Community Building as a Growth Strategy: Creating Value for Businesses
- theresamayer
- 19. Feb.
- 9 Min. Lesezeit
Aktualisiert: 16. Aug.
With customer trust becoming harder to earn and competition growing stronger, businesses are recognizing that traditional marketing and customer engagement tactics are no longer enough. Rather than just broadcasting messages, businesses are now prioritizing creating spaces where customers connect, engage, and co-create value.
In his book The Business of Belonging, David Spinks argues that community is the next big competitive advantage. He highlights how companies like Apple, Amazon and Zappos have successfully built thriving communities that drive brand loyalty, product innovation, and business growth. While these companies may not serve as perfect models in every aspect, their ability to leverage community has played a crucial role in their success. The question is no longer if businesses should invest in community building but rather how they should approach it strategically.
Insights from the 2024 Community Industry Report reveal that 83% of companies believe community is core to their company’s mission, and 79% report that their community has had a positive impact on their organization’s objectives over the past year. This demonstrates the significant value of community in driving business success.
As someone strongly engaged in community-driven environments, I know that developing connections between individuals can create lasting value and increase loyalty among users. nebenan.de, a hyperlocal social network exemplifies this by strengthening local communities, connecting neighbors online, and building relationships offline. Due to my professional focus on business strategy development, including my work with nebenan.de, I am particularly curious about how community-driven strategies can benefit not only social networks but also drive growth, engagement, and profitability across various businesses. This curiosity led me to discover Spinks, a leading expert on using community building as a competitive advantage for businesses.
With this article I aim to illustrate why a community-first approach is crucial for modern businesses, highlight examples of companies excelling in this space, and provide an overview of Spinks' SPACES model as a framework for community strategy. Finally, I will look at how the SPACES model can be applied to social networks and community platforms to drive growth, engagement, and profitability.
The Community-First Approach and Why It’s Important
Business-customer interactions have evolved. Instead of relying on traditional marketing, a community-first approach focuses on fostering relationships over reach, conversations over conversions, and connection over consumption.
This evolution is both necessary and powerful. When businesses focus on relationships instead of transactions, they start to build a shared sense of purpose and loyalty with their customers.
Spinks emphasizes that successful companies no longer only build products or services, they build belonging. A strong sense of community fosters customer investment in a brand’s success. This shift is already evident in how companies like Salesforce, Duolingo, Lululemon or gitti approach customer relationships. Instead of relying solely on ads and promotions, they create environments where customers can connect, share knowledge, and contribute to the company’s evolution.
Why does this matter? Because building a community isn’t just a side project. It’s a strategic advantage.
Companies that invest in communities experience:
Stronger customer loyalty: A sense of belonging creates emotional ties, making customers more likely to stay and advocate for the brand.
Lower acquisition costs: Word-of-mouth referrals from an engaged community are more powerful and cost-effective than traditional ads.
Product innovation: Engaged communities provide direct feedback and ideas, allowing businesses to adapt faster to customer needs.
Scalability: When customers actively contribute, whether through discussions, events, or support, they become co-creators, helping companies scale more efficiently.
