How To Build A Tribe Around Your Brand

Let’s talk about Target. I mean, it’s like one of my favorite places to go. Feeling down? Go to Target. Bored on a Sunday afternoon? Go to Target. Need to finish getting your 10k steps? Go to Target?

Over the last decade, Target completely changed their marketing and created a tribe of followers. They invented The Target Run. And it’s something that people look forward to. It’s something that brings people together.

Whenever my sisters come to town, we almost always make sure we go on a Target run. It’s become our “thing.” Even when we don’t have things to buy, we still make sure we go. We are loyal tribe-members of Target.

In Entrepreneurship we often talk about growing your Instagram or having a website that converts or copywriting that connects with your audience, we but often forget a step that I believe to be incredibly important.

We forget to build a tribe.

We focus on sharing our work and asking people to follow, like, and buy.

But, are we taking time to build up a loyal tribe? A tribe shows up. A tribe will support you. A tribe will spread the word about you.

Let’s go back to Target. They create an experience for their consumers. I mean, who doesn’t love Target? They first captivate us with the dollar spot. Then we have the clothing section with incredibly priced, cute clothes. You can then move to the beauty section where you’ll find my beloved Acure products.

And before you know it, you have walked the entire store twice and you look down in your cart to see a bunch of groceries, new baby clothes, a pair of earrings, and a new romper in your cart. Target creates products we love and showcases them in a way that makes us feel like we need them. This is the Target experience.

When you invite your consumers into an experience, you are also building a tribe. Building a tribe of loyal audience members and customers takes time, nurturing, trust-building, and dedication.

Pit stop: take 5 minutes to write a description of the tribe you want to create. Answer these questions:

1. Why do you think it’s important to build a tribe?

2. Do you want people to know you as a person?

3. How will you nurture your tribe?

Reasons why building a tribe is important:

1. You build trust with your audience...trust builds revenue: if you build a tribe, they will write raving reviews and grow your revenue.

2. You have a warm audience at all times: when you are ready to ask your audience to purchase something, they are already “primed”

3. You aren’t faceless: no matter what you create, people love it because they love YOU, not just your products.

4. You can turn to them for support, advice, and surveying: builds your credibility, gives people a place to belong.

5. They love you no matter what and want to support you: repeat customers, they love your brand and tell their friends about you.

Building your tribe is going to build the trust and brand story that creates repeat customers, an audience who tags you in a photo that was a reposted photo of yours, but didn’t credit you.

Building (and nurturing) your tribe will set you apart as an entrepreneur. Oftentimes I talk to product shop owners or business owners and they always lose followers when they post something personal. You do not want that to be your story!

You want your audience to love you AND your products! It takes time and grit, but the IMPACT you make will be worth it.

Strategies for creating and nurturing your tribe:

1. Employ the strategy of talking to one person: when you’re writing social media posts, write like you’re talking to one person. This helps YOU write a caption that doesn’t feel fake because you are just thinking about one person versus trying to please a whole crowd. And it makes the reader feel seen and important.

2. Ask for feedback and ask for responses: when using your Instagram stories and other marketing platforms, engage with your audience. Ask for a response or some type of feedback. People love to help and have a way to give back, so give them a place to belong and feel important.

3. Give, give, give: get comfortable with giving a lot away for free. This will build trust with your audience and prep them to purchase when it’s time to sell. BONUS: take a minute to write down 3 ideas of what you could give away to your audience.

4. In every comment you reply to or every DM you send on Instagram, pretend like the person is your BFF. Talk to her like you would talk to one of your best friends. This will create a tribe of people who feel like they belong and are welcome.

Comment below and let me know what you’re going to try TODAY to start building your tribe!