Types of Communities: a guide for marketers

Communities are the foundation of human connection and social organization. They fundamentally shape how people make decisions, form identities, and build trust. For marketers, understanding these social structures isn’t just an academic exercise—it’s crucial for creating authentic connections and building lasting brand relationships.

At their core, communities are complex social systems, each with their own unique language, shared values, and established ways of thinking. These distinct characteristics create powerful networks of trust and influence that shape how messages spread and how decisions are made. When marketers truly understand these community dynamics, they can craft messages that genuinely resonate, identify trusted voices for partnership, and build strategies that align with natural social interactions.

The most successful brands don’t just market to communities—they become valued participants within them. They recognize that authentic engagement leads to organic growth, as community members naturally amplify messages they find meaningful. This approach creates deeper, more sustainable relationships than traditional advertising ever could.

This guide explores the five fundamental types of communities that every marketer should understand:

Communities of Interest
Communities of Practice
Communities of Place
Communities of Action
Communities of Circumstance

While communities often overlap and evolve beyond simple categorization, grasping these core structures provides essential insight for effective community engagement. Through practical examples and proven strategies, you’ll learn how to connect with each type of community in ways that create lasting value for both your brand and the community itself.

1. Communities of Interest

A community of interest brings together people united by a shared passion, hobby, or enthusiasm. Unlike communities bound by profession or location, communities of interest form around what people love to do, talk about, and experience. Members connect to explore, celebrate, and deepen their interest through knowledge-sharing and social interaction.

These communities thrive on collective excitement and identity formation around specific interests, whether that’s vintage motorcycles, Korean skincare, plant-based cooking, or fantasy football. The shared passion creates a strong sense of belonging and defines how members see themselves in relation to the wider world.

Examples of Communities of Interest

Gaming communities: Platforms like Discord host thousands of gaming communities where members discuss strategies, share accomplishments, and build relationships. Gaming companies don’t just sell to these communities—they participate in them, sponsoring tournaments and collaborating with community leaders.
Fitness communities: Companies like Peloton have masterfully built communities around fitness lifestyles. They’ve created spaces where members share achievements, support each other’s goals, and form identities around their fitness journeys.
Food and cooking communities: King Arthur Flour transformed from a commodity product to a beloved brand by building a community of home bakers who share recipes, tips, and baking triumphs.

Marketing strategies for Communities of Interest

Communities of interest offer unique opportunities for marketers who understand how to genuinely connect with them:

Create passion-centric content: Develop content that celebrates and deepens the passion itself, not just your products. REI doesn’t just promote outdoor gear; it publishes guides, stories, and resources that enrich people’s connection to nature.
Listen for insights: These communities provide unfiltered views into what your audience truly cares about. Monitor conversations to understand evolving interests, pain points, and trends that can inform product development and messaging.
Partner with community voices: Members trust each other far more than they trust brands. Collaborating with respected voices within these communities yields better results than working with traditional celebrities who lack authentic connection.
Create with community members: Invite community members into your testing programs or idea workshops. They’ll provide invaluable feedback and often become your most loyal advocates when they feel ownership in your development process.
Align with community values: Identify the deeper values that unite the community and authentically align with them. Patagonia connects with outdoor enthusiasts not just through products but through shared environmental values.

2. Communities of Practice

Communities of practice unite people who share a common profession, craft, or discipline. Unlike casual interest groups, these communities focus on professional development, problem-solving, and advancing skills within a specific domain. Members come together to collectively learn, exchange techniques, and establish standards of excellence in their field.

These communities significantly influence how professionals identify themselves, approach their work, and evaluate products and services related to their practice. They develop shared vocabularies, methodologies, and values that shape purchasing decisions and what information they consider credible. SEO practitioners represent a perfect example of this - as search evolves, they must constantly adapt their knowledge and skills to include emerging approaches like Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to remain effective in their community of practice.

Examples of Communities of Practice

Developer communities: Software developers gather in communities like Stack Overflow or GitHub to share code, solve problems, and discuss best practices. Companies like DigitalOcean have built their reputation by creating valuable educational content for these communities.
Healthcare professional networks: Platforms like Doximity and Medscape have become essential hubs where medical practitioners exchange knowledge about treatment approaches and research findings, with companies like Medtronic building credibility by providing peer-reviewed research rather than marketing materials.
Design communities: Platforms like Behance bring together graphic designers, illustrators, and digital artists who share work, offer feedback, and discuss industry trends. Adobe nurtures these communities by providing not just tools but educational resources and events that showcase community members’ creative work.