Companies Leading the Way in Community Building
Many companies, from global tech giants to rising startups, have successfully integrated community-driven strategies into their business models. Here are a few examples that standout:
Salesforce: Reducing Support Costs and Boosting Sales
Salesforce's community program, spearheaded by Erica Kuhl, has been crucial in increasing customer engagement and satisfaction. Through initiatives that encouraged users to connect and share best practices, the company reported that 82% of its customers experienced increased ROI from their investment in Salesforce tools, and 93% discovered new products and tools within the Salesforce suite. This community-centric approach has not only reduced support costs but also fostered a loyal customer base. (CMX, n.d., Spinks, 2021)
Duolingo: Scaling Rapidly with Community-Organized Events
Duolingo scaled rapidly by leveraging volunteers to develop most of its language courses, allowing fast growth without compromising quality. Until 2023, Duolingo organized over 2,600 monthly events, managed by a dedicated team of three, where learners practiced languages together. This strategy has cultivated a vibrant user community that actively contributes to the platform's growth and sustainability. (Spinks, 2021)
Lululemon: Accelerating Growth with Brand Ambassadors
Lululemon's emphasis on community engagement has significantly pushed its financial success. The company's 'Power of Three' strategic plan, introduced in 2019, focuses on product innovation, guest experience, and market expansion, all rooted in community involvement. This approach has led to consistent revenue growth, with global sales reaching over $9.5 billion in 2023, more than doubling the figures from three years prior. Lululemon's brand ambassador program, content creation initiatives, and in-store events have been pivotal in building a loyal customer base and driving this impressive growth. (Statista, 2025, BusinessWire, 2019, Spinks, 2021)
gitti: Driving Product Development Through Community Input
Berlin-based startup gitti has tapped into the power of community to revolutionize the beauty industry with its sustainable products. Founded in 2018 by Jennifer Baum-Minkus, gitti has raised approximately $11.7 million over two funding rounds, reflecting strong investor and community support. The brand actively involves its community in product development and sustainability initiatives, fostering a sense of shared purpose. In 2024, gitti launched its first crowdinvesting campaign, inviting its community to become stakeholders in the company’s mission to lead in a new era in the beauty industry through product innovations that are better for both the planet and people. (Tracxn, 2024, BeautyPunk, 2024, Wiwin, 2024)
These examples show the impact of community-driven strategies. To gain a deeper understanding of the approach behind these practices, we can turn to the frameworks outlined in The Business of Belonging.
The Three Levels of Community Strategy and the SPACES Model
Spinks community strategy is based on three levels and utilizes the SPACES model to achieve measurable business outcomes. Both frameworks provide a structured approach to creating a community program that fosters belonging while also driving tangible business results.
Three Levels of Community Strategy
Business Level: At this level, the community strategy is directly tied to revenue generation. This could involve leveraging the community to strengthen customer loyalty, increase product adoption, or drive sales. It's about understanding how the community contributes to the bottom line.
Community Level: This focuses on the growth and health of the community itself. A successful community doesn’t just grow in numbers, it also evolves in quality. Engaged, active members who feel connected are essential for long-term success. This level considers how to sustain and nurture a thriving community.
Tactical Level: This level zooms in on the day-to-day initiatives and actions that shape the community experience. These can include specific events, content creation, or support initiatives that maintain momentum and engagement.
Aligning these levels with strategic objectives ensures measurable impact.
In my experience working with OKRs as a framework to translate business strategy into measurable key results, I see how the SPACES model can drive impactful outcomes. Whether it's supporting customers, driving product development, or encouraging active engagement, focusing on all levels ensures that business communities can grow and flourish.
The SPACES Model: Driving Measurable Business Outcomes
Spinks introduces the SPACES model as a tool to help businesses measure the value their community delivers. SPACES stands for:
This model reinforces that community is a strategic, results-driven function.
Applying the SPACES Model to Social Networks and Community Platforms
Social networks and community platforms, especially those focused on local or niche groups, tend to see major benefits from integrating community-building strategies, like those outlined in the SPACES model. These strategies can be applied across different types of platforms to drive growth, engagement and ultimately, profitability.
Support: Local and specialized platforms, such as nextdoor or facebook groups, serve as natural spaces for users to offer peer-to-peer support. Encouraging this mutual assistance reduces the reliance on traditional customer service channels, improving the overall user experience. This organic culture of support leads to higher satisfaction and trust within the community.
Product: For platforms like Reddit or Instagram, community feedback is a critical driver of product development. Engaged users often have valuable insights that can shape platform features, ensuring they better address the evolving needs of the community. This feedback loop helps keep these platforms relevant and responsive to user demands.
Acquisition: Community-driven growth can be particularly effective in hyperlocal or niche platforms. When users feel connected to the platform and its community, they naturally become advocates, driving organic growth. This peer-to-peer acquisition is cost-effective and creates more genuine brand connections. Examples like nextdoor or LinkedIn demonstrate how a loyal, engaged user base can lead to substantial word-of-mouth growth.
