BRAND COMMUNITY: NO STYLE 666

https://www.facebook.com/nostyle666/ – https://www.instagram.com/nostyle.666/

      No Style is a content aggregate and small merch shop. Products include a variety of clothing, stickers, and Japan related artifacts. The business is based out of Australia. No Style has two primary channels that are regularly maintained – Facebook and Instagram. Both have relatively active audiences. The Facebook page is much larger with around 36k likes. The Instagram account has closer to 6.3k. The engagement is similar, with Facebook pulling slightly ahead in overall quantity, but Instagram having a more active community.

The content on each channel is slightly different. The Facebook page acts as a content aggregate. The page shares posts from other automotive groups, uploads content from blogs and automotive photography pages, and shares some user submitted content. The Instagram seems to be more branded, with the majority of uploads featuring the “No Style” name in some manner. The subject of each post is of course different. It ranges from graffiti to cars to actual product shots.

I envy the brand community on No Style’s Instagram. Each photo has actual comments from real human-beings who are genuinely interested in the brand. They ask questions related to the products or image featured. No Style responds to questions which leads to actual conversations happening publicly in the comments. Others jump in as well to share their knowledge and opinions.Comments fall into several categories including interest related to the content at hand, questions regarding orders, and general inquiries about the brand.

The success of this brand community comes from several different factors: content strategy, follower count, and brand response. The first, content strategy, increases engagement and community by serving as a hub for content of interest to the target audience. Even if someone has no interest in purchasing products, they still may follow the brand, tag their friends, and engage with the content that goes beyond the storefront. This increases the legitimacy of the business due to the power of word of mouth marketing. It also organically grows the audience and creates touch-points for future customers.

The second reason for success, follower count, is a luxury my brand does not yet have. Because their audience is relatively large, No Style has no need for hashtags. This keeps away spam and ensures that the only people who engage with your content are those who have purposely followed you and shown interest in your brand. Currently, I am in the expansion phase of my business. I must obtain followers and customers through outreach efforts such as hashtags rather than word of mouth. When my followers begin tagging friends and sharing my content, then I will be able to reduce my publicity efforts. This will result in only the most valuable followers engaging with my content.

The final technique is one that I already implement. Respond to everything. No Style is good about responding to feedback whether it be a “I love this!” comment or a question about an order. Many companies would simply ignore questions about orders on their social media content as it is unrelated to the topic at hand. Others would refer customers to a service email. No Style addresses their concern right then and their in the comments. The level of transparency and authenticity is amazing. I too try to do this with my content. I will “like” supportive comments with no question attached, and I answer actual questions as quickly as possible. Being able to implement these three techniques will help build the brand community I want.

The only suggestion I would have for No Style is more user-contributed content. Having a proprietary hashtag and interacting with their customers through this would be a great way to build good-will and show that they are interested in more than selling products. People love when brands take notice of them, and a hashtag is the easiest way to reach out.