Branding is much more than aesthetics too. Community branding strategy is all about building a world for your members to feel at home in. That means you not only need a stellar logo, but your community should have a unique feeling that members can’t get anywhere else.

Ahead, we’re breaking down how you should think about branding a community so that you can bring your business to the next level.

What is community branding?

Community branding is the practice of creating a name, design, and unique identity for your business that your supporters can rally behind. Basically, it’s building a unique perspective and experience that your community members can’t get anywhere else.

Many creators make the mistake of thinking that branding is simply the visual components of how you identify your business (think logo, website aesthetic, and product design). But in reality, branding is more than just looks.

People become attached to brands not only because they look enticing, but because they make them feel a certain way. So, branding a community is all about taking the time to think about what makes your community unique and how you can create a space that brings people together around your content and products.

So, you may be wondering what are some actual community branding strategies you can implement. Ahead, we’re providing an assortment of tips on just that.

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Tips for branding a community

As we said before, branding is more than just how your business looks. It’s important to have an awesome logo and a clean design, but you’ll also want to think about what unique experiences you can provide your community members.

What’s your name?

One of the most important aspects of branding a community is coming up with your name. While this might seem fairly obvious, naming a brand can be an incredible challenge. So much so that many businesses miss the mark.

When you are coming up with your brand name, there are four key factors to keep in mind: recognizable, adaptable, meaningful, and distinctive. Here’s a short breakdown of what we mean by this:

Recognizable: When you’re branding a community, the name should be easy to understand, say, and read. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it, but you don’t want people getting tripped up on your name. Recognizability also means that your name should clearly suggest what your community is all about.

Adaptable: Another thing to consider when coming up with your name is to choose something that is a bit flexible. Your community might start with one goal in mind, but as you grow you may expand into new industries or content models. Having a name that you can adapt to fit your ever-growing business is a great thing to keep top of mind.

Meaningful: When you think about what your branded community’s essence or identity is, what comes to mind? Whatever you’re thinking of should somehow be communicated in the name of your brand. Think of your name as the first step into getting someone to join your community. That means the name should conjure some kind of idea, image, or feeling in anyone who comes across it.

Distinctive: The best community branding strategists understand how to communicate what makes your brand unique. Your name is the first step in separating yourself from the pack of competitors you’ll have.

If you can incorporate these ideas into your brand naming process then you should be on the right track. But if you’re still struggling, we made this hand name generator to get the ideas going.

Choose your Big Purpose

Another component in branding a community is clearly identifying the goal, interest, or motivation that brings your members together. Remember, your brand is providing your community an experience, which means that there should be a clear goal or idea that you’re pushing them toward.

Think about it this way: The best branded communities are ones that help people achieve a goal they couldn’t on their own. That could be something as simple as providing them the confidence to change their style, or it could be something more abstract like a new way of dealing with mental health. Whatever it is, branding a community is going to be about providing a journey for your members from point A to B.

If you’d like a concrete way of figuring out your Big Purpose, try filling out this chart below:

Once you’ve figured out your Big Purpose, you’ll be one step further in branding your community.

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Choose your community’s aesthetic

You know the age old saying, don’t judge a book by its cover? That’s a nice idea, but part of branding a community is making sure that it is appealing to look at and interact within.

Everything from your logo design to your color palette are ways that people will identify with the experience you’re creating for your community. In the same way that your literal name will communicate what your community is all about, so too will the looks and feel of your community and logo.

For this step, part of your community branding strategy will involve a lot of research into what kinds of communities are already out in the world and understanding how they’ve branded themselves. You might draw some inspiration from how they designed their logo, but you also will gain ideas on what not to do or what’s already taken.

Ultimately, your logo and color palette will communicate ideas to your community members in the same way that your brand name and content will.

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Choose the right online community platform

The final tip for branding a community is actually choosing an online community platform that gives you the freedom that you need.

There are a plethora of online community platforms out there, but unfortunately, not many give you much room to customize your branding. You’re going to want to look out for a platform that allows you to implement your community branding strategies in the ways that you intend.

That means giving you the ability to upload your personal logo, utilize a custom domain name, access to your brand colors, and more. Most importantly, you should be able to create content on the platform that’s in line with the identity you’ve built around your brand.

Additionally, you’ll want to choose an online community platform that allows you to expand your community branding strategy thanks to access to new features. What are some possibilities that you might explore? Anything from online courses, to paid memberships, and even hosting virtual events.

All of these options speak to our idea of creating a unique experience for your members that they can’t get anywhere else.

Mighty Networks is the best place to build a community

Branding a community is more than making sure your business looks good. It’s about taking the time to develop a unique experience around the awesome things you’re building.

We’ve covered a few tips for how you can rethink community branding strategy, but at the end of the day, you need to build your community on the right platform.

Mighty Networks is a leader in the world of online community building and has numerous tools for you to experiment with for branding a community. We believe that creators should have control over their brands and the communities they’re building, so our platform allows for an immensity of options for custom branding.

On top of that, as your business grows our platform is already equipped with ways to expand into new ventures, too. You can offer paid memberships, host virtual events, and design online courses. You also get a powerful website builder that gives you the tools you need to deliver your awesome content.

Finally, with a Mighty Network, you’ll be able to offer all of these pieces together under your own brand, instantly available on web, iOS, and Android.

So, if you’re thinking about branding a community, let’s start working on it together.