It’s been called many names. Some may know it as online forums, social networking groups, digital communities, private memberships, or brand tribes. Think of it as social media on steroids, where authenticity and connection thrive.
Whatever you call it, one thing is clear: online communities are transforming the way big brands connect with audiences and offering entrepreneurs new revenue streams through paid memberships.
Both offer something traditional marketing and public relations campaigns often struggle to achieve—deep, meaningful relationships with the people who matter most to a business. These relationships drive more than engagement. They build trust, loyalty, and a steady drumbeat of brand advocacy.
Why Online Communities Matter More Than Ever
We live in an era where people crave connection, and the internet has made it easier than ever to find your “people.” Whether it’s a niche group for environmental sustainability advocates or a private Slack channel for marketing professionals, online communities bring together like-minded individuals.
For brands, this is gold. Whether they are free communities created and hosted by brands or paid niche communities, they are where conversations happen, trends emerge, and influence is cultivated.
And they’re growing. According to recent studies, 76% of internet users participate in some form of online community through branded platforms, social media groups, or exclusive membership sites. This means organizations not leveraging these spaces miss out on a key way to engage audiences.
Building Connection, Not Just Content
The success of an online community lies in its ability to go beyond one-way communication. Unlike traditional campaigns, where brands speak, and consumers listen, communities are about interaction.
Community members exchange ideas, ask questions, and share feedback—not just with the brand but with one another. These interactions create a sense of belonging and foster loyalty that’s hard to achieve with a single ad campaign.
Take Peloton, for example. Their digital community is as much a part of their brand as the bikes themselves. Through the Peloton Members Facebook group and app-based leaderboards, users interact with instructors and each other. This ecosystem of mutual encouragement has turned customers into lifelong advocates.
Another example is Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community, where makeup enthusiasts share tutorials, review products, and offer tips. This peer-driven advice has proven more influential than any marketing message the brand could craft.
PR In the Age of Online Communities
For PR professionals, online communities are a treasure trove. They are a direct line to understanding what an audience cares about most—and how they talk about it.
Social listening used to be the primary way to do this, but now we know just how performative social media can be, so the insights gleaned there must be taken with a grain of salt.
For a more authentic read on audiences’ beliefs, we need to go where monitoring platforms cannot go: online communities.
Brands use communities to gauge sentiment more accurately, crowdsource ideas, and identify potential crises before they escalate. If a customer complains about your product in an online community, knowing about it as quickly as possible is a huge advantage.
But it’s not just about listening and lurking; it’s about participating. Nuanced and consistent participation in online communities can position a brand as empathetic to its audience and build trust. When done right, it can also lead to earned media coverage.
Consider Airbnb’s Host Community Center, a platform where property owners can connect, share advice, and voice concerns. By creating a safe, interactive space for its hosts, Airbnb improves its relationships with a key audience and demonstrates that it values those partnerships. This message resonates far beyond the platform itself.
Brand communities are not the only place to connect and build trust. Other communities can also be excellent places to glean insights, meet influencers and potential partners, get early warnings about a potential media crisis, generate leads, and catch the attention of industry journalists.
Word-of-mouth is a powerful source of information, but you need to be “in the room where it happened”—in real life or virtually—to hear it. Since 2020, when we were all thrown online by necessity, online communities have exploded. So start finding those rooms now.
Authenticity is Everything
Of course, authenticity is key, just like with any marketing or PR strategy. Today’s audiences are savvier than ever and can spot a brand trying to hijack a community for purely self-serving reasons.
Building and maintaining an online community requires transparency, consistency, and genuine interest in providing value.
Patagonia does this well through its Action Works platform, a digital hub connecting activists with opportunities to engage in environmental advocacy. While the platform aligns with Patagonia’s brand mission, it’s not focused on selling products—it’s about creating a community of like-minded individuals passionate about making a difference and solving environmental problems together.
A Tool for Long-Term Marketing Success
Online membership communities benefit PR teams and are powerful tools for broader marketing strategies.
Brand communities create opportunities for word-of-mouth promotion, user-generated content, and even product innovation. Many brands have launched new offerings based on community feedback, effectively turning members into co-creators and product designers. Members who join brand communities feel a deeper commitment to the brand, making them more likely to purchase (or upgrade) products or services.
Even better, the power of membership communities grows over time. Unlike a traditional marketing campaign with a finite start and end date, communities aren’t constrained by time. They continue to provide value long after the initial investment and can iterate as members’ needs and the brand’s goals change.
Actively participating in non-brand communities is equally important for marketing goals as public relations and is particularly valuable for lead generation. Don’t know where to find online communities where customers and prospects hang out? Find them fast. Your competitors could already be there, and you don’t want to be late to the party.
Women Leading the Charge
In my work, I’ve seen a trend emerge: women entrepreneurs and leaders building innovative online communities.
In 2016 Gini Dietrich launched the free Spin Sucks Community, and it has been a true godsend to public relations and communications professionals. Gini’s community is where members ask for recommendations on PR tech platforms, air challenges they encounter in their practices, ask for advice with tricky client situations, and so much more. Jobs and other opportunities are occasionally posted. Gini keeps the conversation (and fun) going, To miss it, is to miss out.
Gesche Haas founded Dreamers & Doers, a paid community of brilliant women entrepreneurs. Membership includes PR services called PR Hype Machine™, where opportunities for earned media placements, podcasts, and live speaking opportunities are served up. Not only do women have the opportunity to network with other entrepreneurial women, but they can also get the much-needed increased visibility and amplification that PR provides at a fraction of the cost of hiring an agency. Win, win.
The fairy godmother of communities is Bri Leever (or, as she calls herself, a community strategist), the founder of Ember. Bri is truly the source of all knowledge about brand and paid membership communities.
You (or your client) can pay her to set up a community soup to nuts or join her community to learn how to do it yourself. Most of her work has increasingly been helping consultants, coaches, and creators diversify their revenue streams with paid membership communities.
Many of her clients have service-based businesses that began with 1:1 client work. Their revenue quickly hits a threshold for obvious reasons. To grow, they must either continue to raise their fees or diversify their revenue streams.
Enter the magic of a paid community, preferably guided with the expertise that only someone with Bri Leever’s experience can bring. It takes savvy to start and maintain a successful community. It may look easy, but there are pitfalls to avoid and opportunities to mine.
The Future of Online Communities
As technology evolves, the possibilities for online communities will only grow.
Brands and entrepreneurs that invest in these spaces, either by building their own communities or joining other online communities, will stay ahead of the curve or at least keep pace.
The ROI is undeniable. Participation in communities delivers measurable benefits: deeper customer insights, increased loyalty, qualified leads, and a steady stream of brand advocates who will spread the word faster than any ad campaign ever could.
But more than that, they create something invaluable: connection.
And in a world that often feels increasingly disconnected, that’s worth its weight in gold.
So, whether you’re a marketer, PR professional, or business leader, now is the time to explore how communities can elevate your strategy or diversify your revenue stream. The power of these spaces isn’t just in what they do for your brand—it’s in what they do for the people you serve.
Everyone can agree that real-life communities have always been a powerful part of business.
Now that the landscape of communities has expanded to include online communities.
That power has exploded with opportunity for us all.