Marketing strategies for Communities of Practice

Connecting with communities of practice requires specialized approaches that respect their expertise:

Provide technical value: Create in-depth, technically accurate content that genuinely advances professional practice. HubSpot built its reputation by providing comprehensive resources that helped marketing professionals improve their craft rather than just promoting their tools.
Support skill development: Offer webinars, workshops, and certification programs that enhance professional skills. This positions you as an enabler of professional success rather than just a vendor pushing products.
Respect existing workflows: Take time to understand the tools and processes the community already uses, and show how your products enhance rather than disrupt established practices. This demonstrates respect for their expertise.
Celebrate community expertise: Highlight members’ achievements and knowledge. Salesforce’s MVP program recognizes community contributions, creating aspirational paths and strengthening community bonds.
Focus on real problems: Your messaging should center on solving specific professional challenges the community faces rather than generic benefits. Show detailed understanding of their day-to-day realities.

3. Communities of Place

Communities of place are defined by shared geography—the social connections among people who live, work, or gather in a particular location. These might be neighborhoods, towns, cities, or regions where physical proximity creates shared experiences, concerns, and identities.

Unlike online communities that transcend geography, communities of place are rooted in specific locations, local cultures, and shared infrastructure. They shape how people identify with their surroundings, make local purchasing decisions, and respond to messages that reference their locality.

Examples of Communities of Place

Neighborhood business alliances: Local business districts often form communities that coordinate efforts, create neighborhood identities, and drive foot traffic. Organizations that support these initiatives demonstrate commitment to local community prosperity. For example, the Portland Business Alliance brings together over 1,900 local businesses to promote economic vitality through events, advocacy, and neighborhood improvement projects.
City-specific social media groups: Facebook groups and other platforms like Nextdoor host vibrant communities organized around particular cities or neighborhoods, where residents share recommendations, events, and local concerns.
Regional identity movements: “Buy local” campaigns, regional food movements, and place-based cultural initiatives create strong community identities that influence consumer choices. Portland’s Stumptown Coffee has built its identity around association with regional character and values.

Marketing strategies for Communities of Place

Place-based marketing strategies build on local connections and knowledge:

Speak the local language: Customize your messages to reflect local cultural references, dialect, landmarks, and concerns. McDonald’s balances global brand consistency with localized menu items and messaging that resonates in specific regions.
Invest in local priorities: Support local events, infrastructure, or causes that matter to the community. Outdoor retailer REI builds strong connections by funding local trail maintenance and outdoor spaces that community members value.
Use precise geographic targeting: Modern digital advertising platforms enable hyper-local targeting through IP addresses, GPS data, and postal codes. This precision allows marketers to target specific neighborhoods, business districts, or even individual buildings with messaging tailored to local context and relevance.
Partner with local voices: Work with respected voices in specific geographic communities—from neighborhood social media admins to local radio personalities. These partnerships build trust through established community relationships.
Tell local stories: Feature real locations and community members in your content. Ben & Jerry’s often highlights the Vermont communities where their products originate, creating a sense of place and belonging that resonates even with consumers elsewhere.

4. Communities of Action

Communities of action unite people working toward a specific goal or change in the world. Unlike communities based on shared interests or location, these groups form explicitly to make a tangible impact—whether environmental protection, policy change, social justice, or community improvement.

These purpose-driven communities are characterized by their focus on outcomes, collective efforts, and shared values. Members identify strongly with the cause and evaluate organizations partly based on alignment with their mission.

Examples of Commmunities of Action

Environmental activism groups: Organizations like Surfrider Foundation bring together people committed to ocean conservation. Patagonia has built exceptional loyalty by actively supporting and participating in environmental communities of action.
Mutual aid networks: During crises, communities form to address immediate needs through collective action. Companies like Airbnb have built goodwill by supporting these communities during disasters, offering concrete assistance rather than just sympathetic messaging.
Health advocacy organizations: Communities focused on specific health causes—from cancer research to rare disease advocacy—unite around improving outcomes for affected populations. Organizations like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have built deep trust by authentically engaging with childhood cancer communities through research, support programs, and advocacy.

