How to use Twitter communities to grow your brand

“Human beings can’t help it: we need to belong.” — Seth Godin, Tribes. 

Social media networks like Reddit, Facebook and Discord have helped us find a place to belong and discuss topics we care about.

Brands use these channels as tools to connect with their audience. Unfortunately, many of these communities are becoming cluttered and inauthentic.

Now, many people are searching for smaller niche hangouts. Twitter communities are the latest addition to the platform and are designed for these people.

Let’s explore what Twitter communities are and how you can use them to grow a community of happy customers. 

What are Twitter communities?

Twitter communities are social communities users create and moderate, similar to Discord, Facebook groups and Slack. 

Communities were originally invite-only, but creators can now choose to make their Twitter community open for anyone to join. 

Twitter communities are currently in beta and creators must submit a request to open a community. Once Twitter approves your request, you can invite as many people as you want to your community and those that join will each have five invites of their own. 

Communities on Twitter are open and visible to the public. However, only community members can join the conversation. There’s currently no way to search for communities to join, so you’ll have to keep an eye out for tweets like this:

You can also monitor updates on Twitter communities by following @HiCommunities. 

Who are Twitter communities for?

The purpose of Twitter communities is to enable anyone to create a group for people who share the same interests, hobbies, passions and goals. Twitter communities are also a way for users to communicate with just their community vs. sending a tweet to all of their followers.

There’s no specific type of genre or industry you have to be in to open a community. For instance, you’ll find Twitter communities that cater to designers:

And others that appeal to the health-conscious:

Then there are some communities with a serious tone, such as politics or social causes:

Twitter communities are the ideal way to build a community around a belief, interest or purpose.

How to create and moderate Twitter communities?

Creating a Twitter community requires you to submit a form for approval. The time it takes to be approved varies, and Twitter is only accepting certain applications to test the waters. After the beta is over, we may see communities roll out faster and gain more traction. 

As the community creator, you decide on the theme, create the rules and send invitations to those with similar interests. Successful community creators will develop a hub where people can have relevant conversations in a positive setting. 

As a community moderator, you’ll have control over hiding tweets that break your community rules and you can remove members from the community.

Twitter community creators and moderators should read  Twitter’s rules to ensure they don’t lose their community. Things you may want to address include:

• What types of content you allow
• What types of posts you’ll remove
• Private messaging between members
• Topics you’ll cover to guide the conversations

Moderators also have the power to edit community rules, so make changes as you learn what works and what doesn’t. 

Finally, when you’re ready to grow your community—tweet about it or send DMs and invites to specific users. 

Finding and joining a community

If you find a community you’d like to join, you’ll either have to request an invitation (if it’s a closed community) or click the join button to get permission from the moderator (if it’s an open community). 

If you’re a moderator of a community and want to prevent disinterested people from joining, then you should include a rule that community members only invite those with a genuine interest in the topic.

Twitter has also introduced paid communities called Super Follows. Super Follows allow creators to offer extra services, such as additional content for a cost. 

There are other upcoming updates in the works, like the Android app functionality. 

 

And Twitter recently added the following features to the tool:

Benefits of joining as a brand

Twitter communities are the perfect opportunity to build a community of brand advocates. Use them to strengthen your brand’s visibility and potentially increase your sales. Try not to use Twitter communities to fixate on marketing and promotion, focus on topics that matter. Communities are a chance to position yourself as an influencer, leader and friend. 

Humanizing your brand gains the trust of your community members. Like in the real world, this requires offering value, extending a helping hand and lending an ear. Conversations are two-ways, so refrain from using this as a platform to shout out deals 24-7. 

Use Twitter communities to create VIP experiences for your customers and turn them into loyal fans and evangelists.

Deliver content that’s useful, timely and relevant so your members continue to follow and promote it to others they know.

Soon, your community will grow into a highly-targeted group that welcomes content from your brand.

If your business caters to different interests, then consider starting multiple communities to cater to each. You can use Sprout Social to monitor and manage your discussions and mentions in a single dashboard so you’re always in the loop.

Build your brand using Twitter communities

Twitter communities are still in the early stages of development but don’t sleep on them. They are a potential marketing channel for developing meaningful relationships with your customers and prospective buyers. 

Keep an eye out for new developments and begin planning how you’ll build your community of brand advocates. 

Meanwhile, download our latest social media benchmarks report to learn how to reach digital natives.