Tag Archives: community building

5 Tips to Jump Start Your Online Community

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Whether starting a new community, or moving an existing one, the foundation is the strength of the conversations and content within it. Those conversations go a long way to assure longevity of the community.

Life, online or off, is built on a series of relationships, those with our family, friends, and fellow fans. Part of the process is the introduction and sharing of basic information, to establish a comfort level and open channels of communications.

Creating this comfort then allows the community to connect more with each other by sharing common interests, goals and ideas. Building upon the contribution of each member you will then see a more organic growth in the community as well as “natural moderators” will begin to establish themselves to help in maintaining the desired tone and direction of the community.

These 5 “no fail” tips and techniques will help you keep your focus, refine your tone and build a strong and engaged community with longevity.

1. Be Welcoming, Be Disarming
Each time a new member joins your community give them the opportunity to introduce themselves. The best way to do this is to establish a set of between three and five questions for each member to answer.

Making these questions fun and non-threatening will encourage the new community members to engage, be at ease and “let their hair down”. Of course, the tone of the community will determine how “silly” these questions would be, but keeping it “light” will help gain more interaction from your community members.

Some sample questions along these lines are:

  • “Who is your favorite player?”
  • “Tell us how you became a fan”
  • “What was the best goal we ever scored?”

It’s like an online icebreaker. Ask silly, even ridiculous, questions of your members. Don’t be afraid, even in a serious forum, this allows people to connect in ways that are non-threatening and create a comfortable environment despite the tone of the serious topic that might be involved.

Believe it or not it is often more difficult for someone to share serious answers than silly answers.

2. It’s OK to Lurk
Everyone was new to online communities at one point. Try to encourage interaction and engagement, but recognize that some people might just want to watch (lurk) and adjust before they dive in.

Often times those that spend the most time lurking end up being the most engaged in the long run. Some people just need more time to adjust and acclimate to a new environment.

It is actually preferable to have someone lurk and acclimate to the tone of a community rather than jump in prematurely and risk being misunderstood, this could result in a lot of turmoil within a community.

3. Encourage Engagement, Be Appreciative, Be an Example
Actively engaged community members create opportunities for existing or new members to connect with each other, establishing a solid communal relationship. Be sure to thank people for posting, also try to positively acknowledge participation at any level.

Be a guide, or a sign post, direct your community to great content of community members, inside the community or outside, and bring the conversations to them. Be an example, by linking and sharing outside content but housing the discussion within your community.

4. Promote Great Community Contributions and Content
A solid community needs to be fed to continue to grow that community. That food is demonstrated by promoting the community and member contributions. Make it a habit to regularly promote your community members.

The conversations and sharing are the lifeblood.into other social networks. By doing this you will be promoting your community and the members, helping others find you and ensuring a continued growth in your community.

5. Appreciate Everything, Don’t Take Community for Granted
Appreciate your community. Understand that each and every member has made a choice to be a part of the community, and recognize that it’s a choice for them to remain in the community.

Never take your community for granted, if you do you will discover that they can quickly move on to what they perceive to be “Greener Pastures”. Keep it fresh, keep it lively. This is where building a community on a topic you are passionate about makes it a lot easier to grow and maintain.

If you keep these 5 tips top of mind, and try to make a habit of doing these things, you will guarantee your success is building and nurturing an amazing community!

Community Building: 3 Basics for a Solid Foundation for Success

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To succeed in social media at any level means having a clear understanding of a few of the essential pre-game rules as well as the rules of engagement.

Our focus on the success of our community, and your community, is a top priority for us here at Follr, and in helping you succeed we want to offer tips, tricks, techniques and basics that will help you build a sustainable community and encourage interaction and growth.

The series begins today with 3 basics for building a foundation for success with your community, via social networks and the “rules of engagement”.

Success Starts with the Basics and a Solid Foundation
If you want to be ready for success with a Follr Communities Website, then you have to have a good foundation to build from. Whether you have been using social networking for years or are new to the digital world, it is important to learn the basics, or have a refresher course on what they are.

3 Basics for Building a Foundation for Success

  1. Understand the “Why”
    Before you can focus on the how, you need to have a basic understanding of the why. What this means is “Why are you here?” Just as with any good business plan you need to have an objective or a mission statement. Stop rolling your eyes, and realize that it actually helps maintain focus on the goal of being active in social networking and building your community.

    Spend time considering your purpose and objectives for the community you have built, be sure to write the ideas down. Brainstorm, don’t be afraid to make a long list and then narrow down the focus. If you start with the end in mind it often helps you figure out how to begin and gain momentum.

  2. Determine the “Which”
    Once you understand the Why, you need to figure out the “Which” meaning what networks or platforms work best for your purpose and to attain the goal you identified in the “Why” section. Determining which are the ideal platforms for your community, will help you achieve traction and community growth, as well as quality interactions.

    Being on the bleeding edge won’t necessarily help you – it’s not a race to be first, it’s a marathon of focus and engagement in the right places. If you are consumer focused you want to go where you will find your target demographic, your new audience. Take time to research platform use and study the most successful users, that will help you understand whether the platform will give you a good return for your time. Investing time in the wrong platform will negatively impact you costs in time and resources, be focused and efficient.

  3. Connect the “Distribution Points”
    The purpose of engaging on social networks for a budding community, or any entity, is to build relationships that will lead people back to you community, which is your home-base. Your Follr Community Website is Website 3.0 – it’s the new black and most fashionable way to provide information and encourage interaction. Consider it your hub, the social networks you select to engage on should all be connected back to your community and included in your social wall and links.

    Create the social network accounts, customize the profiles are you are nearly ready. Be consistent with user names on the various platforms, a unified identity is powerful. Then begin linking it all back to your Follr Community website. Next you will need to set up the social sharing feature so that your new posts and content are pushed out to the networks you just connected.

    You’re nearly ready to go…

Join us for the next post in this series to continue connecting the dots and bringing it all together for the most success with your Follr Communities Website.

Your success is our priority. We make it simple so you can focus on what matters, building your community.

Take your Follr Communities Website to the next level with upcoming coaching and webinars for our members. Make sure you watch for your Follr updates with information on upcoming enhancements and new features. Don’t have a community yet? Build your own, it’s Free and Fun!