have reasons to interact with one another.
Think about a professional community.
If the only conversation is between the company and its members, something is missing.
A genuine community sounds more like:
Member A: “Has anyone tried this?”
Member B: “Yes. Here’s what happened.”
Member C: “I found another option.”
Member D: “I had the same problem.”
Brand: “We have been listening. Here’s what we’re changing.”
Now something interesting is happening.
The brand is no longer simply broadcasting.
It is participating in an ecosystem.
AND THIS IS WHERE BRANDS CAN GET TOO EAGER
There is a temptation to put a community around everything.
A bank community.
A detergent community.
A telecom community.
A cereal community.
A skincare community.
A real-estate community.
A community for the community manager.
Soon everybody has a community and nobody knows why they joined.
The better question is not:
“Should our brand build a community?”
It is:
“Is there a real human connection around our brand that deserves to become a community?”
If there isn’t, don’t force it.
You may need better customer experience.
Better content.
Better product.
Better service.
Better research.
Better distribution.
Better advertising.
Community is not the cure for a weak brand.
AND A COMMUNITY CANNOT REPAIR A BAD EXPERIENCE FOREVER
Imagine a bank with a beautiful financial community.
Members share budgeting tips.
The brand hosts webinars.
Customers discuss investing.
Everyone feels connected.
Then someone cannot access their money.
Or a complaint takes three weeks to resolve.
Or the service repeatedly fails.
Suddenly the community becomes something else.
A complaint room.
This is why community cannot sit separately from the product and customer experience.
People cannot be persuaded into loving an experience they repeatedly hate.
The community can amplify the brand.
It can also amplify the problem.
THE REAL ASSET MAY NOT BE THE COMMUNITY
This is the part I think marketers should pay closer attention to.
The real asset is not necessarily the WhatsApp group.
Or the Facebook group.
Or the Instagram followers.
Or the event attendance.
The asset is the relationship infrastructure underneath them.
Who are these people?
Why do they care?
What do they need?
What do they talk about?
What do they trust?
What do they create?
What do they influence?
What would make them stay?
What would make them leave?
What does the brand mean to them?
If you understand those things, the platform can change.
Instagram can change.
WhatsApp can change.
TikTok can change.
Facebook can change.
Algorithms can change.
The relationship can survive.
That is much more valuable.
SO, SHOULD EVERY BRAND BUILD A COMMUNITY?
No.
Every brand should build a reason to matter.
For some brands, that will become a community.
For others, it may be exceptional customer service.
For another, a powerful product.
For another, a professional network.
For another, a creator ecosystem.
For another, a loyal customer base that never needs a branded WhatsApp group.
The objective should not be to collect people.
It should be to create value that people voluntarily gather around.
THE LION TAKE
The community boom is not really about brands suddenly becoming more social.
It is about brands realising that attention is rented, but relationships can become an asset.
A person can scroll past your advert.
A person who belongs to something may return voluntarily.
But there is a catch.
You cannot simply announce:
“Welcome to our community.”
And expect belonging to appear.
You have to give people something worth belonging to.
Something useful.
Something meaningful.
Something they can influence.
Something they can share.
Something that makes them feel understood.
Something that exists even when you are not selling.
The strongest brand communities may ultimately have one thing in common:
The members would still want to be there even if the brand stopped talking for a day.
That is when you know you have built something.
Not an audience.
Not a database.
Not a follower count.
A community.
What makes you feel that you genuinely belong to a brand community and what makes you leave one?
