SOOOOO……
Let me guess you’re looking to build a cult group full amazing like minded people, in hopes of taking over the world with your amazing idea? Okay Okay, well.. not necessarily a cult but a ever growing community that’s built on a solid foundation? I’ll say you’re definitely on the right start!
The importance of community has become more important than ever, it is no longer about having that “ME FIRST” or “TOP DOG” mentality, or should I say it’s never been about that. But about coming together in many areas and in different ways.
You know the saying “Team Work Makes The Dream Work” right?
Oh and not to get all “woo woo” on you, but back in 2020, we entered the age of Aquarius on December 20th, which is when the planetary alignments shifted. This is called The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. And obviously during the time everyone’s world flipped upside down.
This has marked the start of profound change, new sense of hope, direction, and humanitarianism. And it’s just getting started, you may even have noticed a shift within yourself of how you view community now as well.
Overall whether you’re building a community online or offline these steps will help you in some way. But, let’s first discuss what a online community is:
What is a online community?
Online communities are groups of people who come together to form relationships over a common need or interest. These needs or interest could specifically be geared towards a product, certain skills, beliefs, insights, or to receive advice, but honestly it’s endless to what communities can be built on.
Within a online community or any community for that matter, you are building relationships with people you’ve never seen a day in your life. Those People that you’ll probably ask “where have you been all my life”.
Different types of online platform:
When it comes to online communities, you a have ton of options to chose from. Though there are are some important factors to keep in mind, and that is if you’re looking to build something more private or public. Now, if you’re unsure, let’s check out some of the options below!
Public Platforms:
- Snapchat
- Youtube
Within public platforms you’ll be a bit more “out there” and in the know. A public platform gives you the ability to build a large audience through a means of visuals, and relatability. Although this can take time to build and can be a bit competitive, it is very helpful for gaining more exposure.
Public platforms also allows you to show off your skills in the forefront, and show that you are that authoritative person in your industry. This will help with engagement for building leads, sales, followers, and etc. Even if you’re not a business this will help you to build your personal reputation.
Private Platforms:
- “Your own website”
- Personal & specific facebook groups
- Patreon
- Hosted forum
- Hostgator
- Geneva (My favorite)
- members only sites, and many more!
Private platforms, Instead of all those limitations of not being able to talk about certain things, post certain things, maybe being accused of random violations on instagram, there will be so much more freedom. Your audience will develop a feeling of belonging and connectedness to you and you will be able to truly build yourself a quality based community.
A private platform also helps you to remove the distractions, stop worrying about the competition so you build better focus toward your overall goal, because let’s be real we want to focus on relevant content. Plus by you being the actual owner you are in charge of the managing, which will give you better insights. Oh and of course being able to give
What types of virtual communities are there?
Furthermore, now that you have your platform in mind, you’re possibly needing clarity on the type community.
This being based upon your own reasoning of course,
- Branded community
In simplest terms this looks like you growing your personal brand, image, or your businesses brand. This is your identification, of how people will know of, and remember you.
This is where you show case who you are through your logo, voice, colors and what your brand stands for to bring in that awareness to grow that awesome community!
In your branded community you must not only receive support but be able to support your customers as well.
2. Purpose based community
Purpose based communities goals are meant to establish a relationship where people come together to accomplish a common goal.
For example: a group of people coming together to vouch for change to clean up the environment, once a month. Another is a commitment to volunteer and help the homeless and give back..
3. Learning community
Learning based communities allow people to connect with
Communities that are most common
- Action based communities
- Interest based communities
- Support based communities
Top 5 steps to ways
1.) Step one
Know your why behind building an online community. In order for something to be successful you must have a goal in mind, the overall purpose. So a few questions you may want to ask yourself is, What are my motives behind this community? How will this community benefit myself and others? What are some opportunities you’d like to see from this?
It’s important to know the story before telling the story, this may come from your own story, life experiences, or things you see others experience and you may want to help in some way. For me I think it’s extremely important to have meaning behind things you do,
And so, finding your objective is how you will see things clearly, because you may have many goals but know to focus on one top priority. Then once you have your main objective you will move on to the colors scheme, logo, voice, design and etc.
2.) Step two
Find your audience, who are the people you want to join your community? What do they look like? Do they prefer iced coffee or tea? This is where you want to get very detailed and concise because not everyone will be a perfect candidate. As much we try to appeal to everyone, we can’t make everyone happy, nor can we be all things to people.
