Free vs Owned Online Communities: Which is right for your brand?

Each of these two digital community platforms comes with pros and cons.

Does your brand have a digital community on social media or one on a platform owned by your brand? If not, you’re missing out on building loyalty and strengthening your brand through customer feedback and conversations, says social media marketing software provider Sprout Social.

A brand community “showcases brand loyalty at its best,” says Sprout Social. “Brand communities rally your most loyal customers in one place, which is a massive win for any brand. Plus, these communities are fun for your audience to chat with like-minded people.”

Today’s customers often like to perform their own research by reading reviews and other customers’ recommendations before making a decision, with online communities often playing a role in their decisions, according to inbound marketing platform HubSpot:

“These forums provide people with an opportunity to learn from existing customers’ experiences and offer space for community feedback that can be used to bring trust and authenticity into an otherwise stale procedure.”.

Free vs. owned community forums

Free social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn may seem interchangeable, but there are important differences between the two.

Free social media platforms are user-free and easy to set up so your brand can connect with a ready-made audience.

On the other hand, an “owned” community platform is one that the brand owns. This kind of platform offers social media benefits, along with greater control and flexibility when it comes to brand/customer communication, says HubSpot.

Examples of owned digital communities are brand blogs or websites with a comment section or forum that your company manages.

Pros and cons of free vs. owned digital communities

“One key pro [of a free community platform] is that it’s free for users and comes with a built-in audience,” says HubSpot. “In other words, you can [set] up an account, create content, and publish it to your followers for free as long as you do the legwork to find out who on this platform you want to reach.

“The con, on the other hand, is that you don’t truly ‘own’ your community and are therefore beholden to the decisions these companies make for how the platform serves your content to others. Right when you’ve mastered the platform your community lives on, the content algorithm changes, and you’re forced to pivot your content strategy to retain your users’ attention.”

If your brand wants a secure, private area for customers to interact with one another, an owned community platform might be your best option, says HubSpot.

With owned community platforms, your company has more freedom over your brand’s messaging. However, you’ll have to do the work promoting the community before you can fill it with customers, says HubSpot.

Community platforms also allow you to go beyond the limitations of social networks with the following features, according to HubSpot:

• Deeper analytics
• Single sign on (SSO)
• Gamification
• Greater access to your members
• Custom design for a better customer experience

“One major pro to owned community platforms is that they give you tighter controls over your branding and messaging without having to compete with the noise of other communities on the same platform,” says HubSpot, giving an example of a toy store on Twitter that has a built-in audience of toy shoppers but must compete with other toy stores on the social media platform.

“Social media, in general, is composed of users who have nothing in common (only using the platform because their friends are on it),” says HubSpot.

“Communities, however, revolve around a specific issue, and it’s up to you to take the social network and engage certain users on that platform to form a community that’s focused on your industry.”