Marketing strategies for Communities of Action

Connecting with communities of action requires authentic alignment and concrete support:

Lead with values: Clearly communicate your genuine commitment to values that matter to action-oriented communities. TOMS built its identity around shared purpose with communities focused on global development, making their social mission central to their brand story.
Create real impact: Collaborate with communities to create concrete, measurable change—not just awareness. Dove’s partnership with body positivity activism demonstrated commitment through sustained action beyond surface-level messaging campaigns.
Amplify community voices: Use your resources and platform to elevate community voices rather than speaking for them. Ben & Jerry’s regularly highlights activists and causes, lending its reach to community priorities instead of co-opting their messages.
Provide practical resources: Offer skills, infrastructure, or tools that help communities achieve their goals. Google’s provision of technology tools to nonprofit organizations builds meaningful relationships with change-oriented communities.
Be transparent about progress: Share honest assessments of your journey toward shared goals, acknowledging both progress and shortcomings. Communities of action respect honesty more than perfection and will appreciate authentic commitment.

5. Communities of Circumstance

Communities of circumstance form among people sharing a common life situation, challenge, or transition—often unexpectedly. Unlike communities chosen through interest or profession, these groups form because members find themselves in similar circumstances, such as new parenthood, health diagnoses, career transitions, or relocation.

These communities provide essential support, information exchange, and validation during significant life changes. They strongly influence how people make decisions during vulnerable or transitional periods.

Examples of Communities of Circumstance

New parent groups: Whether online forums or local meetups, new parents form strong communities to navigate the challenges of child-rearing. Companies like Frida have built loyalty by speaking authentically to these communities, acknowledging real challenges instead of presenting idealized parenting scenarios.
Health condition support groups: People diagnosed with specific health conditions often form tight-knit communities to share coping strategies and emotional support. Organizations like Cancer Council build trust within these communities by providing support groups, helplines, and educational resources for cancer patients and their families.
Relocation communities: People moving to new cities or countries form communities to share adaptation strategies and resources. Companies like Airbnb have created content platforms where these communities can share location-specific knowledge.

Marketing strategies for Communities of Circumstance

Supporting communities of circumstance requires sensitivity and genuine value:

Address specific challenges: Develop resources that address the unique challenges of transitional periods. Insurance companies that create simplified products for major life changes demonstrate understanding of circumstantial communities’ needs.
Provide clear information: Offer straightforward, actionable information that helps people navigate unfamiliar territory. Financial institutions that provide clear guidance for first-time homebuyers support these communities beyond promotional messaging.
Help people connect: Create platforms where people in similar circumstances can find each other. Dating app Bumble expanded into BFF mode, recognizing the need for friendship connections during life transitions.
Respect emotional timing: Understand the emotional journey of different circumstances and time your outreach appropriately. Funeral service providers that offer resources without immediate sales pressure demonstrate respect for circumstantial timing.
Represent diverse experiences: Ensure your content reflects the varied experiences within circumstantial communities. Dove’s Real Beauty campaign succeeded partly by acknowledging diverse body image experiences across different life circumstances.

Communities are rarely confined to a single type - they blend, evolve, and transform over time. What begins as a community of circumstance, like new parents seeking support, often evolves into a community of interest centered around specific parenting philosophies. This fluidity makes community engagement both challenging and rewarding for marketers.

Understanding these community structures provides practical insights into how people make decisions within their social contexts. Effective marketers recognize that people don’t exist in demographic vacuums but as active participants in rich social ecosystems, each with their own norms, values, and ways of thinking.

Successful community engagement demands authenticity above all. Communities instinctively recognize and reject superficial marketing approaches, responding instead to genuine value and respect for their established norms. This requires listening deeply before participating, looking beyond short-term campaigns to build sustained relationships, and taking time to understand each community’s unique culture and language.

When trust is increasingly scarce, this community-centered marketing approach isn’t just more effective - it’s essential. The brands that thrive will be those that move beyond promotion to become valued participants within communities, understanding and respecting the invisible structures of human connection that shape how people interact, make decisions, and build relationships.

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