Why Community Matters Now

Before community became a marketing concept, it was a survival mechanism.

Humans are wired for connection. Long before brands, platforms, or advertising existed, belonging to a group meant safety, shared knowledge, and reassurance. Those instincts have not disappeared. They shape how we trust, how we decide, and how confident we feel when making choices.

From a biological perspective, participation in groups triggers the release of dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. These chemicals are associated with reward, belonging, and safety. When people feel part of something, their brains register reduced risk and increased confidence. This is why advice from peers feels reassuring in a way that institutional messages rarely do.

It becomes physiological at this point.

Why Community Matters Now and Has Done for Some Time

While the human need for connection is timeless, the environment in which decisions are made has changed dramatically.

Buyers today face more choice, more information, and more noise than ever before in history. As a result, trust has become harder to earn and easier to lose. This shift is not new, but it has become more pronounced as marketing has grown more automated, more targeted, and more competitive.

Research from the Edelman Trust Barometer consistently shows that people trust “people like me” significantly more than advertising or corporate communications. Similarly, Nielsen research has repeatedly found that recommendations from people with direct experience are among the most trusted sources of information when making purchasing decisions.

In complex or high-consideration choices, this matters even more. When the perceived risk is high, buyers actively seek reassurance from others who have already made the decision. The community has a role to fill the gap between awareness and belief.

How Organisations Should Think About Community

When organisations talk about community, the conversation often moves toward platforms, channels, or social media presence. This is where many misunderstand the concept.

Community does not equate to social media channels, branded groups, or owned platforms. And it is not defined by where conversations happen.

At its core, community is about participation. It exists wherever people exchange experiences, validate choices, and shape perception together. When designed intentionally, a community creates the conditions in which credibility is reinforced and reputation is formed over time.

This is why an effective community should exist independently of brand messaging. Its power lies in the fact that it is shaped by customers rather than controlled by the organisation. That independence is what gives it credibility and influence.

Community cannot be what you broadcast into existence. Community builds, enables, nurtures and is relationship-led, and this is where trust is earned

Community is Not a Tactic

Most marketing budgets are structured around short-term activation. Campaigns are funded to drive awareness, support launches, and generate immediate action. They are measurable, familiar, and often necessary.

But campaigns are time-bound. Once investment stops, attention fades, and audiences quickly move on. Recent digital trends data suggest an average person makes around 4,909 digital data interactions per day in 2025

Community works on a different time horizon. It builds trust and loyalty that carries forward. It reduces friction in future decisions. It improves the effectiveness of every campaign that follows by providing confidence where messaging alone is insufficient.

This difference shows up commercially.

Research from Bain & Company shows that increasing customer retention by as little as 5% can increase profits by between 25% and 95%. These gains are driven by repeat behaviour, advocacy, and lower acquisition costs. All are outcomes of sustained trust and engagement, not one-off exposure.

I am not comparing short-term and long-term marketing. It is a question of how we achieve balance.

Brands should look at how much of the marketing budget is allocated to immediate activation, and how much goes to building reputation, thus retention.

The Leadership Question

A community can surpass trends and lead to long-lasting growth and brand building.

Organisations that rely primarily on short-term activation are forced to reintroduce themselves to the market continuously. Each new campaign often starts from zero for unknown brands, rebuilding attention and credibility again and again. Organisations that take the time to invest in community carries trust forward.

The real question for leadership teams is not whether to invest in short-term results over long-term creation. They are not a comparison. It comes down to knowledge, priorities and allocation.