How to Build a Brand Community: Hacks From Nike, Lego and Twitch

Communities in sports and entertainment are about fun… well, naturally!

Sports, hobbies, and entertainment are their tools for engaging their audiences. Let's learn from the big names. What do Nike, Lego, and Twitch do to build a community for their brands?

Demystifying Nike’s Community Building Strategy

What do they do with the product? What is the 'result of the result'?

In the case of Nike's shoes and sportswear: they run and train! And this is what Nike Running Club is — a running/fitness tracker.

'The result of the result' is my favorite expression about deeper value behind the 'tangible' result. Say, you can run every morning for great energy, or great looks, or for feeling superior to your peers (non-runners). All different results behind the (what seems to be) same result!

Nike Running community result? Well, if they measure their training, they can brag about the result to their followers!

In 2022, the Nike Run Club app had 100+ million users, growing membership by 30% per year.

They offer activities to unite users: weekly Group Runs, Races, Training Programs, etc.

Other engagement boosters:

• Segmentation: Content is tailored for subcommunities (gender, location, etc.) to enhance the engagement.
• Community Events: Every March, Nike celebrates the Air Max, one of its all-time best-selling sneakers. The brand treats the community with anticipated releases, design contests, product showcases, and more.
• Co-creation: Nike engages the community in product design and acts on their feedback. In 2018, a design contest was launched, with the winners’ designs being released on the market.

: What is the user's 'success metric' in Twitch’s community?

Twitch users are game streamers. They have fun playing games. But what streaming became is gaining popularity among other players (and money).

To treat the community with rewards, Twitch created more opportunities for users' meetings and boosted audiences. Twitch conducts a semi-annual gaming convention called TwitchCon. In December 2022 they also announced Twitch Unity Guilds, a program for networking, development, and celebration.

Interview with Twitch CMO:

Twitch’s CMO mentioned: “We’ve been able to build something that transcends technology, which is the community.” The secret is that while creating new features, the brand thinks “how to serve a live content creator.”

The approach, focused on investing in the community, turned into 7.27 million active streamers in August 2023, and $2.8 bln in revenue in 2022 (4.56% increase from the previous year).

LEGO: What is the common value of the community? What do they deeply enjoy and care about?

The LEGO community counts thousands of people who use LEGO to express themselves. Building and creating for the joy of it! But how does the brand keep the community involved?

For example, in 1998 LEGO noticed that adult hackers cracked the codes of their toys to run various applications. At first, the company reacted negatively. But then they saw them what they were: space fans and train lovers. And they encouraged user collaboration afterwards!

How LEGO started embracing hackers after trying to fight them:

Another notable initiative is the LEGO Ambassador Programme, where fans are invited to influence product development. The other events are 10 Days of Hyperlapse, Golden Brickies, The Awesome Alliance, LEGO Ideas, etc.

With the community-driven initiatives, LEGO launched products like LEGO Studies, LEGO Factory, LEGO Mosaic, and LEGO Vikings. This open-source strategy keeps the brand trusted and loved by many.

Ready to build your brand community with the experience of the best entertainment products?

Here is the recap of community marketing tactics:

1. Focus on the key uses of your main product, and focus on the result of this action. This is what your community can help your users with (like Nike helps with measuring running progress)!

   
   

2. Choose the metrics your users are concerned with. Your community activities may assist with boosting these metrics. If your product is not meant to bring money, maybe it brings social capital or fame, like Twitch.

   
   

3. If your users value something deeply like Lego creators value freedom - can you give it to them in your product and/or community? Think about how you could collaborate with your pirates.

If you're building your brand community and media presence, I would love to know about your progress and challenges!

DM me on LinkedIn, and let's have a quick chat!

- Jane