Have you ever noticed how certain fan pages, groups, tweeps, Pinterest boards or pages on Google+ always seem to have a buzz about them?
These pages always seem to have a wealth of followers commenting, sharing, talking to each other, asking questions and posting successes. While on other pages, the energy feels dead, like a ghost town?
The reason behind this is because some users inherently know how to foster community on their social media platforms, while others do not.
So, it begs the following questions, what is a social media community and why do I want one?
First, let's start by defining a social media community. Community, on social media, is about far more than receiving a lot of comments, likes and shares on your posts. A high volume of comments does NOT indicate a community. A community goes far beyond volume or numbers.
For example, many popular business magazine fan pages are NOT communities. Certainly, the magazine has a large readership, which translates into an active social media fan base, but this does not make it a community. Even with dozens to hundreds of comments underneath each post, it is lacking the key ingredients of a community.
If you read through the comments on their page, you will notice that they are all singular. There are no followers reacting to another follower's comment. There is no engaging "side-conversation," going on, there are no questions being asked and no deep revelations being shared: Thus, no community.
By contrast, I also enjoy visiting a very popular fitness fan page on facebook. They too, have a lot of fans and a ton of comments under each post. However, the comments here are different. The fans directly engage with one another by responding to each other's posts. They ask questions of each other, share successes and cheer each other on. This is a true social media community.
Thus, a social media community is the act of sharing a common mission or purpose.
When you build a community you are building a sense of belonging. It is a place where your members (whether formal or informal) know they can come to connect with you and each other. They like connecting with each other because they feel like a welcomed member of the tribe or family. They are making new friends and building a greater foundation of support for themselves.
Why do you want to build a community on your social media platforms?
You want to build a sense of community on your social media platforms for three reasons.
First, your community will look out for you, each other and new members of the pack. Certainly, building a community takes time and effort. But, once it is established you don't have to be such a huge presence in the community. You can begin to delegate responsibilities to other long-standing members. You can create a welcoming committee and a daily conversation starter.
This doesn't mean that you are never there. In fact, as your community grows, you will need to maintain a firm hand, like a mother with a child who is testing the limits. The same will happen in your community. It may even mean deleting comments and privately messaging fans. However, like a child who's tested the limits, as soon as they see you are true to your word, their "tests" become less frequent. Moreover, the rest of the community will begin to step in and shut down anyone who is breaking a rule of the group.
Second, social media community creates greater opportunities for connection and growth. The members who are apart of your community will feel connected to you and to many others in the group. This is important because members will recognize that it was your community that brought them together. They will reference you, and talk about you when they get together. This collectively keeps them in your sphere, working with you and buying your products. (Of course, it also means that your products and services must be worth bragging about!)
Likewise, members will experience growth within your community because of things you share AND because of things other members share. Again, the environment that you've created, the collective, has a stronger impact than you alone.
Third, clients and customers crave experiences more than things. By creating a community you are providing an active, fluid experience. It is an experience they can partake in on a daily bases, or even more frequently if they want to.
This opportunity allows them to feel closer to their mission or purpose. It fills them with energy and helps them move forward towards their dreams. Your community becomes an indispensible part of their life expansion.
About Kim
I wonder how effective really is to step in and remove comments. Positive or negative, they all keep the community alive. I think that selecting what can be posted may affect negatively the legitimacy of the community.
Hi Kim, This post defines what social media is all about. I use social media for attracting clients into my funnel. As I read through this it reminded me of Mari Smith's saying (hope I get this correct) "Content is king but engagement is Queen" I find that engagement with people on my social platforms and my blog is the key to building a good and trusted relationship. I am not a believer in quantity, but of quality. I don't allow those one liner comments on my blog or automated comments. Rather, I like it to be engaging.
When it comes to Facebook, I often have to do that dull and boring job of deleting people that are spammers. I like to use it as another platform to engage people. I mostly will syndicate a great blog with my own twist to it or post mine. I do belong to "tribes" because I like Seth Godin's idea of that. BUT…they have to be good or else, I'm out of them he he
Lately, due to people not understanding the ethics of social media, I did have to assert authority to let them know I only accept those that are willing to engage.
So there you have it, without me writing a novel. I can go on forever but that is my reaction to the great advice you have given.
Blessings,
Donna
I agree, Donna…engagement is the key to social media and community building is the key to long term monetization of your business. Thanks for sharing!
Kim, I have been enjoying your tweets on Twitter for months. This is the first time I went to your website. I really like this article. Thank you for blessing us with your content.
John
Thank you, John! I hope you will come back
This was very informative. I plan to share this post with some folks on a forum where I actively participate and hope to get us more active at least on Twitter for now. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful, Patricia!
Hi Kim. Thanks for the read and useful tips. I have recently launched SICK N TIRED.CO and I’m in the process of promoting and building a community for the site. I launched the site to give the resident tax payers of this country a voice; a platform to be heard and to bring big business and politicians to account through volume of public feeling. It is only possible to achieve this goal when we have a sizeable following/community to be able, in numbers, to really make a difference; as one voice is seldom heard, but many cannot be ignored. I currently use Facebook but mainly Twitter to reach out to people and direct them to the main website and I’m starting to connect with people out there slowly. When people visit our site and register then leave a comment, I always try to reply to their post welcoming them and thanking them, or where possible sending a personal email explaining what the site is trying to achieve and how they can play their part in making a difference. It’s very early days but with perseverance, using the tips you’ve provided, I hope that together we can all make a difference to the way we are treated in this country. Thanks again and I will RT your post.
Sounds like a great and needed platform, Peter! The message, aka big media, is definitely being controlled today.
I build communities that my clients own, we use social media to help build them, but my clients own the database of users. Im interested in your opinion of the comparative values between owning your own community and building it on social media.
The risk of relying too much on social media is that you could quite easily loose it all.
I have a friend who built a +9000 community on Facebook and one day Facebook switched it off because it violated a rule of who can own a FB community named by an exiting town / city. The rule is that those names can only be owned by the local gvt structures.
in my opinion the risk is too great to build only in Social Media.
Thoughts?
You should never build a business using ONE marketing method.
Kim, Thank you for always inspiring wisdom about business and everyday life! You put a smile on my face:)
Kim,
Thank you for always inspiring wisdom about business and everyday life!
Thank you for tuning in! You are why I do what I do