That’s why niching down will be your best friend, now you don’t have to niche down to much, especially in the beginning but what you want to do is narrow down enough to be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your brand or business.
What’s niching?
On the other hand if you don’t completely know your niche yet, I recommend to play around with different related topics, learn as you go, teach what you know, and your niche will come to you.
Market Research
Diving more into finding your audience we have market research. This is where the real magic happens. Market research helps with many things such as spotting out your competitors who may become collaborators some day, catering to unaddressed needs in your particular industry, helps you to make great business decisions, and many other great things.
Now I know what you’re thinking, this is a lot of work….. Like..why should I spend all this time on finding my audience when I can get to building my community, and selling my products, etc.
The thing is market research is pivotal in order for you to achieve those results you’re looking for. We think just because we have an amazing idea that people will automatically jump on board, but these days it’s just not that simple.
What to research within your target audience?
Choose your target audience through demographics and psychographics.
- Interests: science, politics, sports, cinema, etc.
- Geography: Worldwide, city, online,
- Consumer: forms a variety of thematic areas – for example, smartphones, household appliances, technology, etc.
- Professional: business, IT, law, education, therapist, teachers, etc.
- Direct contact: dating websites and apps, various chat rooms for communication.
- Brand community: unites people who are loyal to the same brand and share the same interests related to this brand.
Example of a database
Lastly, put yourself in your target audiences shoes, get to truly know them and what it is that they’re looking for. Because remember, everyone has their reasons for why they join groups, why they purchase products, or even why they listen to certain songs, podcast and so fourth. It’s important to cater to their pain points, and to listen to their needs way before starting, so you have a head start.
3.) Step three
Strategize, plan, and tap into your creativity! Have you ever came across a online community where everything seems to be aligned, perfectly created, and is extremely thought out? You can tell that their content is well put together, that they actually put in the effort and always seem to post at the right time?
Here’s a little secret, its all related to researching and strategizing….
In addition to strategizing it helps to create an album of brands you find inspirational. You want to take the time out to observe their content. Notice how they connect with their community, and how their community responds to them. Inside your album will be screenshots of content from those brands. This will help you get inspired on how you want to things, and of course do not copy.
{Create an outline}
A simple outline for community building should go something like this, who am I trying to reach. What is the main target/benefit behind it. The specific topic. The format. Followed by a call to action. And a outline does not have to be perfect what so ever, as long as it includes all 6 of things steps!
And of course the voice, the design, your guidelines, hashtags and slogans you develop over time.
Social media strategies often focused on:
- Educating
- Feedback
- Affiliates
- Product reviews
- Storytelling
- Entertainment
- Giveaways
- Soft launches, soft launches are subtle ways of pre-releasing without to much marketing. {For example: a small boutique store hosted a soft launch before the grand opening.}
- Free-bees, lead magnetics,
- Challenges, etc!
As you can see there are so many amazing strategies you can try, but it’s all about curating them to fit your overall mission, which takes trial and error. What works for someone else may not work for you and vice versa.
Implement a content calendar!!
You may also want to look into creating a content calendar, this will help with organization and time management. Some of the top content calendar’s are Loomly, Sproutsocial, Coschedule and if you want to tune into your project management abilities you can use notion, which I honestly love.
But let’s not make things complicated, if you’re just starting out you can use something like google calendar or google spreadsheet to create a calendar.
4. Step four
Execute your plan and be consistent! Okay say it’s the big day and you’ve uploaded your first post whether it be a blog post, instagram reel, Tik-tok, or product launch. You’re crazy excited and you feel a huge relief off your shoulder’s. But, you still have those thoughts creeping in, on how the heck will this community grow? How long will this take? Am I wasting my time? Think about it like this, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so keep going!
It’s all apart of the process, you must keep the plan and be consistent and know that things will take a turn. Everything in life involves consistency in order to see the results we are seeking, embrace it. You’ll look back and be grateful for where you’ve started, and even more grateful for the family you’ve built.
5.Step five
Get your community involved and be open to criticism, especially as you progress. Criticism isn’t always a bad thing, because it allows for growth to be built. Involving your community helps with may also look like a simple question on your instagram story, a Tik-tok post asking questions, or create a lead magnet that gets them to sign up for your membership.
One way to do that, would be to create a google survey, as simple as this one here.
Important key Be engaging, be relatable while at the same time professional. People want to make sure theres a HUMAN behind the screen and not a robot. So allow yourself to share experiences, be vulnerable, while still being able to find solutions that they are seeking. Responding to comments and messages will result in brand loyalty!