Contributions: Platforms like YouTube or TikTok benefit from user-generated content, whether through videos, tutorials, or user-created discussions. Encouraging members to contribute content not only leverages the value of the platform but also strengthens community engagement. Contributions can range from local event organization to sharing knowledge and resources, which enrich the overall experience for all users.
Engagement: Engagement on social networks like nebenan.de or nextdoor is often more intimate and personal. By creating an environment where users actively participate in discussions, share experiences, and support each other, these platforms can build stronger bonds with their users. facebook, in its early days, focused primarily on scaling user growth before refining engagement strategies. Once it reached a critical mass of users, facebook began to prioritize personalized content and deeper interactions. Similarly, for community-driven platforms, engagement is not just about usage, it’s about developing deep, meaningful connections that drive loyalty.
Success: For platforms that focus on specific communities, success is often measured by the tangible impact the community has on its members’ lives. nebenan.de for example measures its impact by how many members report feeling less lonely since joining the community. The platform is actively engaged in combating loneliness, creating opportunities for neighbors to interact, support each other, and build offline connections. Whether through fostering a sense of belonging, solving shared challenges, or providing emotional support, the success of such social networks and community platforms is tied to their real-world impact on members' well-being and social connections.
Based on my experience with nebenan.de, I believe that local social networks, more than any other business, can deeply benefit from the SPACES model. It's not just about the features a platform offers. What’s more important is how using the platform makes people feel. Viewing the SPACES model through the lens of a local social network reveals that focusing on building connections and engagement can foster a sense of belonging and lead to relevant, measurable outcomes. This highlights the potential of community as a strategic tool, especially for businesses like nebenan.de, whose core mission is to nurture meaningful local connections.
Community as a Strategic Advantage
Companies prioritizing community-building are positioning themselves for long-term success. For platforms like nebenan.de, which are built on the foundation of connection and belonging, community isn’t just a buzzword, it’s essential to the business model itself.
From my perspective, businesses that prioritize community-building aren't just building stronger brands, they're building ecosystems of support, trust, and innovation that are difficult to replicate.
The SPACES model offers a valuable framework for translating community-building efforts into promising business outcomes. Whether by fostering support, driving product innovation, or increasing customer engagement, community is becoming a key differentiator.
For businesses of all sizes, investing in community is not merely about connecting people, but about establishing a unique competitive edge. Community serves as a powerful driver of growth, innovation, and customer loyalty, and it's clear that businesses leading with this approach will have a sustainable advantage.
I strongly believe that the future of business lies in deep, authentic connections not only with customers, but also with all stakeholders a business interacts with: First and foremost, their employees, followed by investors, partners, suppliers, etc. As we move forward, it’s clear that the companies that invest in community will be the ones shaping the business landscape for years to come.
If this resonates with you, or if you're curious to explore how these strategies can apply to your business, feel free to connect.
Theresa Mayer
People, Strategy & Execution | Business Generalist | Executive MBA
Combining strategic insight, operational expertise, and a people-centered leadership approach.
References
BeautyPunk. (2024, April 29). gitti startet erstmalig eine Crowdinvesting-Kampagne. Retrieved from here
Bevy. (2023). The spaces model. Bevy. Retrieved from here
BusinessWire. (2019, April 24). lululemon unveils “Power of Three” strategic plan to accelerate growth. Retrieved from here
CMX. (2021, February). The SPACES model: A framework for building thriving communities. Retrieved from here
CMX. (n.d.). Erica Kuhl talks ROI at Salesforce. Retrieved from here
Spinks, D. (2021). The Business of Belonging: How to make community your competitive advantage. Wiley.
Statista. (2025, January 14). Lululemon Athletica – Statistics & Facts. Retrieved from here
Tracxn. (2025, February 18). gitti conscious beauty – Company profile. Retrieved from here
WIWIN. (2024, April 30). gitti Wachstumsfinanzierung. Retrieved from here