A few weeks back I shared with you lessons from my 2 Year Journey To Brand Me.
I thought it might be helpful if I shared with you several random thoughts on the concept of building a community.
1) Create places where your community can interact with your brand. Obviously a blog should be one of those places. A Linkedin Group, Facebook page, Twitter account, A Twitter hashtag, youtube channel etc. Note: Please learn from one of my mistakes. Just because you don't like a particular social media venue, doesn't mean your audience doesn't want to communicate with you there. It isn't about you dude. Its about where they want to interact with you!
2) Once you create these places, you obviously need to show up there consistently. Note: I can't tell you how many Linkedin group managers I see who have created groups and then go MIA. Once you build something why wouldn't you want to stick around so people begin to associate you with the community?
3) Interact with your community regularly. That might sound like a repeat of item #2 but it isn't. I can't tell you how many people get so caught up in producing content that they miss the interaction. This includes your blog posts (truth be told, I've screwed this one up lately and need to get my butt in gear). I've seen it big time on Twitter where people become these broadcasters of "stuff" but no interaction with their audience. Why aren't we living for that interaction? To me the content is important but we are getting way too obsessed with the content at the expense of the interaction. Besides, that one way communication thing used to be called a "website" No?
4) Acknowledge your community: Dale Carnegie once said that the "sweetest sound, in any language is the sound of one's own name" and the dude who sang the old theme song from the television series "Cheers" said something about "Where everybody knows your name". It seems we are all running so fast these days that we forget to use names and acknowledge people in front of their peers. That's how you encourage future participation. A good old fashioned offline thank you goes a long way too. People seem absolutely blown away when I send them an offline thank you. That tells me nobody is doing this! Might be a cool way to stand out!
5) Give to your community upfront and without a scorecard. I'm not a big fan of requiring email captures in exchange for a free E-Book etc. If you are going to give something, give it. I have a full page loaded with tons of E-Books that require you to do nothing but download them. My email subscriptions tell me my audience digs this approach and quite frankly, I believe unconditional giving adds to the sense of community I'm trying to create.
6) Be willing to stand for something! Standing for something attracts kindred spirits and adds a sense of mission to your community. In my Linkedin Group we have one of the strictest no spam policies on Linkedin and we are probably the most heavily policed group out there. We are also committed to fostering a high level sense of community by supporting our members and giving combative members the boot.
7) Reward your community first and better than the rest. Starbucks did a really good job with this recently by offering a free $5 gift card with the purchase of 1lb of coffee. They advertised this on their Facebook page and made us all feel like we had the inside scoop. How can you reward your community for (get this) being part of the community?
8) Don't punish your community with crap. I've seen people go over the top promoting their books. Side note: I once bought a book that I was really excited and started following the author on Twitter. The author went ape sh*t with the self promotion and by the time the book arrived I was sick of the dude. I stopped following several people on Twitter because they were injecting too many political views into their content. I've seen several bloggers get into pissing contests with other bloggers and use their blog as a weapon. Here's a secret (don't tell anyone) Once you decide what your "main thing" is going to be, stick with it.
9) Don't get caught up with "Internet Fame". Please stop and reread that line (I'll wait for you) If you allow this to go to your virtual head, you will piss lots of people off. One story, that I will continue to bore you with till the end of time is the one where I met Seth Godin. I was at a sales conference where he was the key note speaker. The dude is a complete rock star and I damn near went into my Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" chant, but somehow I kept it together. As busy as this guy was, and as long as the line was to meet him, he took the time to meet everyone, look them in the eyes and something else that blew my mind. When I stepped up to meet him, I introduced myself rather quickly (and nervously) and I asked him a question which he promptly answered. I then asked if I could have his autograph. He continued talking with me while he scribbled something rather quickly. I thanked him and stepped to the side so the line could keep moving. I went to look at his autograph and I noticed he used my name which I had only mentioned once, very quickly. PS I didn't have my name badge on. So if a rock star like Seth Godin could keep it real who are we to be a virtual A Hole? Your community is there for you to serve.
10) Combine real time interaction with your online interaction. Consider offering lunch and learns at your place of business, seminars, webinars. I host virtual mixers twice monthly where I take 5 people from my Sales Playbook community and get them on a conference call. Host a tweetup, or meet up for your group. One of the speakers at a conference I attended talked about how his Linkedin group hosts a monthly conference call for all their members. Might be bit of a challenge for my group as it quickly approaches 20,000 but perhaps if a sponsor stepped forward we could make something like that happen. Just thinking out loud!
There's obviously so much more I could write on the subject of creating a loyal community but now its time for me to leave you with something to think about.
How have you or could you create a community where your audience can interact with that incredible brand called "YOU"?
Please ponder that question. I believe there's money in it for you
