Community as Content: Is this Content Too?

The article shared below is an excerpt from the 2024 Cyber Content Annual: Everything Old is New Again. The Cyber Content Annual not only houses a variety of articles about cybersecurity content marketing, content marketing strategy, and content in general, which we will be sharing here over the next month, but also features our Cybersecurity Content Marketing Report: The Good, the Bad, and the Wildly Dangerous.

“And how will you make it go viral?”
—An executive’s last words to their marketer

Historically, content marketing has relied on reaching as many people as possible, with “going viral” at the top of every marketing director’s improbable to-do list. And, hey, brand ubiquity makes a difference when you’re able to instantly mint a meme for cyber marketers, as in the case of Palo Alto’s “This is Precision AI” campaign starring Keanu Reeves. For most B2B marketing, however, we’re entering a new phase, driven by smaller, more intimate communities of enthusiasts or peers. 

Today’s audience is no longer content with passive consumption, and attention is fragmented between many networks. As humans, we crave connection, engagement, and a sense of belonging; we want to work with people we like in our own teams and across business relationships. From this seed of connection emerges the idea of “community as content,” a method by which marketers support each other, reach out to their target audience successfully, and benefit the future of marketing and communications overall. 

The future of content marketing strategy lies in cultivating and nurturing these communities. Brands that recognize this shift and focus on creating spaces where audiences can engage, learn, and share have the best chance to stand out as the digital landscape develops. 

Niche audiences and tailored content

The burden of demand generation is built on the premise of reaching as many people as possible through mass media channels. Brands create blog posts, social media campaigns, and videos designed to cast a wide net and capture broad attention—effective in the early days of the Internet when getting noticed online could be as simple as generating eye-catching content and pushing it to multiple platforms. But as digital noise grows (from brands generating content and pushing it to multiple platforms, for example), it’s harder to cut through the noise with a generalized message. There’s simply too much content already out there, and audiences have evolved to be more selective about the content they consume as a result. 

Enter the rise of niche community spaces online, or what founder of MessageSpecs and author of Nerd that Talks Good Joel Benge refers to as tribes: groups of people gathered around specific interests. These Reddit communities and Discord servers aren’t just passive content consumers; they’re populated by folks who actively seek knowledge, connection, and engagement with each other. For a marketer, this small community is a networking diamond—the most successful brands cultivate small, intimate spaces where their target audience can engage meaningfully with the brand and each other. 

For example, Black Hills Infosec, known for cybersecurity expertise, has built a thriving community by focusing on interaction rather than traditional content. With robust Discord membership, regular webinars, and in-person meetups—not to mention the geek-forward simulation tabletop game, Backdoors and Breaches—Black Hills creates opportunities to bring their audience together and further conversations around the topics they care about most. Community isn’t just an afterthought; it drives how content is created and delivered. 

This event where this magazine was distributed, CyberCon, is another perfect example of community as content. This magazine even was built on collaborative efforts and conversations across peers and competitors. 

Facilitating community-driven content

The most effective content emerges organically from these spaces, where people gather to discuss interests, share ideas, and solve problems together. This shift means that content is not just an output but an experience that actively and necessarily involves the audience. It’s created and shaped by platforms like Discord, Reddit, Slack, and GroupMe, where users collaborate to create a continuous flow of content relevant to their interests (the marketer’s dream). 

Take a cybersecurity professional joining an ethical hacking Discord server: every discussion, question, or shared resource within that group becomes a piece of content that adds value to the entire community. This level of engagement and accessibility transforms traditional one-way content into a dynamic exchange of ideas that fuels deeper connections. Rather than producing content in isolation, successful community-driven marketing and outreach builds around the audience’s needs. The outcome? Brand loyalty, even in crisis (consider the case of Keith from Sonos).

Interest communities have a low tolerance for non-specific content and sales pitches but thrive on detailed, accurate intelligence. It turns them off. Marketers who abide by the ethos and work towards the growth of the group accordingly demonstrate good citizenship and build credibility. Community-driven content and content marketing strategy allows your prospects to choose a product or service provided by the people they know and like in lieu of needing extensive due diligence before making decisions. 

Taking the fear out of the future

Letting your customers see the humanity of your brand is a feature of community-driven marketing, not a bug. The reverse is also true: when you know the people who make up your audience, relying on the old motivators (FUD) loses appeal. Messaging that plays into survival instincts to drive purchases or security measures is less effective, and niche community audiences quickly sniff out inaccurate or misleading information. 

Instead of relying on lowest common denominator pain points, savvy marketers take inspiration from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. After basic physiological and safety needs are met, humans gravitate towards community, acceptance, and connection. Audiences are drawn to brands offering a sense of belonging and respect that resonates with personal and professional values. In cybersecurity, for example, professionals aren’t just looking for solutions to defend their systems—they want to connect with peers and share resources for the benefit of all. As a result, cybersecurity innovation is often driven by the connections forged in Reddit communities, focused conferences, and webinar chat rooms.

When people find a sense of belonging within a community created or facilitated by a brand, their connection to that brand strengthens. They aren’t just buying a product; they’re aligning themselves with a larger purpose and integrating the brand’s mission and values with their own personality. 

Marketing: The Next Generation

Community-first content marketing strategy means shifting from the broadcast mentality to the creator mentality, placing audience engagement and interaction at the center of the strategy. Younger generations are already transforming how B2C content marketing operates; rather than relying on algorithm-driven social media networks, they flock to platforms where they can curate their own experiences and join niche communities. 

As these younger generations join the workforce, B2B marketing is shifting accordingly. Success isn’t necessarily measured by likes or shares but the depth and quality of engagement and the strength of the community facilitated by the brand. Content marketing doesn’t need to compete for attention if it provides value and fosters ongoing conversations that matter to the audience. Engage consistently, move beyond algorithmic thinking, and focus on the quality of engagement over numbers at a glance. 

Set the trends with community-first marketing

In the future, content marketing strategy no longer needs to rely on the hope of going viral. Instead, define your brand success by the meaningful, long-lasting communities you can foster and facilitate. Today’s audiences demand more than clever taglines and eye-catching campaigns; they crave connection, shared experiences, and authenticity. 

For marketers, this means adopting a community-first mindset that nurtures and contributes value to niche interest spaces. As younger generations continue to reshape how we think about content marketing, brands embracing this shift will build stronger relationships with their audience. Ultimately, it’s not about how much content you create or how many eyes you can get—it’s about how well you can bring your audience together, meet their needs, and help them thrive. The future of marketing is in communities. Now is the time to build them.